Over The River

:: virtual reality installation in a vanished landscape ::

Created by Edrex Fontanilla and Sarah Nelson Wright
virtual reality mask, gravel, 360 video
2016

OVER THE RIVER transports the wearer to Hunter’s Point South, allowing gallery visitors to exist in a place that no longer exists. Visitors are invited to step on the gravel, peer into the mask and experience a virtual reality installation of a unique landscape that recently vanished from New York City’s waterfront.

Hunter’s Point South is a large, formerly industrial site built on layers of landfill that was left fallow for 40 years and grew into a verdant forest with robust ecology. It was an accidental playground for a diverse group of visitors who wandered into this liminal space and experienced the magic of being alone in a forest atop a cliff across from the Manhattan skyline, hidden in plain site. In fall 2015, the city removed this forest to make way for high-rise condominiums and an official public park. This virtual reality documentary transports users to this uncanny urban space, allowing them to exist in a place that no longer exists.

OVER THE RIVER was exhibited in 2016 in Chance Ecologies: The Wild Landscape of Hunter’s Point South Radiator Gallery at in Queens, NY.