Ryan Koopmans & Alice Wexell are Stockholm-based artists who specialize in the visual revival of abandoned architecture by using various artistic techniques. Their work is based on real-world physical spaces that are photographed, animated, and brought into the digital realm. The two of them collaborated on the highly successful Web3 native series, The Wild Within.

‘Once Upon a Time’ is a digital artwork that brings new life into an abandoned building by combining photography with animation to create a surreal, meditative and moving architectural space. The pictured building, built between 1890-1920, is the interior of an old decaying house in the Dannawi neighbourhood of Beirut, Lebanon. A custom musical score has been added by Swedish composer Karl-David Larson.

Koopmans and Wexell’s work captures the unrelenting and permanent qualities of nature. By juxtaposing wild and vibrant natural elements with a derelict, built environment, this work invites the viewer to meditate on nature’s resilience relative to human creation.