Shifting Baselines

Boca Chica, Texas. Hemmed in by the Gulf of Mexico and the Rio Grande, the sound of the waves defines the rhythm of village life. But this wild country is in the midst of irreversible change. The swamps have been drained, the beaches closed, and the homes bought out: the shadow looming over the beach is that of a 50-story rocket, being readied for launch into space. It is astonishing to see the extent to which filmmaker Julien Elie, like the space geeks around him, had access to the facilities of Elon Musk's SpaceX. But we are no longer in the era of public space missions: the galaxy has become a privatised marketing terrain of conquest, and the display of omnipotent means is part of a strategy that politics has learned from technology. A little further south, across the border that same policy seeks to militarise, Mexicans flock to admire the launches, while further north, two academics keep track of the thousands of satellites sent into orbit: the sky up there, which once seemed infinite, is becoming the frontier of a catastrophic cosmic pollution event, caused by the neoliberal takeover of space.
Sergio Fant

Shifting Baselines, 2025
La Garde blanche, 2023
Soleils noirs, 2018