ExoPatch – Shading the Arctic
Resilience - a systems ability to overcome disruptions. Humankind is demanding ever more of earth´s resilience potential. Can we re-balance a dramatic shift in our earth´s eco-system with technology after its tipping point is exceeded? ExoPatch aims to do just that. To bring sea levels back to where they were in the 1970s, today's leading technology-companies team up to tackle one of the most pressing issues of our time: The arctic meltdown.
This short film is a dystopian glimpse into a future, where we´ll have to deal with the seemingly inevitable consequences of global warming. Or in other words, where today's capitalist structures try to fix the planet. For the visuals and style of acting, I took direct inspiration from VW´s press conference that was held in December 2015, addressing their controversial emission scandal.
The actors were advised to not answer directly to questions coming from the audience and mostly read along with their pre-written protocol, as was the case in VW´s press conference. The short film was exhibited in October 2016 in our exhibition "Zukunft überleben. Residenz und Design" (Surviving the Future. Resilience and Design.) not as a work of fiction but as a real invention. Many viewers got scared and googled "ExoPatch" right away, quickly realizing there was no such invention. This is understandable because we are witnessing a highly accelerated technological procession today and we are putting all our hope in the hands of technology. This work is intended to spark a debate on how we can create a future in which we will never need something like an ExoPatch.
Cast:
Hans Buttermilch as Prof. Dr. Rebke
Viktoria Schmidt as Ines Schwitt
Christopher Knoll as Kristofer van Thoma
Supported by:
Disclaimer: This is a fictional work of art. All companies named in this film had nothing to do with it and none of the described events never happened. (The emission scandal did though).
