This last year the
primary focus at A-Z West has been on "production"
and how to develop new materials and new kinds of fabrication
techniques. After working outdoors in the 110-degree temperatures,
and contending with seemingly infinite budget problems,
I believed that there must be a way to make interesting
and significant art for less money, and less physical toll..
This led to the search for a new technology: A-Z Advanced
Technologies. Looking for the plentiful and least
costly resource available, I decided to find a way to use
my paper waste as a building material. Stacks of old
newspapers, magazines, mail order catalogs, and office debris
were almost overwhelming in their volume, and were ordinarily
something that I had to haul to the local dump. To turn
paper into a moldable material it is first shredded and
pulped. Then it is packed into a series of plastic
molds, which slide into a grid of steel frames so that the
pulp can dry outdoors in the hot sun. The installation of
the Regenerating Field consists of a grid of 25 trays that
spills down the hill in front of the A-Z West Homestead.
The work references both the aesthetics of earthwork
installations (like the lightning fields by Walter de Maria)
and the industrialized format of modern day agriculture.
Dried paper pulp is lightweight, incredibly strong, and
it can be molded into shapes that look like fiberglass,
concrete or even travertine stone. And of course the
dry moistureless desert, where A-Z West is sited, is perhaps
the most perfect place for this type of new technology.
Although eventually I plan to use my process to build
furniture and larger structures, the initial attempt has
been to create an attractive, durable wall panel. Something
that could camouflage bad walls and add softness and texture
to a room. A little like the phenomena of wood paneling
of the 60s and 70s, but without all of the connotations
of that era.
The "A-Z Regenerating Field" at A-Z West in
Joshua Tree will open to the public as a project in conjunction
with the inaugural High
Desert Test Sites opening at Pioneer Town, CA. For further
information please contact Shaun Caley Regen or Lisa Overduin
at the gallery at (310) 276-5424
The A-Z Regenerating Fields were funded in connection
with their outdoor exhibition "SiteLines" by The
Addison Gallery of American Art in Andover Massachusetts.
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