A surreal multimedia experience examining astronomical obervation and climatic effects of atomic warfare
by Hana Rose Shell
CLIMAX is inspired by a remote astronomical observatory built in the 1940s on the Continental Divide, in Coloradoʼs Rocky Mountains, on the property of the Climax Molybdenum Company. The observatory is, in its material form at least, long since gone, fallen into the so-called “glory hole” of the mine itself.
CLIMAX combines archival and contemporary media, and documentation of the modern-day mine, with unique soundscapes. Archival film materials will converge with modern-day visualizations from astronomical labs. Inspired by the ionospheric interference and radio distortion caused by solar flaring, the sonic landscape of CLIMAX will draw on Sergei Prokofievʼs “Field of the Dead” (from Sergei Eisensteinʼs Alexander Nevsky) while also evoking the connection between astrophysical observation and the human-induced climactic effects of atomic warfare.