staring at the sun (2025)

Staring at the Sun is a “sci-fi documentary” exploring what is at stake with solar geoengineering protocols. The work reflects on the evolution of Earth from planet to world, examining how the atmosphere is rendered as something mappable and modifiable. Bucknell interrogates the blind spots of these attempts at planetary management, highlighting the uncertainties and risks that accompany the technocratic dream of climate control. Through speculative cinematic language, the film questions the logic of making the sky itself a surface for human intervention, exposing the tension between planetary-scale science and the opacity of ecological processes. Staring at the Sun situates itself in the fraught space between urgent climate responses and the hubris of technological solutions, asking whether geoengineering offers salvation or further estrangement from the living systems it seeks to master.

Staring at the Sun, 2024—2025, single-channel film & accompanying sculptures, courtesy of the artist.

Galerija Amfiteatar (Gallery Amphitheatre)