You are invited to venture through Xila’s living quarters during the year 2096. Enjoy tea and entertainment with your host Xila Jones.

 

Birth of Xila is an art installation built within the attic of Jessie Devereaux's Detroit home. It is a piece that glances into the future incorporating various environmental and social ideas that are currently taking effect. I play Xila Jones within the piece. The production of the attic installation was a highly collaborative effort. All materials used have been donated, recycled, or thrifted to create the space.
 

The purpose of the piece is to invoke environmental awareness and conscious consumption, inspiring an optimistic outlook of the future. I am not a scientist, but I am inspired by the current scientific advancements that are being applied today. These ideas benefit the environment as well as humanity. 

 

I created this "room of the future" from current ideas. Everything within the piece has been carefully chosen to reflect the hypothetical future with those current ideas in place.

This piece was born to create awareness of an optimistic objective. This future society is in no way foolproof. Nevertheless, please wonder and ask questions. With a dialogue, we can move towards a better future for us and our earth.

The opening night was a great success with three groups of seven people with each group guided through the space. Each group was served tea, cricket granola snacks, a FAQ zine, and a musical performance from Xila. The show brought together many great conversations and thoughts of how we might approach the future. After the opening night we had to close down the installation due to the COVID Pandemic.

Concepts - Process
Printable Zine
 

Special thanks to Jessie Devereaux, Colleen Crongeyer, Daniel Cascardo, Leah Castile, and Robert Tomasaitis. Much gratitude to others involved including Goerge Montrelle, Nellie Smydra, Nickie Hall, Samantha Mannino, Gene Cartwright, Nathan Eroh, and Cody Ross.