Wastedland 2 is a detritus-strewn, site-specific, immersive film installation transforming spaces into a three-dimensional post-apocalyptic graffiti wonderland. Questions of fate and self will collide with graffiti folk lore through wordplay, sculpture, artifacts, and characters – all centered around thematics from the existential fantasy film of the same name. Created by Andrew H. Shirley, and his actors and members of the notorious Brooklyn-based 907 graffiti crew – this environment allows the viewer to enter the psychology of the narrative, to identify and ultimately re-define the way one traditionally engages with film and artwork.

“The Beginning, If Not the End” by UFO 907 and William Thomas Porter in Detroit (photo by Phil Conners)

Following its debut in Detroit last September, Wastedland 2 has spent the past year touring across the U.S., featuring artists and new material specific to each location. This event at Knockdown Center will be the culmination and a celebration of that national tour.

About Wastedland 2
Shirley’s Wastedland 2 (30 min/ Color/ 2016) follows three solitary vandals (played by Wolftits, Avoid, and Smells) who cross paths while searching for the meaning of a trail of enigmatic artworks left behind by UFO 907, another nomadic artist. Roaming from one decaying zone to the next in a never-ending search for beer, weed and a wall to paint, the vandals form a pact with the rest of the surviving seekers (played by other recognized graffiti artists Rambo, Noxer, EKG, and others) to attain the answer to their unanimous question of their futility- “what’s the point?” www.wastedland2.com

WASTEDLAND 2: 2017 TRAILER from andrew h. shirley on Vimeo.

About Andrew H. Shirley
Andrew H. Shirley finds an obsession in living experimentation through a primarily nomadic miscreant lifestyle detached from material pop culture. His multi disciplinary work has appeared in PS 1, MOCA, Museum of Sex, and films have screened in over 300 cities worldwide. As a social architect, he has curated the underground into public events from institutions such as the Brooklyn Academy of Music to a secret tree house art gallery he built in upstate NY.

Image: Amoeba and Wolftits encounter the UFO spaceship somewhere in a field. This scene was shot in Marbletown, NY- facing west towards Slide Mountain. Scultpure was built by William Thomas Porter and UFO907 (film still).