Singularity is an impressive display of five screens showcasing a nearly thirteen-hour long masterpiece designed for the Catalan pavilion at the 2015 Venice Biennale. Singularity, in a manner distinct to Serra's artistic approach - blending anachronism with chiaroscuro - yet incorporates a political element not overt in his previous work. A brief sequence on the "opening" display compresses the visuals of the piece and sets a critical mood by censuring drones, the military sector, greed in society, constant surveillance, and our overwhelming affection for gold. The screens left transport viewers to a different era and place, taking them to a gold mine and brothel in what seems to be 1930s or contemporary Ireland, potentially shaped by the historical support of Irish freedom by Catalan nationalists.
At its conclusion, Singularity unveils a tale about a group of female miners, under the leadership of powerful woman Imma Merino, as they plot to create a brothel for male workers at a gold mine and other clients. Sebastian Vogler, a mine owner who considers himself a writer, is being accused of sexual misconduct by a Dublin-based painter.
Sebastian inaccurately describes his mine shaft employees as a "family". He characterizes their work as artistic, mirroring the themes of deception, aggression, and avarice in Serra's story. Most of the intimate relationships shown in The Singularity involve same-sex couples, whereas paid sexual encounters in the movie only feature heterosexual couples.
An older investor named Lluís (Lluís Carbó) owns a rival mine and also runs a brothel. He convinces his longtime love interest (Lluís Serrat) to marry him and adopt a child, reprising his previous role as Carbó's lovestruck suitor in The Lord Worked Wonders. While in Singularity Serra heavily uses the Godardian metaphor of transforming heterosexual prostitution into the epitome of capitalist exploitation, he portrays the engagement of the two Lluíses as joyous despite being tainted by a distorted lens. There is a rising belief that if Sebastian is correct about everything being connected, then homosexuality in this context could be interpreted as a disruption of the natural order, symbolizing capitalism's.
"I am always looking for beauty," Serra has said, and Singularity supplies its profusion.
The unabashed aesthete who, I love it.
