WELCOME to Sunthorpe - an intentional pun on ‘Scunthorpe’ - and its popular tourist attractions that do not yet exist in Brazilian artist Rodrigo Lebrun's York Mediale installation Green (Screen) Dreams.

You will find Lebrun's enticement to the aforesaid imaginary town of Sunthorpe occupying one of the lower-deck ship containers at SPARK York, its presence denoted by the newly yellowy green metalwork for the inaugural UNESCO festival of digital arts and technology that runs in York until Saturday. Opening hours are 2pm to 8pm, entry is free.

Curated by arts and environmental organisation Invisible Dust, Lebrun's digital tableaux explores tourism, industry and climate change in Scunthorpe in an artwork made in during 2018’s globally record-breaking hot summer. The sun is always shining in Sunthorpe, as Lebrun draws from media images – news, advertising, popular culture and the internet – to consider the impact of climate change on North Lincolnshire, a region now vulnerable to pollution, floods and rising sea levels. "Is it too late?" he asks.

Lebrun, who had never been to "the North" previously, worked with North Lincolnshire Council and the people of Scunthorpe to look at the challenges faced by a community whose identity and economic future is still rooted in the steel industry. Now it is looking to redefine itself and use its environmental resources in different ways to create a more sustainable future.

"I created Green Screen Dreams to explore the complexities of climate change in Scunthorpe," says Lebrun. "Chatting to local people challenged my preconceptions about what their lives were like - their realities inspired my imagined reality of life in Sunthorpe.

"I'm interested in exploring media and fake news and the idea of a ‘Green Screen’ is that the images provide a backdrop to what is really going on. Scunthorpe is an industrial blue-collar area that I have contrasted with tourism, sun umbrellas and cocktails. It was created at the time of the long hot 2018 summer and I wanted to remind us of the need to change our lifestyle choices."

Rodrigo had moved to London to pursue his artistic career away from the home of the beautiful game: "If you're bed at football in Brazil – and I was – then it's social death....and that's why I left for the UK," he jokes. "For this new commission, after I exhibited The End Of History at Trinity College in Dublin, I wanted to get away from the London perception of the North, so going to Scunthorpe was a real eye opener that helped to frame the work because people living there have dreams and aspirations like everyone else. That's why I created a fictional tourist attractions and considered to what extent climate change would contribute to that."

Hence the finale to one of the three tableaux: "Come to Sunthorpe. Terms and conditions apply," warns the smooth talker, inviting you to this post-meltdown nirvana. It was ever this in the world of fake news and uncomfortably hot topics.

Lebrun, by the way, will continue to develop the work for North Lincolnshire Museum, in Scunthorpe, where the finished four-part installation will be on display from January 19 to March 16 2019.

Charles Hutchinson