The video work CULL sits nestled within the multi-faceted ongoing body of works developed as part of Fire Complex, a project that Kögelsberger initiated after wildfires destroyed 174000 acres of Sequoia National Forest, California, including an estimated 14% of the world Giant Sequoia population and a large section of the Community of Sequoia Crest amongst others.  

CULL follows the gigantic task of the clear-up process after these wildfires. It charts the efforts of the teams that are now responsible for cutting down the dead trees left standing which are endangering the remaining structures and roads.

In a swansong to the unique ecosystem that has been lost. Each tree is documented as it comes crashing down to the ground, seemingly out of nowhere, like dead carcasses, sometimes falling with such force that the earth beneath it shakes. In this orchestrated choreography of crashing and wailing sounds we humans become visible, only on occasion, dwarfed by the magnitude of the disaster we have created.

As a project of discrete but interlocking parts Fire Complex brings together photography, video and live performance in the public realm. The works that are a part of Fire Complex, including CULL, were conceived to directly become agents in the public realm and have been exhibited on digital and paper billboards across Los Angeles, London and the UK. Fire Complex started out on Instagram where it has become a source for information about the complex social, ecological, and political underbelly of forest management and fire prevention. Fire Complex also involves a collaborative community-based replanting project that to date has put over 6100 new trees in the ground.

Kögelsberger says: “Spending most of a year in the burn area of the Castle Fire, is like seeing the climate crisis being made visible on a daily basis. In the UK we may think of wildfires as a remote problem, but we are all in some way responsible. We need systemic change, but we can’t wait for systemic change to happen.” This is a project that starts from the personal to communicate a universal emergency and to set about making a difference for the future.