Five Body Problems #3 (Afterlives)

Art Film

Runtime 2:04

Dev Harlan, USA

In the work "Five Body Problems #3, Afterlives", I use photogrammetry and 3D animation to explore themes of global resource extraction and the myth of limitless consumption. The animation depicts a gyrating swarm of discarded technology in one of its most ubiquitous forms – mobile devices. Fields of molten metals ripple in hues of gold, copper, platinum and silver. Large natural boulders push their way through the chaos. A ticker displays the average annual volume of rare earth metals extracted globally.

Strange attractor equations are used to animate a dynamic field of discarded mobile phones. Large boulders and metallic blobs also follow nonlinear deterministic paths.