WEATHER WATCH (2019) by Alice Bucknell

​Set in 2038, WEATHER WATCH (2019) is a mock weather broadcast reflecting on the terrible effects of a fictional Planetary Degrowth Act through a montage of changing weather systems. 

It uses speculative fiction to twist and bring new meaning to an assemblage of entirely found footage. Sourced from a diverse pool of media, from 10-hour-long architectural demolition assemblages found on YouTube, to avant-garde cinema of the mid-20th century, the atmospheric film is a warning sign for things to come.

A global ban on new concrete construction, issued by the New Paris Agreement signed in Dubai in November 2030, sees a new era of neo-nationalist building frenzy. Countries demolish everything from monuments to modernist towers and hatch plans to build on seasteads and even out in space to continue growth at all costs.

Responding to the contemporary proliferation of nationalist politics and the slow death of international diplomacy in the fallout of a post-global era, WEATHER WATCH paints a stark vision of a speculative near future reality if architectural development and the resulting greenhouse gases emissions continue as projected. It emphasizes the need for a change of plan: we require a progressive global climate accord and unprecedented international collaboration to mitigate the climate crisis, and make it out of this century alive.