Installation view during #DigitalArtMonth in New York City, 2020
Screening during CADAF Miami 2019
Millennial Pink, 2019 - 2020
360 VR video and site-specific installation
2min22sec duration, looped
Shot on location in Buffalo Creek, Colorado
Exhibited:
Leon Gallery, Denver (2019)
CADAF Miami (2019)
Site-specific installation and VR work ‘Millennial Pink’ incorporates Phos-Chek, a hot pink powder that’s a fire retardant and a fertilizer—used to combat extreme wildfire. In 2018, when this project was first conceptualized, wildfires had ignited on a historical level in Siberia, Brazil and the Congo. In 2020, California recorded the first “gigafire” in history— with 1 million acres burned. The data is alarming, and the consequences increasingly dire.
Wildfire season is now one month longer universally than it was in the 1980s. Wildfire also represents both climate change and its impact on social inequality—on a global scale. By viewing the VR artwork, participants become an integral part of the installation—creating a diorama of humanity's complicity in our natural habitat's destruction, especially in our present-day digital age of virtual escapism.
The complete installation conveys the cautionary tale that a "millennial pink" future is not just an interior design trend found on Instagram, but a potential necessity if wildfires continue to grow worldwide due to human carelessness, apathy and over-consumption. The actual VR video uses Oculus Go headsets and includes audio.
Iterations of this piece have been exhibited New York City, Miami, Denver, Austin, and LA.