What I'm Working on Now


In Event of Moon Disaster

July 2020 online launch

In July 1969, much of the world celebrated the "giant leap for mankind" that the successful moon landing constituted. In 2020, nothing is quite so straightforward. In Event of Moon Disaster illustrates the possibilities of deepfake technologies by reimagining this seminal event.

What if the Apollo 11 mission had gone wrong and the astronauts had not been able to return home? A contingency speech for this possibility was prepared, but never delivered by President Nixon – until now. The immersive project invites you into this alternative history and asks us all to consider how new technologies can bend, redirect and obfuscate the truth around us.

Visit moondisaster.org for articles, interactives, a deepfake quiz and more.

IEOMD logo

CBS This Morning Coverage

"President Nixon had a speech ready, in case the Apollo 11 mission to the moon failed in 1969. MIT's Center for Advanced Virtuality got their hands on it and created this fake video of Nixon remembering the astronauts. It was created to show the power of so-called deepfake videos."

— CBS This Morning (@CBSThisMorning) November 25, 2019