Artist Statement

Google Earth, video, custom code, mixed-media kiosk

The Secret of Eternal Levitation is an interactive installation and correlating augmented reality, cell phone-enabled tour that explores the power dynamics and structural relationships between contemporary visions of utopian urbanization and real-world economic, political, and environmental factors. Drawing from existing interpretations of the “ideal” global city as projected by the fantastical constructions of cities such as Dubai or Beijing, the project creates a narrative around a fictional multinational developer.

• Stephanie Rothenberg, New York, US. Stephanie Rothenberg’s interdisciplinary art draws from digital culture, science and economics to explore relationships between human designed systems and biological ecosystems. Moving between real and virtual spaces her work investigates the power dynamics of techno utopias, global economics and outsourced labor.  stephanierothenberg.com

Made possible in part by the Harpo Foundation