MOVIES

Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky is fascinated by the subject of the topographical landscape as it has been irrevocably altered by industries that feed the world’s appetite for material goods. Edward Burtynsky: The Industrial Sublime on view in the Gordon Contemporary Artists Project Gallery from June 25 through September 3, 2012, presents the beauty and evidence of destruction in landscapes that have been altered by human industry, exploring the tensions between aesthetics, economics, and environmentalism.

About the film:
Manufactured Landscapes is a documentary on the world and work of Edward Burtynsky. Internationally acclaimed for his large-scale photographs of “Manufactured Landscapes”—quarries, recycling yards, factories, mines, and dams—Burtynsky creates stunningly beautiful art from civilization’s materials and debris. With breathtaking sequences, such as the opening tracking shot through an almost endless factory, the filmmakers also extend the narratives of Burtynsky’s photographs, allowing us to meditate on our impact on the planet and witness both the epicenters of industrial endeavor and the dumping grounds of its waste. The film powerfully shifts our consciousness about the world and the way we live in it, without simplistic judgments or reductive resolutions. Directed by Jennifer Baichwal, 2006. 90 minutes. 35mm. Unrated.