In Xanadu
2018, 4K single-channel video, stereo (17:00).
In Xanadu is an experimental documentary about the eponymous house of tomorrow that opened to the public in Kissimmee, FL in 1983. The narrative, written by architect Roy Mason for the coffee-table book sold at Xanadu's gift shop, follows a typical day for family members John, Mary, and their teenage son John, Jr., who live in the fully automated home managed by a computerized "house brain." The manipulated drawings of the house in its ideal state are juxtaposed with archival footage of the house in its abandoned state before it was demolished, tracing the intersections of utopian design, the heteronormative nuclear family, colonialism, and surveillance capitalism.
Music by Nick Hallett and Joshua Thorson.
Narration by Kyle deCamp.
Installation image from Visual Studies Workshop residency.