Lauren Strohacker

With Animal Land, Lauren Strohacker and collaborator Kendra Sollars reimagine traditional wildlife encounters in a contemporary format– through technology in human-populated urban spaces. After sunset, moving video projections of isolated, larger-than-life animals are directed onto and inside of urban spaces. Void of their contextual natural environments, sound, and color, the projected animals integrate into the cityscape. Animal Land follows the principals of ecological art that strive to connect humans to the environmental issues of our time. The goals of the project are to create animal-centric dialogues about loss and conservation within urban environments and to garner attention for the online sales of photographic prints that monetarily support the wildlife organizations on the front lines of habitat and species loss.

Animal Land had been using a single projector projecting onto a single surface. Now, installation events can happen more frequently and are being created to include: multiple projectors that strengthen the feeling of being surrounded and uncertain of the animals’ next moves, more closely mimicking a true animal encounter; and motion sensors that will change the parameters of the projections (beginnings, durations, endings), echoing the unpredictability of actual wildlife movement. This interactive and encompassing evolution of Animal Land should enrich and promote the live experience as well as enhance the final photographs and short films.

Lauren Strohacker’s work examines the ever-growing conflict between humans and animals as our manufactured environments (physical and economical) expand into natural habitats. She received a BFA (2006) from The Ohio State University and an MFA (2011) from Arizona State University. Her projects include a commission by INFLUX and Roosevelt Row CDC titled Encounter, a life-sized, sculptural herd of mule deer that migrated around the city and dwindled over the course of a year. Other projects include NO(w)HERE (2009), an ongoing collaboration with the Grand Canyon Wolf Recovery Project, Defenders of Wildlife, and MexicanWolves.org, that places Mexican wolf silhouettes in southwestern cities, giving a current population count of the most endangered mammal in the United States. And, most recently, the project Animal Land (2013), a collaboration with artist Kendra Sollars and local wildlife conservation/ rehabilitation centers, was awarded the Contemporary Forum Emerging Artist Grant (2014) by the Phoenix Art Museum. Strohacker’s work has been published in the National Endowment for the Arts eBook, Exploring Our Town (2014), Sierra Magazine (2014), Java Magazine (2013), and Phoenix Magazine (2013). In 2014, Strohacker was named one of the top 100 creatives in the city by the Phoenix New Times.