Core Dump by South African filmmaker Francois Knoetze is a series of 4 films, Kinshasa (2018), Shenzhen (2019), New York (2019) and Dakar (2018). Francois Knoetze is a performance artist, filmmaker, and sculptor, currently based in Cape Town. The project explores the relationship between digital technology, cybernetics, colonialism and the re-enchanted notion of a Non-Aligned Humanist Utopia. The four films are assemblages of found footage, performance documentation, and recorded interviews that form narrative portraits of the uncertainty in the nervous system of the digital earth. It emerges from the dystopian landfills of consumer culture as an imaginary of a new inclusive humanism that underscores relationality and inter-human narratives.“ore dump” refers to the recorded state of the working memory of a computer at a specific moment in time
The series, filmed in Dakar, Kinshasa, Shenzhen, and New York, explores contradictions between Silicon Valley as the self-proclaimed gatekeepers of a techno-utopia and the neo-colonial imperialist structures of this ‘Invisible Empire.’ Split up in 4 locations, each film has a different story line and focuses on a different theme. The overall theme has to do with the advancement technology represents while simultaneously making society a less physical one, left on relying on these technologies in what seems that technology is taking over our lives. This project seek to interrogate how knowledge monopolies have falsely represented notions of ‘progress’ and ‘mechanization’ as products of the West, disregarding the contribution — both historically and presently in the current supply chain — of Africa in what can be considered Digital Colonialism. The film emphasizes Africa’s participation in the digital sphere and in technological advancement, that consists of the future.
Aesthetic wise, it almost takes on an experimental role with the video clip montaging, well done editing, and street performances in the 1st and 4th films alongside those unaware of what is going on doing their daily activities. The first film serves more as an introduction, the second with an emphasis on the visuals, the third on the myth, and the fourth film as more of an explanatory one. All the films show technology overpowering humans, with the first film emphasizing modern life as a prison but they are not a prisoner of history. The third film is rather interesting emphasizing China’s role in technological advancement but also calls attention to China’s neo-colonialist role in Africa and how the Chinese make the rues in these countries. The fourth film has the most voice over and draws on the important topic of biased algorithms producing biased results that reflect racism in our society leading to ‘the coded gaze’ causing minorities, specifically black people, to face the burden from both humans and technology. As well, as the importance data surveillance and data collection plays in our post-modern society as we are being sold to the government. There’s the emphasis on those who are last shall be first and vice versa through the use of technology.
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