Space Waste

2024

Synopsis

An alien entity visits Earth to learn about the on-planet recycling programs.

In 2016, China, the world’s largest industrial manufacturer, introduced the Golden Sword initiative, which banned importation of inferior post-consumer products. By 2018, recycling programs of advanced economies were faced with the challenge of dealing with their own garbage. Through the juxtaposition of interviews with a resident of Graz, Austria, and a solid waste recycling professional, presented next to iconic footage of science-fiction films, an alien narrator analyzes the conditions of resource scarcity on Planet Earth.

Cast 

Abraham Gutiérrez (Self)
Gerhard Zeihenberger (Self)

Crew

Directors: Don Hai Phu Daedalus and Stefan Schmitzer
Editor: Don Hai Phu Daedalus
Film Composer: Dadaglobal
Cinematographer: Don Hai Phu Daedalus
Graz Production Assistant: Iris Kaspar

Details

Release date: 2025
Production company: Dædalus Studio
Format(s): Dual-channel digital film, 4k, DCP
Total Running Time: 30 minutes, 32 seconds
Color
Country of origin: Austria, USA

BIOS

Dadaglobal

Dadaglobal (born as David Daniel) studied piano at the Zurich Conservatory from 1998 to 2002 and Cello in Winterthur in Switzerland. He then studied contemporary composition under Rolf Urs Ringger in Zurich. His curiosity drove him into electroacoustic music. He has been composing and producing electronic music, mostly experimental, for more than twenty-five years. He performs as a pianist, electroacoustic live act and DJ. 

He is also a sound designer and a film composer. Dadaglobal is a regular musician at the IOIC (Institute for Incoherent Cinematography) and is a specialist in silent film scoring. Dadaglobal also has a monthly radio show on GDS.FM. He also composes film music and other works for radio and television. Several tours have taken him to China, Japan, Thailand and South America. He has performed at Art Basel, Art Basel Hong Kong, Minsheng Art Museum Shanghai, Kunsthaus Zurich, Centre Corbusier Paris, Swiss Embassy London and Kater Blau in Berlin, as well as throughout Europe. He was also a programmer at the clubs Persil, Labitzke and Zukunft in Zurich. In 2012 Dadaglobal was the art director of Sound Development City in London, Berlin and Zurich. 

Daniel has received awards and residencies from the city of Zurich (New York City) and the city of Lucerne (Neubad Luzern). David Daniel lives and works in Zurich and Berlin.

Don Hai Phu Daedalus

Don Hai Phu Daedalus (b. 1983) is an artist and filmmaker based in New York, NY. He makes artist books, sculptures and films. He studied philosophy and art at the University of Washington and later received an MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute. Daedalus has exhibited in the US, Latin America and Europe. His films have screened widely.

Stefan Schmitzer

Stefan Schmitzer (b. 1979) is a writer and poet. He is a co-editor of the quarterly perspektive – hefte für deutschsprachige literatur.. (perspective: booklets for germanophone literature..). His most recent publications are: “liste der künstlichen objekte auf dem mond. gedicht” (Klagenfurt: Ritter 2021), “loop garou. invokationen“ (Klagenfurt: Ritter 2024). Schmitzer lives in Graz, Austria.

Press Materials

Press Release, Press Kit, One-Sheet, Fact Sheet

Made with the support of:

Bundesministerium, Das Land Steiermark,  Federal Ministry Republic of  Austria, Flux Factory, the City of Graz, Graz Holding, Interntationale Literatur dialoge, Õsterreichische Gesellschaft für Literatur, Saubermacher, and Schaumbad.
Special thanks to Iris Kasper and Eva Ursprung.