video, 2K, color, sound, 8min, 2021
performer: Christine Murkovic
camera: Sonja Aufderklamm
sound: Sara Pinheiro
Produced within the framework of the festival SUPER GAU and the project TECHNO SCAPES by The Golden Pixel Cooperative.
Thanks to: Kamen Stoyanov, Iris Blauensteiner, Dr. Bernd Moser/Chefkurator Mineralogie Joanneum Graz, Dr. Michael Murkovic/TU Graz
Most elements which are built into a smartphone are extracted from the earth. Great amounts of rocks need to be mined and then laboriously processed to extract the elements and components needed to built the phone. Some of these coarse rocks, from which elements such as palladium, tantalum, lithium or rare earth metals can be extracted, are shown in the video. A female scientist examines these stones in a microscope and with her we take an abstract look at the “inner landscapes” of a smartphone. The video ends with an experiment - after referring to the beginning of the smartphone's raw material chain with the rocks, the experiment focuses on the end of the useful life of the device.
