Dekker Dreyer (born November 16, 1980) is an American multi-disciplinary artist working in film, visual art, and music also known as Phantom Astronaut.
Artistry Dreyer works in a variety of mediums with themes intersecting around the subconscious, folklore, technology, and criticism of social systems. His work can be broadly categorized as surreal and often Fantastique. Dreyer employs numerous mediums with his work broadly categorized as conceptual art.
Films Dekker's first film Closed Circuit, was commissioned by Miramax to accompany the feature Naqoyqatsi, was shown at the 2002 Slamdance Film Festival. This was followed by several experimental films. His first mid-length project The Arcadian, depicts a fascist post-apocalyptic world through a pop art lens, starring Lance Henriksen with the music of PerturbatorFeatured Fearmaker: Dekker Dreyer, We Are Indie Horror which was released on collector's edition VHS alongside international midnight screenings.
In music videos, his directorial output includes Mystery Skulls official music video for the single Music and Snowblood's "I'm Ready". He collaborated again with Mystery Skulls in 2022 to create holographic visuals for the "Beam Me Up" Tour.
Dreyer has spoken at events such as The Cannes Film Festival and Sundance.
Music Dreyer is known musically as Phantom Astronaut.
Phantom Astronaut's Gravity + Time (2020) explores genetic history and his Forbidden Science of the Western States Album (2021) explores atomic-age paranoia through environmental samples.
Dreyer works with Danish American ambient and Nordic folk musician The Seawolf and appears on his EP Ginnungagap.
Fiction Writing Dreyer's literary work includes authoring the short story anthologies, Cyberpunk is Dead: Long Live Cyberpunk, Dark Astronomy, Body Horrors, Demonology Lessons, and the novella The Tea Goddess. He is credited as having coined the term ecopunk in 2010, being one of the first authors in the genre which is now widely accepted as Solarpunk.Review of Tea Goddess, Misty Baker, Kindel Obsessed In comics, Dekker is a writer and illustrator, His work includes Mondo Atomic, which retells the stories of Plan 9 from Outer Space, Robot Monster, and other B movies in a contemporary way.
His comic anthology Seven Deadly Sins critiques the role of technology in modern society.
In 2022 he launched a TikTok account dedicated to short fiction which attracted over ten million views and over one hundred thousand followers in the first month.
Virtual and Augmented Reality Dreyer has been called a VR pioneer by both Entrepreneur and MovieMaker.MovieMaker Magazine He is considered a prominent artist in immersive media.Cablefax Multiscreen SummitSlamdance to Expand DIG Showcase, Screen DailyTV Academy Inside VR 2015 At the studio he co-founded, Clever Fox, he created and directed two of the first scripted original series in VR, The DepthsVR Director Dekker Dreyer on Building an Immersive Horror universe, Horror SocietyThe Depths Brings Terror in 360 Degrees Dreadcentral and Broadcast.Broadcast is a Black Mirror Style Anthology Uploadvr.com He has also created XR experiences for musical artists Bootsy Collins, Devo and Disturbed.Experience Disturbed's 360 Degree VR Video The Sound of Silence AXS.com
His augmented reality live experience The Summoning has been called a "First of its kind" by UploadVR and received wide recognition for its innovative use of technology and creativity.The Summoning is a First of its Kind AR Horror Experience, Uploadvr.comHorror Goes VR in Dekker Dreyer's The Summoning, Dread Central Subsequent projects include the collaborative storytelling project What We Leave Behind.
Dreyer created the VR / AR Producing course at Columbia College Chicago and was subject matter expert for immersive media at the University of Maryland
Visual, Experimental, and Performance Art Dreyer's visual art projects range in format and style. In 2009 a series of digital works were showcased as part of media company Gawker's contemporary art registry. In 2011 he contributed to the Make Your Franklin project. His work has been included in numerous pop-culture themed shows in Los Angeles.Experiment 87a, LA Taco
His experiential and performance art projects combine immersive theatricality, and absurdist cultural commentary. These projects include the restaurant Kaiju Sushi which was located in the shark attack capital of the world. Dreyer and his partner Julia Howe proclaimed that any person coming to the pop-up restaurant with proof that they were attacked by sharks would get free sushi resulting in national coverage and raised awareness for ecological conservation.Shark Attack Victims Get Free Sushi in New Smyrna Beach Fl, Huffington PostWTF Attacked by a Shark and Get Free Sushi, OC WeeklyFlorida Restaurant to Give Free Sushi to Shark Attack Victims, Food Beast His second cuisine-based art experience was L'Aldila, a supernatural restaurant in the heart of Spiritualist camp Cassadaga, Florida, where patrons were encouraged to commune with the dead during their meals.
