A collaborative project between artists Carson Lynn and Grace Grothau, Parched Earth examines the ecological tensions embedded in contemporary video games. As Carson writes:
Both artists have dealt with global warming in their respective practices, so they sought out to create a speculative fiction film depicting a dystopian future where scavengers are rewarded for finding remnants of flora in a ruined landscape. The film combines Lynn's machinima practice and Grothaus' digital seed archive. Lynn utilizes No Man's Sky and a VR headset to create a found-footage-like setting, with Grothaus' documented flora and text serving as a connection to the past (our present).
Carson Lynn is an artist based out of Southern California who through the usage of digital materials, sublime landscapes, and exploration within gamespaces, creates artworks as a queering of heterocentric photographic conventions and game systems. He is working towards receiving his MFA from ArtCenter College of Design with a projected graduation in April, 2020. He received his BFA in Photography and Imaging, also from ArtCenter, in 2015.
Grace Grothaus is a transdisciplinary artist focused on creating moments of reflection about human agency and balance with the built and natural environment. Through physical computing she creates immersive indoor and outdoor installations and performances, as well as interactive paintings and sculptures. Notable exhibitions & projects include the International Symposium of Electronic Art 2018, Trace, a large-scale public artwork for the city of Tulsa, and the 2012 World Creativity Biennale. Her work has been exhibited and/or collected nationwide and abroad on five continents. She was a National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts Merit Award winner and has received an Art365 Fellowship. Her art has been featured on the cover of Art Focus magazine and This Land Press. Grothaus earned a BFA as a double major in Interdisciplinary Arts and Art History at the Kansas City Art Institute and is currently pursuing an MFA from the University of California, San Diego where she resides with her dog and many plants.
LINK: Carson Lynn and Grace Grothau
