I just had a terrible dream. In a dystopian future, robots controlled every aspect of our lives.

Good thing my alarm woke me up.

Coming into grade 12, there were a few themes I knew our projects would focus on for the year. Dystopia and horror were the two I knew for certain after seeing past exhibitions put on by PLP 12s (and my sister). Of the two, dystopia was the one I found most interesting, largely because of how much I didn’t understand it. Looking at those past exhibitions, dystopia seemed to be a very broad topic. At the same time, certain themes were prevalent throughout all the projects. At the very least, I knew I’d learn about a subject I’d had questions about for years, which excited me for what was to come.

This project started at an interesting time. While we were smack dab in the middle of our horror project, this new project was presented to us, and we were told it would be intertwined with our winter exhibition. Initially, I didn’t love the idea of putting a pause on our film development to start a whole new project. I’m sure many of my peers felt the same way, thinking this would only make our course loads even tougher and our horror films worse. But I’m sure our teachers had considered this as well, and wouldn’t have made this decision if they didn’t think we were capable of handling it.

Throughout this project, we were tasked with choosing from a list of dystopian literature and coming together in book groups to discuss weekly. I chose to read Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, a book I had heard my mom mention once in the past and knew she owned a paper copy of. I started reading this book while away visiting universities in Ontario, and reading on the plane was definitely the optimal setting to learn about the “Bokanovsky Process.” I already wanted to puke from motion sickness, and reading the opening chapters of this book didn’t help one bit. Still, I found the world Huxley envisioned to be satirically fascinating in many ways. Needless to say, those first chapters really drew me in. Embedded within this weird perspective of a potential future were many themes of dystopia: surveillance, over-reliance on technology, propaganda, mass consumerism, and more. These themes would eventually be central to my final product during the winter exhibition.

Our final product for this project was a dystopian conceptual art piece/installation to be displayed at the winter exhibition. Before beginning, we researched many dystopian art pieces to better understand how the culmination of what we read could be expressed through art. Then, we started generating ideas for our own pieces. From the beginning, I knew I wanted the themes of surveillance and over-reliance on technology to be central to my art. Coming up with an idea that I could realistically execute in just a couple of weeks, however, was the hard part. I thought back to the museums I’d visited, especially this past summer in Switzerland and France. Each seemed to have a dark room of some sort with vibrant digital imagery, and I thought maybe I could create something similar. Logistically, I figured I could use the gym closet, my many black blankets to cover the walls, and all the devices I had at home. In my head, everything started to come together, and it seemed like I’d be able to create an installation. An installation where the juxtaposition of digital imagery with a dark room would prompt viewers to reflect on their relationship with surveillance, technology, and misinformation.

Over the next couple of weeks, I started planning my art installation. I gathered materials, wrote my artist statement, made blueprints, and edited cryptic videos. The only caveat was that I couldn’t set up my art until the day of, as it was to be built in the gym equipment closet. This meant I spent three hours setting up the installation before the guests arrived. Throughout the night, I encountered a few technical difficulties, such as a GIF not looping, weak cell reception, or the Wi-Fi not connecting to one or more devices. However, I managed to get everything working in the end and received praise for my work from peers, teachers, and parents alike.

If I were to redo this project, I would test all the equipment in the room beforehand to ensure good cell reception and Wi-Fi connectivity. Additionally, I would export all the files to every device ahead of time to make sure they looped correctly. In short, I wouldn’t put off testing the equipment until the last minute.

From grappling with the complexities of Brave New World to bringing my conceptual art installation to life, I’ve learned that the themes of surveillance and over-reliance on technology are not just abstract concepts—they are pressing issues that resonate in our daily lives. The technical hurdles I faced on exhibition day taught me the importance of preparation and resilience, reinforcing the idea that art is not only a reflection of society but also an experience shaped by its execution. As I walked away from the exhibition, I was not just proud of my work, I felt a deeper connection to the themes I explored and a renewed appreciation for the power of art to provoke thought and inspire change.