The Pickup's Culture coverage is brought to you by Tulsa Artists' Coalition Gallery, 40 Years of Empowering Tulsa Artists. Visit TAC Gallery to see American Highway Revisited by VC Torneden and Melinda Harvey Green, June 5 – 27, 2026.
Profitopia
Living Arts of Tulsa
On view through July 25
Oklahoma City art punk band Stepmom’s 2024 Profitopia EP, a high concept collection of four songs, opens with a dystopian bossa nova cut with a welcome voiceover for new employees of Profitopia, an imagined but disturbingly real-feeling corporation: “Embrace the Profitopia lifestyle—where your dreams are our bottom line.”
In 2024, Stepmom brought Profitopia fully into the 3D world with an immersive installation at Factory Obscura in Oklahoma City. Now on exhibit at Living Arts through July 25, the installation expands their concept album into tactility, inviting visitors to step into the abandoned aftermath of a desolate corporate entity overtaken by a goopy pink brand of rebellion. This is a signature for the band: Stepmom’s members are subject-matter experts on candy coating seriousness, reminding listeners and concert attendees that something can present itself as harmless, even cute, while masking something much darker.
This juxtaposition falls neatly in line at Profitopia, where viewers are invited to listening stations to hear songs from the EP that accompany each room of the exhibit. The disconcerting tone arrives with the first steps into the gallery: a front desk abandoned in dim lighting, a goo-dripped lobby, a vending machine offering Creativity Capsules for sale. From there, viewers can visit the office kitchen, the corporate meeting and fitness area, and finally, the secret lab where the sinister nature of Profitopia becomes clear.