Western Rampart

Western Rampart is a film work by SUPERFLEX challenging our perception of borders and boundaries - whether natural or human built, through time.

The film is set in the area of Vestvolden ("Western Rampart" in Danish), where a 14 km rampart complex south west of Copenhagen was built between 1888 and 1892. As one of the last fortification systems of the city against foreign invasion and the largest, yet unfinished, construction project of its time in Denmark, it has been obsolete since World War I.

As a combination of visual and narrative poetry, magic realism and documentarism, Western Rampart is a tale featuring a gigantic Amanita muscaria mushroom in discussion with the revived Western Rampart. Through their existential conversation, two perspectives are opposed. While the rampart embodies the necessity of borders and walls for survival, the mushroom advocates for constant motion and circulation as everything is meant to continuously transform to thrive.

Shifting between viewpoints, the imagery of the film alternates between ultra slow motion, macro shots of animated nature and overviews depicting the vastness of the rampart construction. Western Rampart is accompanied by a sound design that underlines the conflicting positions of being inside and outside, convinced and confused, firm and fluid.