Future So Bright is a documentation and mapping project that creatively catalogs abandoned spaces in the American West. Perhaps best classified as an experimental-documentary, the project explores ghost towns, abandoned military bases, and boarded up tourist traps to present a meditative time capsule of the false starts and failed attempts of the past 150 years of American Western Expansion.
Whether it be early mining boomtowns and pioneer settlements, remote WWII-era military outposts, or the roadside attractions that the introduction of car culture ushered onto the back roads of America, development associated with western expansion has, and continues, to be marked by rapid growth and rapid abandonment. Future So Bright attempts to catalog these places while examining the disposable mentality of American Western expansion, creating a time capsule for the forgotten spaces and abandoned relics that are quickly being reclaimed by nature or new development.
Future So Bright is an unfinished and constantly evolving project and has been presented in different formats. Work started on the project in 2005, and it was first presented as a series of video installations and photographs at Art Basil Miami Beach in 2007. The piece has continued to grow and evolve, with ‘theatrical’ presentations being presented at the New York Film Festival and the Portland Art Museum in 2011. Additional presentable forms from the series include the looping installations Motor Hotel (2 channels, 13 minutes, ‘07), Western Edge (single channel, 11 minutes, ‘07), and The War Effort (single channel, 9 minutes, ‘10) as well as several photographs.
Future So Bright
Experimental Documentary
24 minutes / 16mm transferred to HD / 2011
Created by Matt McCormick