A large polyhedral hemisphere shares space with a potted palm tree. Video projection simulates shadows moving across the artwork. The direction of the shadows simulates the sun’s direction as seen from Thailand, during a time when I was living between Bangkok and New York. While living abroad I made studies of the sun, shadows, and quality of light there. The installation conjures a place distant from its stark location: Brooklyn in the dead of winter. It makes another unrealistic gesture: it runs 24 hours, postulating the continued course of the shadows at night. This conceit recognizes the idea of the tropical as a popular and unrealistic fantasy, similar to the fantasies created by the digital media itself via the simulacrums that drive desire and consumption.

A stack of Macintosh computers arches from the floor to the wall. The Macintosh Plus is used as a recognizable shorthand for a specific era of techno-optimism characterized by marketing euphoria around “desktop publishing” and later the “information superhighway”. On the wall is a set of cyanotype stereograms depicting dolphins and coral from 90s advertising images promising the imminence of virtual reality. By looking at the past, I draw a parallel to contemporary techno-fantasies, constructed desires, and the novelty parade of late-stage capitalism.