CARL SAGAN 1985

Digital video, 16 minutes 59 seconds, 2023.

Over the summer of December 2023 – Febuary 2024, Melbourne-based art gallery KINGS Artist-Run hosted a series of public programs in collaboration with Sticky Institute and Melbourne Women in Film Festival around issues and experiences of heat, entitled Heat Safe City. This work was comissioned as a part of that program. You can read more about it HERE.

In 1985, the astronomer and science-communicator Carl Sagan testified before Congress in the U.S. about climate change. Although his warnings were terrifying and distressing, he delivered them in his typically calm and soothing voice. As a juxtaposition, the artist has layered Sagan’s testimony on top of a fireplace relaxation video. Fire also has the ability to be terrifying and distressing, or calm and soothing, depending on context. In the upper right corner of the video, a year-counter ticks away, moving slowly (or, rather, quickly) from 1985 to 2023—a period of almost 40 years. “If you don’t worry about it now, it’s too late later on,” Sagan warned. Question is, have we done enough?

The video installed at KINGS Artist-Run, Melbourne, Australia, 2023.