Synopsis

Gravity is the universe’s first relation. That relation shapes the structure of the cosmos, informing the evolution of stars and planetary systems as well as the forms, functions and behaviours of all living beings on Earth. Yet, gravity remains beyond direct human perception.

What Moves the Earth And Other Bodies is a mixed-media moving-image work exploring how gravitational waves — and the technologies developed to detect them — mediate the understanding of the universe.

Staging an impossible encounter between two versions of the self from different moments in time, the piece weaves live-action footage from the Virgo gravitational-wave observatory, CGI environments, physics simulations and intimate moments of lived experience into a cinematic meditation on how the invisible forces that structure the cosmos also shape the soothing foundations of everyday experience.

Moving between cosmic, infrastructural and intimate scales, the movie examines how scientific instruments transform the conditions through which reality is perceived and inhabited.