Contra-Internet

Contra-Internet

2015–2019

Jubilee 2033 trailer

Consisting of a queer science fiction film installation that includes live action and CGI, blown glass sculptures, and a single edition publication, Contra-Internet confronts the transformation of the internet into an instrument for state oppression and accelerated capitalism. Invoking a practice of utopian plagiarism, Contra-Internet utilizes queer and feminist methods to speculate on internet futures and network alternatives.

Jubilee 2033, the short film centerpiece, is a re-imagining of scenes from filmmaker Derek Jarman’s 1978 queer punk film Jubilee, starring Susanne Sachsse and Cassils. Jubilee 2033 follows author Ayn Rand (Susanne Sachsse) and members of her Collective, including economist Alan Greenspan, on an acid trip in 1955. Guided by an artificial intelligence named Azuma, they are transported to a dystopian future Silicon Valley. As Apple, Facebook, and Google campuses burn, Azuma reveals that Ayn has become a celebrity philosopher to tech executives, as her writings foster their entrepreneurial spirit. Amidst the wreckage, Rand and The Collective are introduced to the internet, observe techies being captured by anti-campus groupies, and bear witness to the death of Silicon Valley elite. Once inside an occupied office of Palantir Technologies, the group encounters Nootropix (Cassils), a contra-sexual, contra-internet prophet, who lectures on the end of the internet as we know it. Seeking respite, Rand and The Collective find themselves at Silicon Beach, where chunks of polycrystalline silicon mix with sand and ocean.

Jubilee 2033 was nominated for a Teddy Award for Best Short Film at the 2018 Berlin International Film Festival. The film is distributed by Arsenal Institut für Film und Videokunst e.V. and Video Data Bank.

Contra-Internet: Jubilee 2033 is the prologue to Blas’s Silicon Traces trilogy, a series of moving image installations that contends with the beliefs, fantasies, and histories influential to Silicon Valley’s visions of the future.

  • Contra-Internet Inversion Practice #1: Constituting an Outside (Utopian Plagiarism) (2015)

  • Contra-Internet Inversion Practice #2: Social Media Exodus (Call and Response) (2015)

  • Contra-Internet Inversion Practice #3: Modeling Paranodal Space (2016)

Credits

    • Contra-Internet is a project of Creative Capital
    • Solo Exhibition and Jubilee 2033 commissioned by Gasworks, London; Art in General, New York; and MU Eindhoven
    • Solo Exhibition produced by Gasworks
    • Contra-Internet Inversion Practice #3: Modeling Paranodal Space commissioned by Art in General
    • Contra-Internet lecture-performance commissioned by Rhizome
    • The End of the Internet (As We Knew It) commissioned by the Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane
    • Supported by a 2016 Creative Capital award in Emerging Fields, Arts Council England, and Thor Perplies
    • Jubilee 2033
      •      Cast (in order of appearance)
        •           Ayn Rand, played by Susanne Sachsse
        •           Alan Greenspan, a member of The Collective, played by Dany Naierman
        •           Joan Mitchell, a member of The Collective, played by Lindsay Hicks
        •           Azuma, the artificial intelligence, played by Fusako Shiotani
        •           The Art Professor, played by Raquel Gutiérrez
        •           Nootropix, played by Cassils
      •      Writer and Director: Zach Blas
      •      Producer: Ali Roche
      •      Producers: Tiffany L. Gray, Tara De Maro, and Jaclyn Amor, Extra Credit Studios
      •      Director of Photography: Alison Kelly
      •      Editor: Amy von Harrington
      •      Associate Producers: Marcela Coto, John Palmer, and Martabel Wasserman
      •      Composer: xin
      •      Production Designers: Alexah Acuna and Kevin Gallo
      •      Costume Designer: Lauren Warkentien
      •      First Assistant Director: Sadé Clacken Joseph
      •      First Assistant Camera: Mike Mast
      •      Second Assistant Camera: Rob Ford
      •      Second Unit Camera Operator: Jessica Gallegos
      •      Gaffer: Blake Farmer
      •      Grip: Andrew Joffe
      •      Swing: Jim Gillespie
      •      Sound Recording Engineers: Victoria Carrillo, Ada Douglas, and Fred Oliveira, Voxx Studios
      •      Book Design: Leaky Studio
      •      Book Fabrication: Bookworks
      •      Glass Etching Design: Scott Kepford and Solveig Suess
      •      Glass Fabrication: Silkwood Glass
      •      Hair and Makeup Artist: Catherine Alfonso
      •      Hair and Makeup Artist for Cassils: Mikayla Gottlieb
      •      Assistant Hair and Makeup Artist for Cassils: Eliza Baron
      •      Choreographer: Dany Naierman
      •      Unit Production Manager: Rachel Wilson
      •      Production Assistants: Savannah Bleu, Charles Eden, and Zak Frank
      •      Visual Effects Supervisor: Justin Shell
      •      Visual Effects: Harry Sanderson and Daniel Swan
      •      Character Modeler and Rigger for Azuma: Mikkel Aabenhuus Sørensen
      •      Supervising Sound Editor: Tom Sedgwick
      •      Sound Designer and Assistant Sound Editor: Benjamin Hurd
      •      Colorist: Jason Moffat
      •      Assistant Editor: Cameron Dunbar
      •      Translators: Fusako Shiotani, Yuki Matsuzaki, Turkuaz Benlioglu, and Raquel Gutiérrez
      •      Voice Coach for Fusako Shiotani: Yuki Matsuzaki
      •      Caterer: Nick Lorenz
      •      Background Actors (in order of appearance)
        •           Dead Google Employees, played by
          •                Jeff Cain
          •                Kalvin Henely
          •                Michelle Lee
          •                Christopher O’Leary
          •                Amanda Stojanov
        •           Dead Apple Genius, played by Scott Kepford
        •           Captured Techies, played by
          •                Andrew Culp
          •                Amy von Harrington
          •                Eva Della Lana
          •                Joshua Wagner
        •           Dead P***r T***l, played by Richard Stiasny
        •           The Anti-Campus groupies, played by
          •                Alexah Acuna
          •                Kevin Gallo
          •                Christopher Joseph Lee
          •                Victoria Lobo
          •                Maria Noble
          •                Martabel Wasserman
      •      Shot on location at Greenery Studio in Burbank, Malibu, Moffett Field, San Jose, and Sun Valley,
        •           California
      •      Special Thanks
        •           David Birkin
        •           Jon Davies
        •           Cybil Disobedient
        •           Hosein Eyalati
        •           Andrew Hibbard
        •           Melody Jue
        •           Omar Kholeif
        •           Nadja Millner-Larsen
        •           Robert Leckie
        •           Mahan Moalemi
        •           Bryce Renninger
        •           Ali Sperling
        •           Jasmina Tumbas
        •           Helena Vilalta
    • Contra-Internet Inversion Practice #3: Modeling Paranodal Space
      •      3D Modeling and Animation: Adam Sinclair