Opening/Closing

Global capitalism is overwhelming in its scale and devastation, yet presents itself behind a facade of progress and joy. The New York Stock Exchange, a central institution of the international economy, uploads daily videos of companies and organizations invited to ring the opening and closing bell. These videos are startling in their uniformity, always featuring representatives cheering to the same relentless bell, without variation or speech.

Opening/Closing juxtaposes these scenes against environmental carnage. The video flows between different days, progressing from a single person to a crowd of celebrants, standing before vague logos representing massive amounts of capital. The bell remains a clear constant, its repetitive ring growing loud and dissonant, supported by a chorus of insistent claps. All dissolves into the true preconditions and consequences of this enterprise, over which the executives linger, still clapping all the same.