^{Maria Elena is a small mining town in the Atacama desert, founded in the 1920’s and developed by the Guggenheim’s to produce saltpetre, used for both fertilizers and explosives. The film explores an ongoing interest in the application and obsolescence of industrial modernity. It also traces the impact of the British in the region, who were heavily involved in the extraction processes of nitrates incorporating it into a satellite of an economic global system. The narrative threads a tale of contradicting montage, whereby crystals become stars, a horse’s ear a mountain and enormous beds of nitrate appear as informal abstract paintings, exposing the geological terror of the past and future.}

^{_{Exhibition view of «Farsa y Artificio» by Melanie Smith at MACBA Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona, Spain, 2018}}

^{_{Stills from «María Elena», Melanie Smith, 2018, Full HD video, 24’. Photo: Julien Devaux.}}

^{_{Still from «María Elena», Melanie Smith, 2018, Full HD video, 24’. Photo: Julien Devaux.}}