Archipelago of Earthen Bones, which is part of Szlam's larger research project Towards a Counter-Cartography of Volcanic Time, traces cartographies of time rooted in the geologic formations of our planet. Examining volcanic lifespans to comprehend geology, the three-channel video and sound installation recognizes the divergent nature of the timescales around us. From split-second catastrophic ruptures to the slow-moving formation of mountains, Archipelago of Earthen Bones invites viewers to lean into time.   Using the Earth’s tectonic plates as imaginary maps, Szlam filmed a constellation of geological phenomena, including the afterglow of the Hunga-Tonga-Hunga-Ha’apai eruption, the eroded vestiges of volcanic activity in Australia’s Gondwana Rainforest, the topography of the central eastern mountain ranges in Australia, and lava fields where new flora shapes the surroundings of active volcanoes in the Chilean Andes. Szlam is joined by the Australian artist Lawrence English, whose accompanying soundscapes were composed using the Earth’s vibrations, murmurings, and signals. Towards a Counter-Cartography of Volcanic Time   In 2022 and 2023, Szlam undertook fieldwork in northeastern Australia to explore the Gondwana Rainforest and the continent’s ancient volcanoes sites, tracing a path along the central eastern ranges and coastline, from Mount Wollumbin (Mount Warning) in New South Wales to Mount Beerwah and the Bunya Mountains in Queensland. The eruption of the Hunga Tonga–Hunga Ha’apai, in December 2021, released a sonic boom that encapsulated the planet and blasted an enormous plume of water vapor and ash into the upper atmosphere, creating intensely colored twilight “afterglows,” that were visible from Australia to Antarctica. These vibrant sunsets and sunrises lasted for several months and were captured by Szlam on 16 mm color reversal film stock during the making of Archipelago of Earthen Bones. Connecting antipodal cultures of tectonic plates in the Southern Hemisphere, Szlam also traveled to southern Chile to film new earth and forest formations at seemingly inert lava fields, thus linking geographical and geological extremes on the Ring of Fire. Lawrence English developed a soundscape using microphonic imagination, vibrations from the underground, and biophonic sounds of birds and insects recorded originally from these sites. Each video channel of the installation has a unique sound environment designed to interweave with the others. Curators, geoscientists, biologists, and knowledge keepers were the guiding force of this project including Gwynne Fulton, John Edmond, Clive Oppenheimer, Joali Paredes, Jorge Romero, Andrew Rozefelds, Francisca Vergara, BJ Murphy, Kyle Slabb, and Jarulah Slabb. About the Artist Malena Szlam is a Chilean artist and filmmaker based in Tiohtià:ke/Mooniyang/Montreal. Her films, installations, and photographs explore embodied perception and the material and affective dimensions of analogue film process. Szlam’s work gives form to lyrical approximations of the natural world. Attentive to the geopolitics of natural phenomena, her recent work focuses on geology, earth science, and volcanology.   Szlam’s work has been exhibited widely at festivals and museums, including Toronto International Film Festival, MoMA, New Directors/New Films, Media City Film Festival, Melbourne International Film Festival, FICValdivia, Jeonju IFF, Cinéma du Réel, Edinburgh International Festival, and International Film Festival Rotterdam.   Recent group exhibitions include Energy Fields: Vibrations of the Pacific, PST ART: Art & Science Collide (Los Angeles), femmes volcans forêts torrents, Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal; Expanded Plus: Utopian Phantom, Factory of Contemporary Arts Palbok (South Korea); The Moon: From Inner Worlds to Outer Space, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art (Denmark). Solo presentations include Inexistent Time presented by Los Angeles Filmforum and Infra— at SBC Gallery of Contemporary Art. Szlam’s work is included in the MoMA’s permanent collection.