Austrian artist and filmmaker Lukas Marxt focuses on anthropogenic and geological existences. On the occasion of the Sonic Acts Biennial 2024 group exhibition, he presented ‘Searching for Reflections in the Toxic Field of Plenty’, a series of works reflecting on the Salton Sea – a shallow, landlocked body of water on the southern edge of California. In dialogue with Sonic Acts curator Angeliki Tzortzakaki, Marxt discusses the rapidly changing landscape and how it has been shaped by catastrophe – colonisation, nuclear tests, extreme weather, agriculture, and toxic dust storms.

‘Searching for Reflections in the Toxic Field of Plenty’ features a series of videos alongside sculptures, archival materials, and found objects – including assembly kit replicas of Little Boy and Fat Man, the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945. There are also fragments of test bombs unearthed near the former Salton Sea Test Base, an abandoned site once used for atomic bomb ballistic testing. The work was commissioned by Sonic Acts as part of New Perspectives for Action, a project by Re-Imagine Europe, co-funded by the European Union.

→ Explore the Sonic Acts Biennial 2024 programme at https://2024.sonicacts.com

VIDEO CREDITS
Camera & sound: Roman Ermolaev
Video editing: Hrvoslava Brkušić
Sound mastering: Hrvoje Nikšić
Intro sound: Jessica Ekomane
Intro design: Knoth & Renner with Anja Kaiser

This video is published by Paradiso & Sonic Acts as part of New Perspectives for Action, a project by Re-Imagine Europe, co-funded by the European Union.