Director:Joseph Wilcox

Film: CPR (Catch-Paint-Release)

Bio: Using digital video captured across the United States, this short film visualizes one of the solutions proposed by scientists to help curb global warming: a massive sun shade that orbits the Earth. Taking cues from absurd solutions that ignore the root of the problem, our cheery and somewhat digital sounding narrator pitches another novel idea: CPR, or the Catch-Paint-Release program. CPR mobilizes the millions of citizens concerned about climate change to capture crows and disguise them as other birds. The feasibility of the Sabine’s Gull as a candidate for the CPR program is demonstrated and individuals are encouraged to submit applications to join the program.

By adopting the roles of image gatherer, documentarian, object-maker, and organizer, Joseph Wilcox explores how institutional control, political systems, and social power structures undermine individual & collective autonomy. He has been an artist-in-residence at the NARS Foundation, Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, HATCH Projects at the Chicago Artists Coalition, and LATITUDE Chicago. Solo and two-person exhibitions include Lydian Stater (Queens, NY), Good Children Gallery (New Orleans, LA), and Chicago Artists Coalition (Chicago, IL) and screenings include Slamdance (Park City, UT), Fotogenia (CDMX), Festival des Cinémas Différents et Expérimentaux (Paris), Chroma Art (Miami, FL), Festival Ecrã (Rio de Janeiro), VIVO Media Arts Centre (Vancouver, BC), Art Düsseldorf (Germany), Hong-Gah Museum (Taipei City), and the Bideodromo Experimental Film and Video Festival (Bilbao, Spain). He received his MFA from Lesley University College of Art and Design and his BFA from Kendall College of Art and Design. He lives and works in Brooklyn.