Presented by Gazelli Art House

Horror Vacui from the Latin ‘fear of empty space’ or ‘fear of emptiness’ is a term used to describe the artistic obsessions of filling every surface without leaving any empty space. This concept relates on the one hand to the frenetic expansion and hyper-development currently undertaken by mankind; and on the other hand it references Buddhist philosophy and the observation that human beings are limited in grasping the ‘true nature of things and events’.

The film juxtaposes the Earth’s untouched lands and human beings’ artificial settlements. Using a back-and-forth of computer-aided designs, real images and digital reconstructions of forests, mountains landscapes and overpopulated metropolitan areas, Horror Vacui reflects upon the alienation from nature and the resulting break of the harmonious balance of the ecosystem.

A critique of materialist practices, Horror Vacui focuses on the role of human activity in repurposing and removing Earth’s resources, and in doing so disrupting life and mineral balances across the planet. Set in the context of this ongoing crisis, the 3:27 minute non-narrative film examines the alienation of humans from nature – why do people feel disconnected from the planet, and how did the disconnect happen?

Horror Vacui reflects on this by layering different kinds of landscape – forests, metropolises, mountains, oceans – and also different kinds of image: different ways of representing, framing or producing reality. Zamagni uses multiple image-producing techniques: aerial drone footage, macro photography, 3D scanning, geological LiDAR point clouds, custom python stitching scripts, lightroom photography, ultra hi-res satellite imagery, 3D modelling and organic physics simulations. In doing so he examines the tension between frenetic human activity and the power of nature. The film – and its soundtrack by TSVI – build to a crescendo as nature reclaims human construction, before returning to an abstract world of primordial forms.