Cosmic Generator (AP), 2017

Entering the installation Cosmic Generator (AP) is similar to entering a kaleidoscope: the image shifts back and forth from one point of the globe to another. The film begins in a Chinese restaurant in Mexicali, a Mexican town near the US border. As a waitress lifts a lid, we find ourselves as if sucked into a tunnel which takes us after a few detours to a market in Yiwu, China. There, the merchant booths are filled with synthetic flowers, garlands, plastic toys, LEDs, and other kinds of cheap manufactured goods, which typically circulate around the world seamlessly, including the Mexican restaurant that we saw in the first scene “while people and certain products face greater restrictions to crossing the US-Mexico border,” as curator Margot Norton reminds us. As if it was by magic, we take the pathway of a long black hole to go from one point in the world to another: a “globalized” short-cut.

Cosmic Generator (AP) was originally commissioned by Skulptur Projekte Münster.

Supported by Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk, Denmark; Outset Contemporary Art Fund, London; and Polyeco Contemporary Art Initiative, Piraeus, Greece

Producer and Director of Photography:David Hollander (Fourth Density Productions)
Cast: Shop Owners and Employees of Yiwu Market, Cary Cahill, Vicky Ramírez,Penelope Jefferson, Aevin Dugas, and Pete Booth
Director of Set, Props, and Special Effects: Katrin Altekamp (4DEE Productions)
Digital Imaging Technician: Loïc de Lame (Laryenco Production)
Set: Cary Cahill
Gaffer: Alan Hostetter
Sound Design and Mix: Ronen Nagel and Nati Taub (Sound Around Studios)
Special Effects: Alexander Lemke
Production in China: Matt Clarke and Clark Wang
Production Assistant in Mexicali: Audrina Quintanar 25