Dustin Klein

The world has its eyes on alumnus Dustin Klein after he spoke out with his work against racism and violence in America. The former technology student started to project George Floyd’s face overtop the Robert E. Lee Memorial Statue in early July. Klein’s image projections have gathered protestors and equality advocates around the fourteen-foot statue in an outcry against racism and prejudice in America. The gatherings have attracted national organizations such as CNN and The New York Times to showcase Klein’s work and present him on a national stage.

Klein said he wanted to utilize his skills of imagery projection in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. “I [wanted] to support the movement and support [them] standing against police violence and white supremacy.” He said that watching peaceful protests be met with violence and tear gas from authority members around the nation was the driving force behind the displays. “This is wrong,” Klein said in reference to crowds of people in peaceful protest being assaulted with tear gas. Klein also acknowledged that, despite what others may say, the confederate statues surrounding city streets highlight Richmond’s history of racism.“If [the statues] aren’t necessarily a symbol of hatred, but people use [them] as a symbol for hatred, it becomes a portal of negativity that doesn’t need to be there.”

To get his message across, Klein utilizes image projection, an art he learned in high school that allows him to “animate reality.” During his time at ARGS, Klein and his friends would create films which inspired him to study animation in college. Klein complains, though, that animation is “a very slow process.” So when he had to cover for a friend by doing image projection at a festival, he discovered a new passion: image projection. Klein still enjoys the art form today, saying projectors can “take a surface that looks like anything and turn it into anything else. You can take a complicated mural and turn it into something else.” Image projection can also be used to visualize music and take advantage of every sense.

Klein explains that using image projectors in a concert could allow every person in the audience to have a similar visual experience. Using a projector with music forces Klein to analyze the music critically to display the proper experience. He is currently in practice with visualizing music by working with Papadosio, an electric jam band based in Asheville, North Carolina. “I think a lot about temperature. I’ll think ‘does this music sound hot or cold?’ and I’ll think about color in that way. When we close our eyes and listen to music, we let our mind drift and start to kind of see things.” At the end of the day, though, Klein always makes sure to translate the music into a new, visual experience. “Even being part of a protest is similar,” Klein said. “Chanting in a crowd of people all together, I think all of our hearts start beating a little more in unison. We all start feeling a little more united when we have those group experiences.”

His displays on the Robert E. Lee Memorial Statue have been broadcast and reported on throughout the entire nation, giving Klein lots of possible career opportunities. “I’ve definitely been hit up about a lot of activism projects and different kinds of work I had not even considered [doing before],” Klein said. “Every connection you get is a new opportunity, and I have made a lot of connections in the past year.” The project opportunities have secured Klein’s career going forward after complications due to Covid-19. “It’s been nice to be able to extend that project that was out in the monument to different avenues around town,” Klein said. He also appreciates the official status his new projects have after days of using his projector at the monument without permission.

In the future, Klein plans to participate in an image-projection project displaying messages from the national Black Lives Matter protests outside the VCU Institute for Contemporary Art building. He also plans to participate in the InLight festival, a public exhibition of light-based art, by displaying a mapping of the Black Lives Matter movement’s effect in the Richmond area.

Those opportunities are only a possibility because of ARGS, according to Klein. “[High school was] highly contributive to where I am now in terms of my happiness and what I’m doing in life,” Klein said. “I didn’t realize at the time how much I appreciated the diversity of going to school [at ARGS].” The creative aspect of high school was one of the most defining factors in Klein’s high school career, and he loves that students are encouraged to be creative at the school. “That’s a big goal of all of us: to be creative and to shine as people. That’s a very encouraging mindset to have in high school.”

Klein thanks the ARGS community for the experiences he had at the school. Klein offered ARGS students advice for how to pursue different options. “You love what you do and you keep doing what you love and you hope for the best,” Klein said. “There’s no reason to stop if you love it.” He also reminds those who are eligible to be sure to vote in upcoming elections. Klein emphasizes his applause for the teachers in the community. “The teachers don’t get paid nearly enough and work so much harder than so many other careers. Bless all of them, all of their work, and all they do. I hope that we as a community keep pouring resources back into creating more places like ARGS so that [we] can have more generations to make more places like ARGS.”