Damless Era,
Floating World

Directed & Performed by,
Finley Yuheng Sun
Tools: Blender, Rhino 7, After Effects & Premiere

Freeing clogged rivers, this project imagines living in a world without dams, which block natural waterways and separate people and other critters from the local environment. This project is inspired by the largest dam removal project in U.S. history, Klamath River of Northern California and Southern Oregon. To live with the sacred water, the beloved family member, and the holy spirit, people are not passive consumers of water but also providing, collaboration, coexistence and care to the river in this world ,in this way an indigenous worldview is honored and perpetuated. conflict and the negotiation will not be denied in this project. instead about developing a dynamic posthuman kinship. It’s “a world where many worlds fit”. This is a film shot during a seasonal flood where power is offered by the environment through micro-hydroelectric generators.

This project is inspired by the indigenous value system claimed by Charles Sepulveda in his article, Our Sacred Waters, Theorizing Kuuyam as a Decolonial Possibility. To combine with my previous research on the river system in the US, I decided to create my story based on the most rescent news that three largest dams, namely JC Boyle, Copco 1 and Iron Gate, are planned to be removed by 2024. What life might look like in a damless world? By transforming the huge scale of dam removal plan to a home-based interaction experience, this film project articulates how people live with the seasonal float and work with water.