CB01

Soundtracked by “Combustion 2” from the Cory Smythe album Smoke Gets In Your Eyes (2022), this video was assembled exclusively from film and television programs that feature the eponymous 1933 song written by Jerome Kern and Otto Harbach. From Judy Garland to Jerry Garcia, Mad Men to The Muppets, the composition has appeared ubiquitous for nearly a century. This case file of disparate specimens spanning across time and genre, linked only by their shared relationship to the song, was collected and processed through an imagined crime lab computer. The resulting montage reveals a chilling and surreal image of retrospective foreshadowing: despite our best efforts, kindling from the dawn of industrial mass production has now grown into a raging inferno. The world burns wildly out of control and yet the party goes on. What may be the last gasp of civilization is reflected through an archival hall of mirrors until the disco ball crashes to the floor, exploding in flames.