Each Branch Determined (2016)
by Postcommodity
documentation of VR work
Each Branch Determined imagines northern New Mexico 150 years in the future and finds a series of interconnected American Indian and Xicano pueblos working collaboratively to exercise community and regional self-determination. The immersive experience guides users through landscapes and settings that are framed to exploit sci-fi conventions of an apocalyptic future. However, over time, the user discovers that what appears as apocalyptic is actually a series of managed processes intended to restore and manage land and natural resources, and community ceremonies intended to culturally and socially actuate past, present and future. Each Branch Determined was created in conjunction with the 2167 project. 2167 is an immersive media series that commissioned six Indigenous filmmakers and artists to create VR projects set 150 years in the future. These works serve as a counterpoint to the 150 years of Canadian confederation celebrations that took place throughout 2017. Produced by the Initiative for Indigenous Future/Aboriginal Territories in Cyberspace at Obx Labs.