“Equifinality” by Hans Baumann

2024 · color · USA ·EN · 10’ · In competition

Kīlauea erupts. Planetary geologists examine the Hawaiian subsurface as a proxy for Mars. Astronomical observatories on a sacred mountain, the ruins of a UFO cult’s galactic embassy, extraplanetary robots imaging themselves. Shot in and around Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park, this short film probes the entanglements of speculative scientific practice and features archival footage from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and music by John Cage.

THE DIRECTOR | HANS BAUMANN

Hans Baumann (1983, USA) is a Swiss-American artist and filmmaker based in Los Angeles. His work reflects upon ecological collapse, the dynamics of climate change, and the materiality of energy practices, and his first feature film—a documentary on carbon capture technologies—is currently in production with support from Sandbox Films.

His projects have been exhibited throughout the US and Europe with support from a broad range of institutions, including the National Endowment for the Arts, Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program, the Getty Foundation, and his writing has appeared in a variety of publications, including e-flux architecture and Accumulation: The Art, Architecture, and Media of Climate Change (University of Minnesota Press, 2022). Baumann holds a degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Design and is a 2024-2025 Fellow of the Howard Foundation at Brown University.