Ghost of a Dream’s I know a place where they perform miracles opening at Museum of Contemporary Art Arlington, January 2024

The Museum of Contemporary Art Arlington is proud to present I know a place where they perform miracles, an exhibition by the collaborative duo Ghost of a Dream. The exhibition highlights a new seven-channel rotating video installation created for the exhibition at MoCA Arlington as part of their ongoing project Aligned by the Sun and showcases all new composite photographs from their series Is this Paradise….

For Aligned by the Sun, Ghost of a Dream has invited artists from all over the world to send them short videos of the sun at the end of the day taken in their home nation, with the original goal of including an artist representing each of the 193 United Nations member states, as well as non-member nations and territories. Currently, the project includes artists from over 220 nations (the 193 UN member states plus many others).

The collaborative artwork is ongoing and artists whose home geographies are not yet represented are invited to submit their own videos for inclusion in future versions of the project. The work is intentionally open-ended and impossible to complete, as geographic boundaries shift and new states and territories emerge. The immersive video installation invites viewers to stand in the room as the sun in over 200 countries sets around them. As the artists explain: “As borders have shifted, one truth has remained constant: we inhabit a single planet that is sustained by the light and warmth of the sun.”

The composite photographs from the Is this Paradise…. series are created using images of climate disasters collected from online news stories over recent years. These images are organized by subject matter and then combined, collaged, overlayed, and desaturated to give them a haunting quality, making them both weightier and more ethereal than when viewed individually. The composite images in the exhibition depict various environmental issues, including forest fires, melting icebergs, mining activities, dead coral reefs, deforestation, and the waste from the fast fashion industry.

In their distinct ways, both bodies of work address the interconnectedness of the planet and how it can be a source of both hope and despair. Created from images of  ongoing environmental crises and sunsets that hint at an uncertain tipping point, the artworks serve as a visual reminder of the challenges the world faces. Through both works, the artists call for collective action, emphasizing the importance of coming together as a global community to address these pressing issues.