Interview with Kris De Meester

Synopsis: Warhol on Climate Change is a short film that plunges viewers into an artistic alienation, capturing the enigmatic essence of Warhol's perspective on the pressing issue of climate change. Set against the vibrant backdrop of a bustling New York street, the film weaves abstract images of Warhol himself with the city's dynamic rhythms. Through a blend of fragmented visuals and dreamlike sequences, the film portrays Warhol as an observer of nature's metamorphosis in the face of environmental upheaval. As the city pulses with life, Warhol's detached yet profound gaze highlights the juxtaposition between urban vivacity and the imperceptible shifts occurring within the natural world.

IAG: Before we get to the film, let’s first talk about Andy Warhol. In my opinion, Warhol is to visual art what Jean Luc Goddard was to film in the 1960s. Which is to say, he is a truly outside-the-box thinker. When it came to Warhol’s films, though, I’m generally enamored with the boldness of their conceptual design, but I also find it difficult to sit through his entire film. What’s your relationship to the art and films of Andy Warhol?

KDM: Andy Warhol has been a profound inspiration for me—not just through his art or even the conceptual audacity of his films, but through the way he embodied his own character so fully. He wasn’t simply creating images; he was constructing a world where he himself became the central figure, almost like a living myth. Warhol’s aura, his carefully cultivated persona, became his most influential creation. That aspect of his legacy—how he reshaped the space he occupied—resonates deeply with my own approach to filmmaking and storytelling.

IAG: How this idea come about? Why explore environmental themes through the prism of Andy Warhol?

KDM: Climate change is undeniably polarizing. People tend to fall into starkly opposing camps—staunch believers or absolute deniers. I wanted to step outside that binary and ask, ‘What if we view climate change through a lens that brings in Warhol’s irony and detachment?’ With Warhol as a creative vehicle, I could introduce a third perspective, one that doesn’t outright reject the problem but also doesn’t position it as an impending doom. It’s an angle that resonates unexpectedly with skeptics by presenting climate change almost as a pop-cultural concept.

IAG: Technically, how did you create this film?

KDM: The process began with an analysis of Warhol’s unique cadence and choice of language—he had such a distinct way of speaking that almost felt like a performance in itself. Using AI, I started by crafting a voice model inspired by him, but instead of merely cloning his voice, I built it up, layer by layer. By fine-tuning elements like pitch, tone, and rhythm, I arrived at a voice that felt authentic to Warhol's character. It’s as much an interpretation as it is an impression, with AI and CGI providing visual components that echo the Warholian aesthetic.

IAG: Zooming out to the wider issue of global ecological crisis—if you could distill the current situation down into one core cause, what would it be? In other words, what do you think is the root cause of ecological decline?

KDM: I think the root cause of ecological decline is essentially a disconnect between humanity and nature—a perspective gap where we forget that we’re part of the ecosystem, not apart from it. We’ve designed a system that treats nature as a resource to be consumed rather than a world to be nurtured, and this worldview fuels most of our environmental crises.

IAG: And now, the hundred trillion dollar question: how do you think we fix it?

KDM: I’m a strong advocate for reforestation, which is why I founded Treeplan.org, a project focused on planting trees to combat ecological decline. Trees are incredible organisms; every single tree absorbs carbon dioxide and produces oxygen, supporting life on so many levels. A single mature tree can produce enough oxygen for up to 18 people. Planting trees isn’t a silver bullet, but it’s one of the most direct ways we can begin to offset our impact while reconnecting with the natural world in a tangible way.

IAG: What are three films or filmmakers that have strongly influenced your work (not including Andy Warhol)?

KDM: In my work, I’m strongly influenced by Persona by Bergman for its psychological depth and raw emotional introspection, Tarkovsky’s Mirror for its poetic layering of memory and time, and The Dreamachine by Michael William West, which isn’t so much a film as it is an experience.