INTERFACE CHAOS

another world

It's dusk in the Indian Ocean. Two palm trees whisper to each other: ‘I want to escape.’

Confined to a small island, they search for ways to survive the chaos of nature, trying to grow their fruit.

a chaos of interfaces

Something else strives for survival— money, reaching into the island through a network of interfaces. Like membranes, they permit or prevent its circulation.

Thus emerge shell companies behind post-office boxes and tax advisors behind concrete facades. A chaos of interfaces.

a survival dance

Bound for destruction? Perhaps, but then, I have this knack of saving myself, in the nick of time, time and again.

I don't want to be overgrown by anything. Though I would like to have the experience.

I just don't want to. Surely, I must be saved.

credits

INTERFACE CHAOS explores nonhuman intelligence through the story of two entities on a journey for survival: money and a unique species of palm trees (lodoicea maldivica), coexisting in the archipelago of the Seychelles.

Two palm trees struggle to grow their mysterious fruit, the largest of its kind. ‘There's no script, just an act,’ whispers one to the other— to find answers, they must let go of security.

Alongside them, money seeks security through its network of interfaces. Grown independent of humans, money has its own intelligence and its own fragilities.

These are the protagonists of INTERFACE CHAOS, each facing uncertainty in their particular way, in a world appearing free of human activity but populated by landmarks and signs of all kinds.

As the palm trees open up to chaos, becoming free to mark the world with their fruit, money guards itself, calculating, leaving as few signs behind as possible. Of its vast, silent network all is left is dust and the hollow husk of its past dealings.




INTERFACE CHAOS (2019) is the debut short film of dmstfctn. This website collects three excerpts from the film.
An extensive interview about its themes is available on NERO.

Full screenings are upcoming at:
Cafe OTO, London
28 September 2021, 7.30pm

Previous screenings were held at:
—NERO, online, March 2020
—Forum Stadtpark, Graz, January 2020
—Porto Design Biennale, Porto, October 2019
—Trust, Berlin, October 2019
—London Design Festival, London, October 2019
—Antiuniversity now, London, June 2019

INTERFACE CHAOS

Written and directed by

dmstfctn

Original soundtrack

SKY H1

Cast

Kinda Gozo

Voiceover

Gabriel Cautain

Voices

Tara D'Arquian

Camera

dmstfctn

Camera assistant

Rokas Juozapavicius

Hair styling, makeup

Saffron Dunlop

Editing

dmstfctn

3D design

William Fairbrother

Sound mix

Mark Durham

Equipment, studios

Ravensbourne University London

Web design

dmstfctn

Works cited

The Living Planet (1984)
courtesy of the BBC

Stephen Metcalf
Black Capital (1995)

Gilles Deleuze
Proust and Signs (1994)
Courtesy of University of Minnesota Press
English translation: Richard Howard

Friedrich Nietzsche
The Gay Science (fragments 1881-82)
Seychellois translation: Demystification Committee

Paul Klee
The Rescue (1905)
English translation: Anselm Hollo

Made possible with the support of London College of Communication and Ravensbourne University London



dmstfctn would like to thank: Andrea Karch, Bob Wilson, Letizia Rustichelli, Mina Amiri Kalvøy, Nikola Marić, Noémi Varga, Paolo Davoli, Ricardo Saavedra, Rizosfera.net and tiagsssss