ELEVATOR

An immersive video installation deconstructing the elevator pitch, a capitalist ritual promoting the morphing of personhood and product.

Premiere: 2023 Under The Radar Festival
TRAILER

Writer/Director: Mia Rovegno
Conceptual Artist: Tahir Karmali
Pitch Dramaturg: Liz Thys

Featuring: Daniel K. Isaac, Starr Busby, Ben Beckley

Editor: Tyler Jensen
3 Channel Editor: Kate Freer
Lighting Design: Reza Behjat
Sound Design: Roman Chimienti
BJ Evans: Creative Producing Consultant

A tech start-up company called ThoughtThought is pitching a “human upgrade” software suite product to you. The pitch escalates into a surreal visual and sonic choral cacophony unveiling the lens of the white cis male dominating the tech world, whose performative optics claim client-facing diversity and inclusion.

A pandemic-friendly virtual video iteration was developed through the ONEBRIClab Performing Arts Residency and presented by BRIC on Bricbrooklyn YouTube in 2020.

A Panel Discussion following the WIP showing at BRIC explored algorithmic justice and how it relates to power dynamics, biases and discrimination in venture and tech. Panelists: Jenny Gerow, BRIC curator of contemporary Art; Lisa Nash, IDEO Data Scientist; Sean Green, Artenal Founder and CEO; Wendy Xiao Schadeck, Northzone Ventures Prinicipal.

ELEVATOR received additional developmental support from The Public Theater’s Devised Theater Working Group.