fossil_images (table i: primitive accumulation; table ii: man-the-hunter, table iii: industrial capitalism) is a video essay presented at the Sauriermuseum in Aathal. The work takes a look at the relationships between the history of dinosaur representation and the various stages of capitalism. Against a gridded backdrop, reminiscent of sketches from paleontological sites, a series of texts describing different phases of capitalism are brought together with illustrations of specific models of dinosaur imagery. Here the dinosaur is thought of as a speculative figure that often follows the development of political ideologies, particularly those associated with narratives of power, gender, the free market, obsolescence, and extinction. An overlap emerges between nature-cultural imaginaries — stories from the past that are also science fiction.
