What we’ve done with our world, from ingenuity to devastation – in two kinetic minutes
A dizzying trip over a wide scope of humanity’s footprint on Earth, Toposcape spins across the globe, traversing New York’s dense urban development, Denmark’s community-focused housing, Namibia’s biodiverse desert Namib, Saudi Arabia’s centre-pivot irrigation circles, and deforestation in the Amazon. Assembled from more than 4,000 Google Earth images set to the song Midnight by Caravan Palace – a hint that we, and our planet, might be running out of time – the UK-based filmmaker Adnaan Jiwa’s audiovisual piece showcases examples of environmental innovation and degradation from across the world, highlighting our collective capacity for expansion, creation and destruction.
Director: Adnaan Jiwa
Music: Caravan Palace
videoWork
Like a cheery Sisyphus, Fred dismantles an industrial chimney one brick at a time
12 minutes
videoProgress and modernity
Moving from Tibet to Beijing, Drolma reconciles big dreams with harsh realities
31 minutes
videoEconomics
A tour of New York’s gaudiest neighbourhood with the Marxist geographer David Harvey
13 minutes
videoNature and landscape
‘A culture is no better than its woods’ – what our trees reveal about us, by W H Auden
5 minutes
videoFairness and equality
There’s a dirty side to clean energy in the metal-rich mountains of South Africa
10 minutes
videoAnimals and humans
Villagers struggle to keep their beloved, endangered ape population afloat
19 minutes
videoFairness and equality
Visit the small Texas community that lives in the shadow of SpaceX launches
14 minutes
videoEarth science and climate
There’s a ‘climate bomb’ ticking beneath the Arctic ice. How can we prepare?
8 minutes
videoFilm and visual culture
A lush animated opus evokes the frenzied pace of modern life
4 minutes