Mt. Rush

Brooklyn-based artist Elizabeth Orr presented a multimedia performance and her work-in- progress film Mt. Rush, a moving-image work that interprets the language and visuality of online political marketing and the alarmist fundraising strategies of contemporary American politics.

Mt. Rush tracks the day-to-day activities of a Mount Rushmore park ranger attempting to navigate an onslaught of interactive fundraising emails in the lead up to the presidential election. Presenting a fantastical, near-future narrative that combines animation and live-action, the performance utilizes video technologies to animate a fictional email interface reminiscent of the holographic voice- and gesture-controlled screens imagined by contemporary science fiction. Serving as both narrator and foil to the ranger, the emails perform the politics of emergency so pervasive in today’s systems of governance.