Julius von Bismarck Irma to Come in Earnest, 2017

Irma to Come in Earnest is a video portrait of Hurricane Irma and its aftermath. Through slow-motion images witnessing the major destruction caused by the category-five hurricane, which struck the U.S. state of Florida on August 30, 2017, Julius von Bismarck reveals the aesthetics of nature’s devastating force.

“Irma to Come in Earnest” warned a news headline in September 2017, as the category-five hurricane swept through the Caribbean and bore down on Florida. Its arrival is the subject of Bismarck’s eponymous film, shot in Naples (Florida) amid gale-force winds, flooding, and desolation. In an attempt to fathom the essence of a hurricane beyond the media spectacle, the black-and-white footage is drastically slowed down, taking in rain and debris swirling through empty streets, submerged cars, and houses in disarray. A haunting ambient soundtrack pieced together from news reports is slowed to the same pace as the moving image, rendering it unintelligible.