Charles Stankievech
Lives and works in
(b. 1978 in Okotoks, Alberta, Canada; lives in Berlin, Germany ) This film was created at Alert Signals Intelligence Station, the northernmost continually inhabited settlement on Earth. Alert in Nunavut, Canada, is also at the edge of Inuit traditional territory: for Inuit this place is Inuit Nunangata Ungata or The Land Beyond the Land of the People. Initially a weather station, it was transformed during the Cold War to intercept Soviet communications. Filmed in the dead of winter with 24-hour darkness, the film’s aesthetic and soundtrack—a hiss and crackle like transmissions through deep space and a lone voice presumably broadcast over radio—mimics science fiction movies. Alert is now a beacon of the increasing militarization of the Arctic.
(b. 1978 in Okotoks, Alberta, Canada; lives in Berlin, Germany ) This film was created at Alert Signals Intelligence Station, the northernmost continually inhabited settlement on Earth. Alert in Nunavut, Canada, is also at the edge of Inuit traditional territory: for Inuit this place is Inuit Nunangata Ungata or The Land Beyond the Land of the People. Initially a weather station, it was transformed during the Cold War to intercept Soviet communications. Filmed in the dead of winter with 24-hour darkness, the film’s aesthetic and soundtrack—a hiss and crackle like transmissions through deep space and a lone voice presumably broadcast over radio—mimics science fiction movies. Alert is now a beacon of the increasing militarization of the Arctic.
