Rhianna DeJong is the artist behind Artifacts & Evolution of Interdimensional Time Travel, the latest installation to appear in the window of the Echo Park Time Travel Mart. She  is an experimental artist who repurposes found objects and uses several mediums to intersect reality with imagination. Driven by a love of learning, she strives to discover new techniques and art forms to add to her treasure trove of creation. Her unique vision gives discarded objects new life by transforming what was once broken or forgotten into intriguing pieces of assemblage art.

She enjoys every opportunity to apply and perfect her collected skills. She has dabbled in set design, prop and costume creation, and moonlights as a tinkering mad scientist. 

Her artist’s bio states that “According to the government, she has never traveled to any other dimensions and she is definitely not from 117 years in the future.” Nevertheless, we found her strangely wise regarding the nature of time travel, as you’ll see from her answers to our questions.

What inspired your installation, Artifacts & Evolution of Interdimensional Time Travel, and how did it take shape?

It feels like it took a lifetime to form, and it feels like it’s always been here as well. I inherited my mad scientist gene from my father, and my imagination was heavily influenced by partaking in his interests as well. I was steeped in science fiction growing up, and was always encouraged to experiment, create, and duplicate the things that I loved. Elaborate costumes and practical effects were always a worthy and welcome challenge, and I certainly seek opportunities to apply my accumulated skills. 

Originally, the concept of the Wings was an idea sparked by a friend, who wore an earlier version I created to a convention. Travels and time were not so kind to the original wing apparatus, but when the Time Travel Mart put out a call to art, I knew I needed to recreate the contraption. Using the wings as a focal point, I pulled together a theme with as many pieces as I had already created and decided a museum exhibit was in order. Time travel itself helped shape the exhibit; if not for the span of millennia and the scope of multiple dimensions, this exhibit would be scattered like light in a galaxy full of infinite disco balls.

You like to work with found objects. What are some of the most interesting objects you’ve stumbled across in your travels through spacetime?

Some of my favorite and most frequently found items are playing cards. I’ve always thought a single card separated from its deck must be on a grand adventure, all by itself. I like to think that the cards are the ones who find me, rather than the other way around. I collect them as my little adventuresome treasures, and maybe one day I can collect enough to recreate a misfit deck that will tell a thousand tales.

The notes accompanying the featured artifacts include a fair amount of language about what the government says they are not. E.g. “The government has officially deemed this as debris from a fallen weather satellite that was actually found in 1997, absolutely nowhere near the Bermuda Triangle and that it has nothing to do with the disappearance of Amelia Earhart.” What does the government not want us to know about time travel?

I’d say they don’t want us to know that it has always existed. All it takes is one person to figure it out one time, and it will never not exist. Imagine the havoc one could wreak with the powers that be! 

If by some strange occurrence, the Robot Overlord Egg hatches, what kind of leader will a baby Robot Overlord be?

Hopefully a wise and compassionate one with life-affirming, harmonious insight to share about the future of humankind. Isn’t that what any leader should be?

We know that you are not from 117 years in the future, but if you were, what would you think of 2022?

If I were to look back on 2022 from far off in the future, I’d say it was an unexpected start to some amazing positive changes for people on Earth. Many stories have that surprise twist at the end, maybe 2022 is the unpredictable pivot in the beginning of a great story to come. Myself, included.