Reflection 2: Undercurrent World
Undercurrent World was an exhibit that ran in a Brooklyn warehouse throughout the month of September. In the 60,000 square foot exhibit space were 11 immersive audiovisual art installations, all centered around the climate crisis. Each installation was curated by a musician or creator (Bon Iver, Miguel, Jorja Smith, The 1975, Khruangbin, etc.), in partnership with numerous partners that are actively fighting climate change (Ocean Conservancy, Global Forest Generation, Imperfect Foods, etc).
I went to this exhibit before our semester project was announced, because I was interested in seeing what the featured artists would come up with in regards to climate change. I also visit art exhibits rather frequently, and the fact that this one was immersive piqued my interest. While this exhibit did happen to coincide with the topic of our project (climate change), I feel as though it was also centered around innovation. Everyone has heard time and time again that “the world is on fire” and there is trash in the oceans and we need to use less fossil fuels. Undercurrent World took topics like these and reimagined them, presenting them in ways that I had never seen before, and that have stuck with me ever since.
The two installations that stuck with me the most were those curated by Jorja Smith and Khruangbin. Jorja Smith’s featured 3 hallways with walls covered from top to bottom in plastic waste. The first hall was very cold, but I assumed it was just because we were in a warehouse. As you walk into the second hall, it gets much warmer, and in the third it’s extremely hot, signifying the increasing temperature of the planet as we continue to pollute it.
Khruangbin’s installation was a set of stationary bikes set up in a circle, with a farm town in the middle. When the bikes were pedaled to build enough energy, their music began to play and lights lit up rhythmically, simulating a dance party.
Though tickets were a little expensive, I did learn a lot and enjoyed all of the visual and audio stimulation, rather than having to read dense materials about climate change.
