NGMI

Vertical HD (1080x1920px / 9:16), colour/audio, 12’00”, 2022. “Who would’ve thought the end of the world would look like mowed lawns, a holiday to Greece, or a new pair of jeans?” 'NGMI' is a sequel to the video essay and powerpoint-on-steroid 'Mistakes. The artist talk', made in the midst of the first Covid pandemic lockdown. 'NGMI' is a sequence of transitioning tableaus, or chapters, that form a travel through time. Chapters: Anthem for the End of the World as We Know it, Long Distance Call, First Pictogram Lullaby, Grief: an Alarm Call, Dragons of Inaction, The Review, New Mythologies, Generational Amnesia (They told us the metaverse was going to be So. Much. Fun.), Call Again 'Mistakes' was made during the first pandemic lockdown of Spring 2020, as an acute response to the extraordinary circumstances at the time. Made two years later, 'NGMI' expresses post-pandemic sentiments of disappointment by the closing of the short window of opportunity to make meaningful changes to benefit the health of our planet. Instead, society’s desire to return to ‘normal’ prevailed and urgent changes have been stalled. Both films process the emotional experience of ecosystem collapse through chapters that alternate between information, absurdity and speculation. 'Mistakes' and 'NGMI' also notably include ‘me’ as a narrator, in the form of avatars and superimposed text. Music is prominent in both films, contributing to environmental activist and writer Bill McKibben’s call for more crisis-aware art: “Where are the goddamn operas?“ (The Grist, 2005). The opposite of NGMI is WAGMI: ‘we’re all gonna make it’. We'll see about that. “what a fascinating film–i’ve never seen anything quite like it. i’m very glad to have played a small part in inspiring it!” – Bill McKibben, in response to NGMI, January 2023.