HOLY HELL

Film by Carlos Trujillo

Audio mixing by Sarah Dahlinger w/sound by Red Fog

Flux Factory, NYC

March, 2020

Holy Hell was set to open on March 12, 2020, the day a state of emergency was declared in NYC due to COVID-19. Participants entered hell in an orchestrated experience teasing out humor and tension in the midst of a global crisis. The program of events was cancelled, including performances, a mechanical bull and comedy night.

The installation plays on concepts of hell such as limbo, inferno and “fire and brimstone” in both subtle and explicit physical representations. The moody and somewhat serene environment is a fully blacked out space including sculptures of fire, a stage, sauna and a waiting room. The waiting room offers a place for people to rest and contemplate their impending damnation. Entrants to hell basked in the mesmerizing flames and released angsty energy. The “open-concept sauna” was a seating area and sauna heater without an enclosed room, quietly embodying eternal desperation by continuously attempting to heat the entire space.