Jonas N.T. Becker: Holographic Mountain (2018)
Parodying corporate America, Jonas N.T. Becker transforms The Box into a company showroom, advertising an absurd solution to mountaintop removal mining’s environmental devastation.
The Box
A complement to their exhibition in the galleries, Becker’s installation of Holographic Mountain mimics the settings used by corporate developers to highlight new initiatives. In this case, the proposed plan uses an innovative technology to address some of mining’s negative effects in Helvetia, West Virginia. The space, which is outfitted with generic, upscale office furniture, features a loop of Holographic Mountain. The video advertises the use of holograms to restore the once glorious Appalachian landscape by projecting images of the Swiss Alps onto sites that have been decimated by the practice of blasting the tops of mountains to access coal. The concept, which offers breathtaking views, is illusory and only a superficial cover for the scars that lie beneath. (2:45 mins., HD video)
About the Artist
Jonas N.T. Becker has exhibited internationally, including the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago; the Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; FotoFocus Biennial at the Contemporary Art Center in Cincinnati; the Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago; Craft Contemporary in Los Angeles; and Lancaster Museum of Art and History in Lancaster, California. Awards include the Magnum Foundation Counter Histories Fellowship (2022–23); Lucas Artist Residency Fellowship at Montalvo Art Center, Saratoga, California, (2016–19); Saas-Fee Summer Institute of Art, Switzerland (2015); and Six Points Fellowship (2011–13). Becker is a professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a 2023–24 Global Arts and Humanities Discovery Theme External Fellow at Ohio State. They live and work between West Virginia and Chicago.
