The wild viral visions of Romain Gavras

Visions of 2034, a new audio-visual exhibition from Romain Gavras and musician Benoit Heitz (AKA Surkin), includes God Hates Space, a blackly comic twist on conspiracy culture. In God Hates Space, some young people have defected to the woods somewhere in middle America due to their fringe beliefs, chiefly the idea that the Earth is actually hollow.

The film plays on a moment when twentysomethings are becoming off-grid libertarian homesteaders, and popular influencers claim Kendrick Lamar sent "demons through the TV screen" during his Super Bowl half-time performance. God Hates Space was made more than six years ago in Ukraine, before the war, and its aesthetic — which Surkin describes as a combination of "confederate" and "Monster energy drink" — feels prescient rather than referential.

The project features vocals from 070 Shake on Neo Surf, set in a marble quarry, and Gavras argues that images of kids in alien environments are timeless: "If we talk about the future and make a robot, in five years that robot is going to be obsolete.

Ukraine, Middle America

romain gavras, surkin, benoit heitz, 070 shake, neo surf, hollow earth, kendrick lamar, super bowl, off-grid, marble quarry