THE MARCH OF HUMAN PROGRESS premiered at Dreamsong Gallery (Mpls), July 2022

The March of Human Progress is a meditation on the relationship between consumer demand and corporate responsibility in the post-war consumption of steel products, extending to the current advertisement of precious metals mining for green energy. As we continue to alter landscapes that previously sat unaltered for a billion years, what part do we as consumers play in responding to corporate advertising and economic and social pressures? "The reason we have such a high standard of living is because advertising has created an American frame of mind that makes people want more things, better things, and newer things,” Robert Sarnoff, president of the National Broadcasting Company, said in 1956. As global industrialization tears up our local environments, what responsibility do we have and what autonomy can we possess in our daily decisions of consumption? And through whose lens do we view the landscapes we call home?

Watch process video.

Composition, field recording, and video / Sara Pajunen
Recorded at Studio Selma (Duluth, MN), Rhude Fryberger building (Leonidas, MN), Fayal Extension Pit #2 (Eveleth, MN)
Mixed by Robert Soma-Lewis at Ambient Works
Text from Steel Serves the Nation, 1901-1951: The Fifty Year Story of United States Steel