Powers of Vegan & the Effects of Climate change

Animal food production is a major factor in the acceleration of climate change, responsible for over 18% of greenhouse gas emissions – more than all modes of transport combined – while animal agriculture is responsible for 91% of destruction in the Amazon.

D-Fuse proposes an exploration of our planet’s fragility and the effects of man-made climate change, taking inspiration from Charles and Ray Eames’ film, Powers of Ten and the Relative Size of Things in the Universe, which illustrates the cosmos as an arena of continuity and change, using the system of exponential powers to visualize the importance of scale. Powers of Vegan adapts this concept to highlight the disastrous impact of humanity’s energy, water usage and food production models. Key to doing so is the creation of 360-video content offering viewers a fully immersive VR experience at each stage of a fantastic voyage... ...A close-up of a cow eating grass that pulls back to first reveal the extent of deforestation across the Amazon Rainforest, then our planet as a vulnerable speck within the universe; the destructiveness and insignificance of mankind is, hence, made painfully clear, suggesting that, unless we become better stewards of the Earth, its resources will soon be depleted, forcing us to seek a new stellar home.

Contining this journey at a 10-to-the-tenth metres per second, the audience returns from deep space to Earth, homing in on the cow again, entering its blood stream while viewing data visualisations of just how harmful current farmng systems can be, as well as positive messages promoting change.

In 1998, Powers of Ten was preserved in the United States’ Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.” We intend this work to be equally enlightening, ensuring that the audience’s VR experience is interactive, meaningful and thrilling throughout, so that they might further reflect on the issues ‘dramatised’ long after it has ended.

D-Fuse’s pedigree as creators of experimental documentary content will ensure that high quality outcomes are delivered on-time and in-budget, previous works – notably the Small Global installations, which translated data about consumption into an immersive environment – having been shown at events including Sonar, Eyebeam and TriBeCa Film Festival and Prix Ars Electronica . Of further relevance to this proposal are the Carbon Crisis Blipverts, a series of animations exploring aspects of global warming, the Deforestation Blipvert forming part of Al Gore's current An Inconvenient Truth presentation.