Claire Jervert is a multi-disciplinary artist and AI researcher working with the emerging technologies XR, AI, robotics—and traditional materials. Her work examines the sociological and psychological impact of technology.
@Claire Jervert // All right reserved
Recently I visited a place that its creators had christened a Survival Condo, a type of structure that is more commonly known as a doomsday bunker or billionaire bunker. It had been constructed inside a 200-ft. deep former nuclear missile silo, in a remote location on the plains of Kansas. While spending a day and night there, I took numerous 360-degree videos of various floors within the structure, which are called “levels.”
The technical limitations inherent in the 360 medium are incorporated into the aesthetic experience of the work. In a 360 video, one can, as the name indicates, turn around in space to get a view of the entire environment. There is sound and movement within the video (such as flowing water) that reenforces the illusion of reality. However, the user cannot proceed into the space, and the objects within it have no three-dimensional extension in space. These elements contribute to and echo the feelings of claustrophobic confinement that one is likely to feel when inhabiting a bunker located 200 feet underground.
As a group, these pieces form an inadvertent but interesting contrast to a number of current virtual/metaverse experiences that tend more toward fantasy or escape. There are, of course, the larger social implications of the subject matter of this work—embodying in itself the extreme wealth disparity and potential apocalyptic consequences generated by late capitalism. In experiencing the various environments and “levels” within the bunker, the user can reflect on where they might be, and what they might be experiencing, should a situation arise in the outside world that would make the use of this bunker necessary.