Upstate began as part of an artist residency at Signal Culture in Owego, NY, this past May. The video evokes the upstate atmosphere and apprehension derived from floods and natural disasters, contemporary fears that revolve around fracking and our history of environmental contamination, as well as 19th century interests in the supernatural and the spiritualist movement in towns like Lily Dale, NY. The film is constructed to reference the genre of 20th century horror movies, such as The Amityville Horror, and is presented in a sculptural piece evoking closed drive-in theaters and a sense of loss. The drive-in is submerged in a large tank of water constructed to look like a museum vitrine. The effect is of an abandoned theater sunken in a lake with the film projected on the screen. Underwater, the models have a different presence, and the light projecting through the water and moving image on the submerged screen feel very unnatural.
