Traveling Collaboration 

Goal | Help visitors find humor and meaning in life during the reality-television presidency.

Solaris – Shelter for the Next Cold War is a 1,000-4,000 square foot multimedia installation that collects and reimagines U.S. and Russian political and economic symbols, using novel juxtapositions to raise questions about how we might find shelter from the evolving dynamic between the two countries. Creating a fallout shelter focused on its occupant's emotional survival, Solaris immerses visitors in a rich multimedia environment that vibrates with tensions between individual and national identities, fine art and political propaganda, and capitalism and Communism. The project is a collaboration with artist Mark Kelner and based on his work and collections.

These images are from project's installation at Culture House DC (May-July 2019), as well as its debut at a four-day popup gallery in April 2019 -- which received over 11,000 visitors in that time. The project is touring nationally.  

I created the conceptual framework and language, curated the artist's work, and designed and built all installation elements. I developed and maintain the project website and manage outreach efforts to venues nationally. 

Download the project prospectus.  

Learn more on the project's website. 

Watch a short documentary on the studio bathroom that inspired the project, produced by Mark Kelner:

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