Dani Ploeger
The Grass Smells So Sweet, 2018
VR experience for HTC Vive
The Grass Smells So Sweet processes a collection of found texts from Question & Answer forums Quora and Reddit, which respond to the question “How does it feel to be shot in the head?” The texts, written by people who survived a headshot, can be browsed using the scroll wheel of a mouse next to a monitor. A VR headset installed above a patch of living grass gives access to a simulation based on respondents' attempts to describe their experience, while an electronic aroma dispenser emits a synthetic smell of freshly cut grass. The title of the work is taken from an account of a mock execution in one of the found texts.
Photos by Alexia Manzano
IMAGES
VIDEO LINK
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Dani Ploeger explores situations of conflict and crisis on the fringes of the world of high-tech consumerism. His objects, videos, and apps emphasize both the fragility and rawness of the materiality of everyday technologies, and question the sanitized, utopian marketing around innovation and its implications for local and global power dynamics. In this context, quasi-journalistic journeys often provide the starting point for the development of his works. He has made a VR installation while embedded with frontline troops in East-Ukraine, travelled to dump sites in Nigeria to collect electronic waste originating from Europe, and interviewed witnesses of US drone attacks in Pakistan for a project around sound and technologies of violence. He lives and works between Vlissingen (NL), London and Berlin.
If you are interested in exhibiting or viewing this artistic VR experience, please send an email to us.
CATEGORIES