D-Fuse

D-Fuse: Founded by neurodivergent artist Mike Faulkner in the mid-1990s, D-Fuse is a collective of audiovisual innovators working with environmental storytelling and collaborative processes across a range of media and art forms. From its origins in graphic design, web development and VJ-ing, D-Fuse’s work has evolved to amplify the voices of marginalised communities and focus attention on the complex relationship between daily life and excessive demand for the Earth’s resources. Its creative output encompasses immersive art installations, live AV performances, VR, experimental film and animation.

D-Fuse has collaborated on a wide range of high-profile commissions with international partners including Al Gore, the Eames Office, the British Council, Steve Reich, Beck, Hauschka, Scanner, University College London, Cranbrook Academy of Art, Immersive Media Lab/USC and Eyebeam. Exhibitions include COP26 (Glasgow), COP27 (Sharm El Sheikh), the British Film Institute (London), Prix Ars Electronica, Mori Art Museum (Tokyo), Tribeca Film Festival (NYC) and Museum of Modern Art (San Francisco), Sonar D+ (Lisbon/Barcelona) and the Cannes Film Festival.

Mike Faulkner is a London-based neurodivergent artist and climate activist and the founder of D-Fuse, a pioneering media arts studio established in the mid-1990s. His practice spans immersive installations, live audio-visual performance, experimental film, VR/XR and animation, working at the intersection of art, science and technology.

Since the early 2000s, he has been a leading figure in exploring global culture and environmental activism through his audiovisual work, developing a distinctive framework for environmental storytelling. Faulkner’s practice is shaped by a neurodivergent lens that informs his sensory-rich, nonlinear approach to storytelling.

A pioneer of VJ culture, he has performed live with musicians and composers including Steve Reich, Beck, Hauschka, and Scanner. The artist collaboration while VJ-ing onstage throughout Beck’s Guerro world tour resulted in the creation of video content to accompany the best-selling album. Faulkner has also authored the world’s first book on the art form, VJ: Audiovisual Art and VJ Culture (Laurence King 2007). He has contributed to the forthcoming publication Audio-Visualism, with Activism, Environmental and Non-Conventional Storytelling Within Audio-Visual Practice (Routledge, due Autumn 2026).

Exhibitions and Screenings include COP 27/26, British Film Institute (2021), San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (2005), Tribeca Film Festival, NYC (2007), Prix Ars Electronica (2009), Moscow Architectural Biennale (2010), and Mori Art Museum, Japan (2008), among others.

ARTWORK

Nine Earths (Installation)
Nine Earths is an immersive artwork that explores the relationship between ordinary lives and humanity’s excessive demand for the Earth’s resources. In doing so, it invites the viewer to reflect on our impact on the planet, and how this connects us all. Nine Earths is a collaborative piece created by the media arts studio D-Fuse, and part of their Environmental Storytelling programme — a unique approach to highlighting some of the most urgent issues of our day.

Nine Earths takes its audience on an audiovisual journey, blending words, film, photography, sound and data graphics to explore human consumption and its impact on our world. Central to the piece are Citizen Stories of ordinary people describing their daily routines, hopes and fears. The artwork travels through several continents, bringing together local experiences with its global theme. Aerial photographs capture the consequences of overconsumption, while questions and statements from scientists, economists and activists provide a wider context.

TALK

D-Fuse and Environmental Storytelling: Nine Earths & Beyond

London-based media arts studio D-Fuse has been a leading force in exploring global culture and environmental activism through audiovisual practice since the 2000s. In this presentation, Mike Faulkner offers an overview of key collaborative works, including Small Global, Al Gore’s Carbon Crisis Blipverts, and, more recently, Nine Earths.
Addressing the urgent climate and environmental crisis, Nine Earths foregrounds the escalating impacts of climate change and its social dimensions. The presentation also explores how audiovisual artists can bring together social, environmental, and political perspectives to create work that engages audiences with the complex realities of our changing planet.

WEBSITE

https://www.dfuse.com