EARTH

What does it actually mean to say that man has subjugated Earth? Nikolaus Geyrhalter, the important Austrian documenter of global phenomena, visits various sites of underground and surface mining in Europe and North America, sites of development and upheaval, scenes of fundamental change and irrevocable destruction. [Earth] has the character of a sober inventory, made with grandiose tableaux. They show machines that perform the tireless work of digging into disintegrating landscapes, leaving behind immense open wounds in the earth’s crust. And they record what the people working in them have to say about their work and its possible meaning. Geyrhalter’s perspective is defined by patience and accuracy. His unprejudiced attention is rewarded by the openness and constantly surprising reflections of his conversation partners. The montage of the vignettes becomes a condensed dramaturgy of disaster. The optimism of social entrepreneurship is gradually overshadowed by an awareness of a high price being paid. Until, at the end, profit maximisation has left nothing behind but scorched earth. A painful prospect, which defines the vanishing point of this unsentimental journey.