Lance Weiler Takes 'Where There's Smoke' to the High Line
How can we use digital storytelling to connect with strangers? Can glitch art help us understand the malleability of memory? Is there an end to grieving?
These are some of the questions being asked by Associate Professor of Professional Practice, Lance Weiler in his ambitious exhibition, Where There's Smoke. The interactive, time-based media installation is viewable from the High Line in the RLWindow on 26th Street, and includes two live performances. The final performance will take place November 5 at 4:30 PM, and will be followed by a conversation between Weiler and curator Regina Harsanyi.
Where There's Smoke has existed in several iterations since its premiere at the Tribeca Festival in 2019. Now, it reaches new potential at Ryan Lee Gallery's dedicated exhibition space, which brings video, installation, and performance pieces to High Line visitors through the building's window. Weiler's work combines all three of these elements in a multi-channel video collage made up of large scale glitch-based vignettes, animated text, and projections.
The project stems from conversations Weiler had with his father, a volunteer firefighter and amateur fire scene photographer, in the months leading up to his death. Weiler, who describes the work as a "grief ritual," invites viewers to join him in this process. I mean this quite literally: visitors can interact with the exhibition via text message to save an object of their choice from a burning building. Using Weiler's own mysterious family history with fire as a springboard, viewers are prompted to share a memory provoked by the object they chose to save.
Where There's Smoke has always been about connection. While the initial version was a physical participatory installation, in 2020 it was converted to a virtual exhibition, which subverted online productivity tools to create intimate storytelling experiences.
This time, Weiler performs his video collage live, like a DJ remixing 35mm slides and animated gifs. Viewers' anonymous text messages become a part of this archive of collective memory, so the exhibition exists in a constant state of evolution.
For Weiler, who directs the School of the Arts' Digital Storytelling Lab, everyday technology is a tool that can be broken down and re-formed to make art. When we spoke about the piece, he admitted that the technology behind the exhibition is quite innovative, but his goal is for people not to notice. Where There's Smoke foregrounds human interaction; the point of the technology is to let emotion speak. As Weiler told me, "there's no shortage of a need for healing."
Weiler is a storyteller, emerging media artist, filmmaker, and thought leader. An alum of the Sundance Screenwriters Lab, he is recognized as a pioneer in digital storytelling. Since 2013, Weiler has been a Founding Member & Director of the School of the Arts' Digital Storytelling Lab, whose mission is to explore new forms and functions of storytelling in order to innovate, educate, mobilize, and encourage cross-disciplinary collaboration.
Where There's Smoke is on view September 4–December 20, 2025. The final performance will take place November 5, 4:30–6:30 PM at the RLWindow, viewable on 26th Street from the High Line.