Dreyer's A.I. generated works include the series Sacred + Profane presented as part of the exhibit A Kind of Alchemy by the International Journal for Digital Art History and the Phantom Astronaut Dead Channel on Twitch. The Dead Channel is described as a neural network trained on Dreyer's voice speaking words and phrases written by Dreyer randomly reassembled as a twenty-four hour live feed with stylized found footage.
Dreyer's most controversial experimental work is the project Tentacle Grape, produced in partnership with his wife, to bring awareness to a rising tide of misogyny in pop culture in an era predating Gamergate and related right-wing movements. The project, presented as a regular consumer product, created confusion and drew controversy about the brand's packaging and message.Grapevines: Ah, The Delicious Taste of Tentacle Rape. KotakuAlex Zalben.Tentacle Grape Soda, Hilarious or in Poor Taste? Nerve.com Although controversial, the product was overwhelmingly popular leading to Cracked naming it #4 on their list of "Horrifying Soft Drinks Around the World".Horrifying Soft Drinks Around the World by Cezary Jan Strusiewicz, Cracked.com The unexpected popularity of the product lead to a backlog prompting watchdog site The Consumerist to question the existence of the soda.Mysteries: Is Tentacle Grape Real? Because their shipment dates aren't by Chris Walters, The Consumerist A retraction was subsequently published.It's Real: Reader receives his Tentacle Grape by Chris Walters, The Consumerist.com
Curation, Producing, and Hosting In 2007 he and his partners launched the Illusion On-Demand network, a science fiction television channel geared toward supporting independent genre filmmakers. At launch the network boasted a large footprint within the US cable television market.Marketwire He soon took on the duty of creative director and brought both animeAin't It Cool News and sci-fi classics like Doctor WhoAMC's Sci-Fi Scanner to the network. Dekker produced many of the original programs that appeared on Illusion including Analog presents: The Science of Fiction in partnership with Analog Science Fiction and Fact. He would later expand the channel's holdings by launching the short-lived anthology magazine Transmitter
In 2008 he founded the touring animation festival Anime After Dark which kicked off with presenting the official 20th anniversary event for Grave of the Fireflies showcasing a digital conversion which was overseen by Dreyer.
From 2012 to 2016 he was part of Participant Media's online video arm at Takepart.com and on the launch team for their cable television network Pivot. Participant Media is widely known to produce content dealing with the subjects of climate change, journalistic ethics, and social justice.
In 2016 he returned to the Slamdance Film Festival as a jury member.Slamdance Jury Reveal, Variety That same year he was a major supporter of the organization's DIG (Digital, Interactive, and Gaming) showcase. In 2018 he took on the role of organizer and co-curator of the DIG program.
Dreyer produced a live event series called Movie Cult in Los Angeles which encourages audience participation around forgotten VHS movies and other pop culture found footage.Move the Crowd, Huffington Post24 of our Favorite Events in Los Angeles, LAist
From 2017 to 2018 Dreyer was the co-host of the podcast The Future is Virtual from Embolden Entertainment (later Zero Gravity). The show was unique in that it was live streamed as a simulcast to AltspaceVR, Twitch, and Facebook 360. In 2015 Dreyer was featured on TV Tokyo's television series Why Did You Come to Japan. He and his wife Julia took the audience on a tour of Tokyo's Golden Gai nightlife.
Non-Fiction Projects Dreyer is an outspoken essayist writing on the topics of human rights, race, sexual identity, and other social issues from a perspective left of center in U.S. politics.The Evangelicals you Don't Know by Tom Krattenmaker pg. 194What World AIDS Days Means to Me, The Advocate
Other non-fiction projects include producing the free-form documentary Three Days in Orlando which showcased the social climate around the yearly Gay Days event in Orlando Florida through a series of intimate vérité vignettes
Personal life
Dreyer was born on November 16, 1980, in Daytona Beach, Florida. His parents briefly performed traveling puppet shows with the family living out of the show's tour van. He spent longer periods living in New York City, California, Massachusetts, and Central Florida. As a teenager he attended Douglas Anderson School of the Arts. Dreyer claims that due to living over a hundred miles outside of the local area his parents maintained a local apartment for him and that he would travel home each weekend.
He Married his spouse, composer and FX engineer, Julia Howe, in 2009
References
External links Official Dekker Dreyer website