Hilltop Lakes and Deming, NM are vastly different locales. They reside in different states with different people, backgrounds and ideals. They contain distinct vegetation and variables; they are successful/unsuccessful in their own way. But are we drawn to them? Why are we making such a fuss over empty lots in the middle of nowhere? Hope of finding a lost city of gold? No.
We are hopeful in the abounding opportunity.
Not in a manifest destiny kind of way, but a possibility for growth. We look at these divided plots, and see a chance to learn from our mistakes, a chance to reject the conventional, regulated guidelines and regulations that we have been taught not to question. Hope is free and opportunity is everywhere. It is not defined by white PVC markers. It is characterized by the input; the work and contributions made by us and by YOU.
We have embodied this experience and opportunity through a sculptural interpretation in order to encourage dialogues that will hopefully act as a catalyst for change. The piece represents the authoritative grid essentially entrusting land to specific, unknown entities and no one at the same time. We adopted the materiality of these sites by building our structure from PVC pipe and translating our "path" into our new space through the use of orange string. We chose to denote the entrance and exit with the same door markers as traditional quantifiers for "place." When initially encountering the piece, you notice the details- the connections, the frames hanging from string on the interior; the breaking of the grid. Along each axis, at 1' intervals, orange string infringes the interior space. You cannot enter the space through the front door. You must duck and go around to the side- an unruly space delineated by organic lines. Once in the space, the grid opens up to a shallow interior void leading to the back door. However, you cannot leave through the back door either. The grid encapsulates it on either side, framing a "No Trespassing" sign, representative of the rules and borders placed on the empty, abandoned land.
"Still, the hummingbirds come, each day more and more. They have been migrating for thousands of years and within their small skulls rest maps of nectar trail that reaches from Alaska to Central America. They know more that we are likely to ever learn of the ground, but we barely notice them as they violate all borders..." -Contested Ground by Charles Bowden
"Still, the hummingbirds come, each day more and more. They have been migrating for thousands of years and within their small skulls rest maps of nectar trail that reaches from Alaska to Central America. They know more that we are likely to ever learn of the ground, but we barely notice them as they violate all borders..." -Contested Ground by Charles Bowden
The work presented through this site and by the rest of Land Arts
of the American West 2011 crew will be on display:
Wednesday, December 7th, 2011
for the program final critique in Rm 608 of the Architecture building at Texas Tech University
in Lubbock, Texas. The Architecture building is located on the
corner of 18th Street and Flint St.
and
Friday, April 6 - May 4, 2012
LHUCA Warehouse on Mac Davis Lane
1001 Mac Davis Lane, Lubbock, Texas 79401
for the First Friday Art Trail
Please join us to discuss and observe our findings!
