ORB Cinematic Experience by [dNASAb], “Aesthetics of Decay”, Betsy Hotel Orb, Miami, March 2026 – "_"Exploring the intricate nexus between human existence and technology"

“Aesthetics of Decay” —XR Cinematic Intervention | March 2026 |

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Artist Statement: "Aesthetics Of Decay, Design for Dying Electronics" "Aesthetics Of Decay, Design for Dying Electronics" is a 13-year exploration of the fragile beauty and inevitable demise of consumer electronics, catalyzed by the personal loss of a loved one. The series began as a response to technological failure, where the cracks and glitches of broken screens became metaphors for the way we experience loss. The digital residue of my loved one—text messages, photos, and memories—slowly disappeared through the inevitable breakdown of the devices that once held them, leading me to confront the ephemeral nature of our digital lives. This exploration took on a cathartic dimension as I began to physically destroy electronics—burning, breaking, and dismantling them—to harvest the beauty of their decay with intention. The act of destruction became a form of healing, a way to reclaim power over the technology that so often fails us. By photographing each step of this dilapidation and layering the images, I sought to reveal the hidden aesthetics of entropy and death in these devices, finding solace in the act of creation through destruction. As the series evolved, it embraced new technologies, including AI-assisted, post-human cinema iterations. These works are trained on the images that began this journey, extending the narrative into the digital realm. This evolution underscores the importance of using AI as a tool for creative exploration, rather than allowing it to shape us passively. The original works compelled viewers to confront the inevitability of their own devices' decay by mapping video into the broken areas of screens, creating glitching visuals that symbolized the relentless cycle of technological obsolescence. This juxtaposition of new technology and its inevitable death highlighted both the beauty and tragedy inherent in our reliance on these devices. Themes of loss and death permeate the series—loss of data, privacy, memories, and ultimately, parts of ourselves. As we increasingly project our identities into the digital domain, the failure of these devices becomes more than just a technical issue; it becomes deeply personal, as each malfunction erases fragments of our digital selves. In this extension of the series, the importance of actively using AI, rather than being used by it, is paramount. As technology becomes ever more intertwined with our daily lives, this work serves as a reflection and a reminder to retain our agency in shaping these tools. The series captures the tension between human experience and technological failure, where loss is both real and virtual, and where the beauty of decay reveals itself in the most unexpected ways. "The instant my mother passed away; every screen in the house-glitched-and froze. My sister pointed at the screen and said, 'there she is,' and she was right." This moment encapsulates the essence of "Aesthetics Of Decay, Design for Dying Electronics"—the intersection of human emotion and the cold, inevitable entropy of technology.

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PRESS RELEASE

“AESTHETICS OF DECAY”

An Immersive Film Experience by [dNASAb] at The Betsy Orb

March 1–31, 2026
Opening Night Reception — March 6, 7–10PM

Screenings: Nightly through March
Location: The Orb at The Betsy Hotel, 1440 Ocean Drive, Miami Beach
Runtime: 19 minutes, looping from dusk to midnight_ South Beach at 14th Place & Ocean Court, Miami Beach, FL 33139

ARCHITECTURE OF AWE: The Future of Location-Based Storytelling at BASS Museum

From immersive domes to next-generation venues like Sphere and Cosm, storytelling is expanding beyond the flat screen into fully enveloping environments. These spaces demand new creative languages, new production pipelines, and new economic models — blending cinema, live performance, architecture, and spectacle.

Panel Details:
• Panel: “ARCHITECTURE OF AWE: The Future of Location-Based Storytelling”
• Date: Friday, March 20
• Time: 2:10 PM – 2:50 PM
• Location: The Bass Museum of Art

Panelists:
Katy Yudin, Cosm
[dNASAb], Artist & Filmmaker
Tanya Bravo, Juggerknot Theatre Company

Moderator:
Mike Knowlton, Campfire

Aesthetics of Decay is a large-scale immersive film installation transforming The Betsy Orb into a monumental work of disruptive media art — fusing emerging visual technologies with deeply human storytelling.

The experience begins with an intimate rupture: the final breath of a loved one and an unexplainable glitch — an image frozen across every screen in a house. From that suspended moment unfolds a meditation on grief, memory, and our entanglement with technology in a world of relentless devices and digital residue.

Driven by emotionally charged sound design — pulsing electronic rhythms, glitch-saturated textures, fractured audio, and lyrical narration — the film moves through a visceral arc. Shock fractures into distortion. Love merges with circuitry. Screens shatter in catharsis. Viewers travel through collapsing pixel architectures and luminous data storms before entering contemplative digital altars resonating with cathedral-scale tones. What begins in rupture evolves toward integration — a rebuilding of self within the systems that shape us.

Composed specifically for the Orb’s architectural façade, the work integrates large-format projection, video art spanning 2011–2026, traditional filmmaking, AI-assisted cinema, high-velocity visual composition, and spatial sound design to redefine immersive public film. These technologies are not spectacle. They are precision instruments used to tell a human story at city scale.

Designed as a scalable architectural cinema work, Aesthetics of Decay is adaptable to museum environments, cultural institutions, and landmark façades worldwide. It advances a new model for how cities and institutions engage immersive media — not as decoration, but as dialogue.

The film culminates in sharply constructed environmental micro-films addressing plastic proliferation”Rise Above Plastics” and protecting “Biscayne Bay,Miami’s Crown Jewel”. Positioned intentionally at the conclusion, they extend the emotional arc into collective accountability. The same systems that archive our memories also shape our planetary future. Awe must lead to awareness.

As Miami commands global attention each March for its convergence of art, music, and technology, Aesthetics of Decay offers something rare: immersive cinema with consequence. In a culture saturated with spectacle, it centers emotional gravity, narrative rigor, and civic scale impact.

Created by a media sculptor committed to forging cinematic environments that inspire cultural reflection and positive change, this project represents both a premiere and a platform. The themes it confronts — digital saturation, grief in the age of infinite storage, ecological consequence — are universal, urgent, and globally resonant.

Cultural institutions, curators, collectors, patrons, technologists, and visionary partners are invited to participate in expanding what immersive cinema can become.

Miami is the Magic City.
Let’s make it even More Magic!

Special Thanks to the Knight Foundation and the Betsy Hotel.

Thanks to South Beach Sound Healing Orchestra for the “Amazing Grace” handpan score.