Memory of a Shrinking, Sinking, Living-Dead Sea

Memory of a Shrinking, Sinking, Living-Dead Sea explores a fragile, religious and regional site of healing, cyclically teetering on the brink of demise. The work delves into the act of remembering - individually, collectively and ecologically - amidst loss. It began as a personal reflection on the process of memory formation between myself and the site. It resultantly unfolded as a virtual reality soundwalk experience. Participants navigate through a LiDAR scan of the receded seabed while listening to juxtaposed temporal moments and field recordings from a trip along the Jordan River to the Dead Sea. Ultimately, using such methods raises questions about how we remember, through simulative technologies, what is being 'lost.' Today, the Dead Sea is shrinking and sinking, exacerbated by geopolitical tensions over regional water control. Since the mid 20th century, the Dead Sea is no longer being fed the way it was by the Jordan River. Maritime borders, continued extraction practices from Jordan, Israel and within the Palestinian occupied West Bank, and an ever changing climate has promoted its imminent extinction.