In Free Fall

During a recent field study in Edinburgh, Scotland I had the opportunity to visit many great art exhibits during the Edinburgh Art Festival. One digital media exhibition of note, held at the Collective Gallery, featured a project by Hito Steyerl called In Free Fall. Not knowing what the exhibition entailed when I entered the gallery, I was a bit uneasy at first with the pitch black room and video screen, however I soon warmed up to the idea and really enjoyed the beautiful experience.
   According to the exhibition's pamphlet, Steyerl's films are a montage of pop and politics, Hollywood and independent film, interviews and voice over commentaries; all combined into proactive filmic analyses of the present. In Free Fall incorporates a series or works: After the Crash, Before the Crash and Crash which tell the story of the current global economic crisis through the example of an airplane junkyard in the Californian desert. Through the use of narratives or people, places and planes the film reveals cycles of capitalism incorporating and adapting to the changing status of the commodity, but also points at the horizon beyond this endless repetition.