Walden

In virtuoso, fluid images that rotate through 360 degrees, Zimmermann reveals the absurd journey of a stack of planks. It all starts in the woods around the Admont monastery in Austria, where a pine tree is felled and sawn into planks. The stack travels to the heart of the Brazilian rain forest by train, truck and boat. The planks take the main trade routes for raw materials in reverse. Walden reveals the absurdity of one of the economic principles defining our globalised world.

Zimmermann’s documentary is one long cinematographic tour de force, including 13 panoramic shots with the camera spinning on its axis and exacting tracking shots that focus our attention on warehouses, goods trains, border crossings, petrol stations, trucks and container ships. The stack of planks has since returned to Europe, to be exhibited in Admont and in museums and galleries, as a silent witness to a bizarre journey.