Marine Target

The surface of the Salton Sea reflects the glistening sunlight. Sediment colors the water green at times, at the edge of the image, almost bluish. The camera that captures this gentle flickering and flowing, floats far above a white rectangle. It moves slowly toward this structure, in the midst of the body of water bordered only by the frame, before looking around at the small, weathered platform in gradually arranged shots. The white rectangle houses measuring devices. In the midst of the inhospitable, things are documented. Instruments register the wind, make photos. The off commentary spoken by Julia Scher knows: in 1944/45 the U.S. Navy examined the ideal height of an atomic bomb explosion. Marine Target 10MA still seems contaminated by its former purpose: birds fester, metal rusts on long dried mud. Marine Target registers all of this, layers the history of the site over its images before the film itself becomes the test objective.