Josh Kline (USA)

White Bay Power Station

Adaptation, 2019–2022
16mm film transferred to HD video, colour, sound, 10:45 mins

Shown at the Biennale of Sydney as a video projection with the permission of the artist. Collection of the artist; courtesy 47 Canal, New York

New York is beneath 30 feet of water, a small boat collects a diving crew from the flood and, behind newly waterfront skyscrapers, the sun is setting on the city where dreams are made.

Adaptation follows an anonymous crew as they go about menial tasks, describing a world where ‘human aspirations, dreams, and plans’ have sunk and  floodwaters continue ‘rushing  in’. Yet, the sea remains still, the crew calm. At a time when each day brings news of political disaster, environmental collapse, and cultural upheaval, the ordinariness of their survival is both familiar and foreboding.

Shot on 16 mm film, Adaptation rejects digital technologies and instead relies on largely analogue special effects such as scale-models and miniatures. This practical approach, reminiscent of classic sci-fi cinema, imbues the film with a nostalgic quality. A diverse cast gazes out at the waterlogged metropolis, each face capturing a similar wistfulness as they remember their lost world, the same one slipping from us now.

Josh Kline’s art questions how emergent technologies are being used to change human life in the 21st century. He often utilises the technologies, practices, and forms he scrutinises—digitisation, data collection, image manipulation, 3D-printing, advertising, productivity-enhancing substances—aiming them back at themselves. Some of his most well-known videos use early deepfake software to speculate on the meaning of truth in a time of post-truth propaganda. At its core, Kline’s practice is focused on work and class, exploring how today’s most urgent social and political issues—climate change, automation, and the weakening of democracy—impact the labour force.