/Green (Screen) Dreams /
Green (Screen) Dreams is a 60s mock-advert video tryptic that introduces the imaginary town of Sunthorpe and its popular tourist attractions. The intentional typo is a marketing attempt to rebrand the real British town of Scunthorpe and to cash in on the present and future impact of climate change.
Sunthorpe represents the ongoing conflict between the environment, technology and market forces. At its heart, it is the existential paradox between industrialisation (manifested in Scunthorpe’s steel industry), globalisation and their role in climate change in a region already marred by pollution, floods and rising sea levels.
The project also taps into the social impact exerted on a community whose identity is still deeply rooted in the industry in an era increasingly defined by immaterial labour.
By presenting attractions that don’t yet exist, Green (Screen) Dreams looks at Scunthorpe’s history as a place shaped by human activity whose very existence is being threatened by it.
It’s also a critical commentary on the widely promoted liberal capitalist idea that problems should be seen as opportunities - even if that problem prompts the collapse of entire living ecosystems (ours included).
Commissioned by Invisible Dust with the Humber Museums Partnership for York Mediale and North Lincolnshire Museum. ‘Green (Screen) Dreams’ was part of Surroundings, a 3-year programme of international artists residencies and exhibitions on environmental themes across the Humber Region. It was funded by Arts Council England and the Wellcome Trust.
Green Screen Dreams was presented at the following exhibition:
2023 - Scunthorpe Stories - 20 - 21 Visual Arts Centre - UK
2022 - False Clouds - National Gallery of Bosnia & Herzegovina - B&H
2019 - Solo Show - North Lincolnshire Museum - UK
2018 - York Mediale - UK
Year: 2018
Special thanks to:
Sean Chambers
Oliver Quinn
Ira Pappa
Dorcas Taylor
Alice Sharp
Kersti Mark
Martha Cattel
Olivia Gray
Emma Hallam
Guy Loftus