THE OTOLITH GROUP – MEDIUM EARTH

Shot in Joshua Tree National Park and a downtown Los Angeles parking structure, Medium Earth(2013), the latest film from the London-based art collective The Otolith Group, draws a sharp contrast between extraordinary nature and the prosaic non-spaces of the urban landscape. Observing the rush of cars from the side of a highway or considering the interior of a parking complex for extended periods of time, the film’s pacing seems incompatible with the speed of modern time. Likewise, the sublime and timeless desert landscape seems inhospitable to sustaining human existence.