COVID-19 revealed not only a health crisis, but a crisis of isolation, environment, and values.
Art is the language of connection.
Art, Technology, and Human Connection
The outsides of buildings became male molds around which to wrap technology in such a way that the physical and digital spaces connected, interacted in real time, and talked to each other during a global event.
What was essential? If we couldn’t go inside—how could we activate the outside? These were the questions that were coming up as doors closed and streets emptied. Beaches and National Parks were restricted while the liquor stores and Best Buy stayed open for business—it seemed the solutions designed to keep us safe were actually putting us at greater risk.
“Loneliness kills. It’s as powerful as smoking or alcoholism.”
Artists and technologists came together on zoom screens from their quarantines around the world to design and build a 500 ft. tower in AltSpace for the the Burning Man Multiverse Virtual Event. D.J.’s and presenters arrived as their avatars under a full moon spinning above a cascading waterfall stage. Media players in a wildlife gallery played video excerpts from “The Twelve”, an award winning documentary in which twelve highly spiritual Elders from wisdom traditions around the globe share long forgotten wisdom and knowing of our eternal and complex connection with Nature and all of humanity, reminding us what it means to be human and to how to live in harmony with each other and with Nature. A moonshot tea lounge hosted lively dialogue amidst a hall of reflective mirrors resting above a 100 ft 3D mural of LOVE expressed in different languages.
We did it!
Through live feeds, people spoke to avatars at a silent disco while drinking mead from Black Rabbit Meadery , coffee from The Jesse Hotel during an “Ask Me Anything” event, and we danced across dimensions on the final night at The Alpine and Record Street Brewery. We found a way to be compliant, gather, play, and make things that mattered—community.