DECEIVING ILLUSIVE FLIGHT

Abstract

Deceiving Illusive Flight, a multimedia installation with computational interactivity, emerged from the current economic, political, and cultural conditions of the United States, and a desire to impart hope. Drawing inspiration from Mark Fischer's Capitalist Realism and Daniel Quinn's Ishmael, the art and its artist confront and challenge the perception of capitalism and neoliberalism. As practiced today, capitalism has intertwined itself into politics and government, evolving into neoliberalism, making it difficult to see an end to the economic system and its end as a way of life. Capitalist Realism states, "it is easier to imagine the end of the world than it is to imagine the end of capitalism" (Fischer M., 2009, Capitalist Realism). Rather than accepting that these two systems are the only possible ways to live and be governed, the artist proposes that alternative ways of living outside, above, and beyond exploitation are possible and lie within changing our perspective on the "necessity" of these systems. Looking to the natural world and nature as a roadmap, utilizing satire, and highlighting absurdity, the artist creates a work of art that, beyond being anti-capitalist, embraces and advocates for sustainability. Nature, in the multitude of its definitions, becomes the being of inspiration, wisdom, and hope.