"During the 10 days’ residency in Sao Miguel, I’m planning to produce a short experimental film on 16mm (black&white, color and infrared color film) as well as a photography and object installation, both on the subject of volcanology in the Azores islands.

Sao Miguel is a unique place situated on top of the Triple Junction between three tectonic plates: North American, Eurasian and the African Plate. This creates a narrative opportunity on the premise of a geological mythical land, where possibilities can be explored both in a scientific way but also imagined from a fictional standpoint.

The main statement of this cinematic fairy tale is the invention of a new volcano, on the presumption that a new fissure point could exist in the vicinity of Ponta Delgada, but that it hasn’t been discovered yet. The destructive force of this massive newfound volcano is looming over the island, since scientists believe its force could be more important than any of the eruptions Earth has faced in the recent millennia. The monumental nature of the statement, as well as the lack of evidence to prove it, both underline the very nature of the volcano concept.

A volcano is characterized by the latency inherent in its destructive potential but also by the emergency of its manifestation, should this ever happen. Statistically we know of a lot less volcanoes on the planet, than those that we didn’t discover yet, or those forgotten in the timeline of history, due to incredible time lapse between eruptions. However, modern day scientists do believe that the next mass extinction eruption will be that of a volcano we will not be aware of at the time.

I would essentially place this fictional scenario within the space of the Azores archipelago, by shifting the perspective of the natural phenomena observable in this space: gravity anomalies, increased geothermal activity, abnormal seismic data, etc. and playing with narrative mechanisms of the cinematic suspense of disbelief. Two contradictory ideas that surround volcanology create a narrative tension in the storytelling and the visual aesthetics of the film. On the one hand the latency of a dormant volcano gives a sense of distance and unreality, while the emergency of an eruptive event throws a shadow of foreboding disaster.

Editing together abstract nature sequences, as well as more realist scenes of a mockumentary film, documenting the “existence” of this new volcano in the scientific community, I will try to explore the fear factor on an island community, and the possibilities of creating a sentiment of fear through a discourse of ambiguity."