John Reid — Walking the Solar System

Those of us from the Land Arts program who came to Australia owe a lot to John Reid, so it is a real honor to be able to show some of his work on this blog. During the month of June, Mr. Reid focused his time on the body of work tentatively titled, "Walking the Solar System." Below is a brief statement about his working process along with images and a video from the series. The video is the one he showed us at Kioloa, which I wrote about in my post "Report from Kioloa."

The idea of imaging the human figure going about everyday life (ie walking to work) as a body in the solar system began with the 2002 performance, 'Force of Habit.' A similar work was performed in 2005. In 2011, several performances were undertaken in the field for the video camera with the production assistance of Bill Gilbert and Frank Thirion. The disconnect between the figure and the ground raises for consideration the locus of the figure orbiting about the sun intersecting with a particular place that is at that point in space but at another orientation and point in time. At issue for the final resolution of these recent works is whether to show only still photographs of ‘the walks’, or only the video of ‘the walks’, which ones of either, and to decide on a title as an entrée to the contemplation of the central idea.

Bill Gilbert — Walking Constellations and Grids

Not enough can be said about Bill Gilbert, co-founder and director of the Land Arts of the American West program at the University of New Mexico. The success of Land Arts has helped generate the Art & Ecology area at UNM and continues to play a significant role for place-based art in the southwest.

In Australia, Gilbert had a unique opportunity to focus on his own projects, which are based on the physical act of walking as a means of experiencing place. Below is Bill in his own words about his work in Australia, along with working images

For each map I use an arbitrary system of navigation to subvert my conscious mind and have a direct encounter with the surface of the planet. In that sense my walking is more in line with the Situationists than the Brits (Long & Fulton): sort of a wilderness Derive. I worked on two series in AU both using absurd systems to determine my paths. At Calperum, I did an Australian version of my "attempts to walk the grid." I've now done them in Utah, New Mexico, Arizona and Texas (in the states) and Mongolia and Japan. The ground being fairly flat and obstacles few and far between. I came pretty close this time.

At Kioloa, Jigamy and Calperum I did walks in which I used constellations from the southern Hemisphere's night sky to navigate my way across the land. At Kioloa, I followed Scorpio from coast to rain forest, beach to thicket. This walk will be paired with another Scorpio walk completed at the San Rafael Swell, UT in Land Arts, mesa to river bottom. At Jigamy, I traced Lepsus on the forest floor in honor of the year of the hare and AU's problem with rabbit populations. At Calperum, I walked Hercules through the Mallee Woodlands and met a charming, if flustered, Emu. This walk will be matched with another Hercules path I followed at Otero Mesa, NM again with the Land Arts program.

My current struggle is with how best to translate the experiences to the gallery and/or web. In addition to the maps, I am playing with photos, sound recordings, and plant identification info.

Grid near Calperum Station, SA, Australia

Scorpio South— Kioloa, NSW, Australia

Scorpio North — San Rafael Swell, Utah, USA

Lepsus walking points

Lepsus —between Pambula Lake and the Tasman Sea

Hercules South points

Hercules South in the mallee woodlands in South Australia

Cedra Wood — Journal Project

Here's a look at some work in progress from one of the Land Arts alums here in Australia, Cedra Wood. At UNM, Cedra made some stunning paintings based on photos from her Land Arts experience and other staged scenes, usually in outdoor settings. In Australia, she continued in this vein, placing herself in the role of performer on several occasions for photos that will be used as source material for paintings.

In addition to this ongoing project, one of Cedra's main projects in Australia is to fill the pages of a Never Ending Story-style book with writing and images based on her Australian experiences. The book itself looks medieval — it is romantic and intimidating at the same time. And toting this thing around must have been a constant reminder of her commitment. Below is a statement from Cedra about the project. The final image below is the journal used as a prop in her last performance role at Calperum.

Both the beauty and disadvantage of a journey like this is that so much happens every day, and you're whirled through a thousand successive moments that you want to remember in crystalline detail. Photographs help--and believe me, I took tons of them (O bless the digital age), many of which will serve as visual references for paintings in the studio later--but just as important to me was to keep a written and hand-drawn record of the events, thoughts, ideas, performances, and conversations that occurred. So often during travel, brains and lives expand in significant ways, and I wanted to remember how and why mine did, this time.

Matt Coolidge and CLUI

Dedicated to the increase and diffusion of information about how the nation’s lands are apportioned, utilized, and perceived.

The Center for Land Use Interpretation (CLUI) is one of the strangest and most relevant operations about land in the United States.

The CLUI Land Use Database is an on-line computer database of unusual and exemplary sites throughout the United States. It is a free public resource, designed to educate and inform the public about the function and form of the National landscape, a terrestrial system that has been altered to accommodate the complex demands of our society.

Below is a brief portrait of CLUI and its founder, Matt Coolidge, courtesy of KNME New Mexico.

See more Artisodes.

Catherine Harris and Land Arts of the American West UNM

The video below is an example of the kind of work done in Land Arts of the American West at the University of New Mexico. It is a collaboration led by Catherine Harris, professor of Art and Ecology in the Department of Art and Art History at UNM. Harris demonstrated measuring space through comparative body/landscape studies such as stride patterning, using the lower leg as a transit level, and line of sight spatial marking. Harris worked with Land Arts students to develop the project, Transect Collaborative, which involved walking a transect line across Lobo Canyon, documenting it via drawings, photographs, and video, then developing a gallery installation.



View more Land Arts videos on Vimeo.

Australia

This is the first of many posts over the next few months about my upcoming trip to Australia, where I will be joining some alumni of UNM's Land Arts program and its creator Bill Gilbert as guest artists for the Australia National University's School of Art Field Study program. This program was created and developed by John Reid through the Engaging Visions Research Project. Our travels will focus on two primary locations: a) the Far South Coast of New South Wales, centered around the town of Eden and b) Calperum Station, Riverland Biosphere Reserve, South Australia, north of Renmark.

The map below shows the 85 Biogeographic regions of Australia. We will be in A) Southeast Corner (Eden) and B) Murray Darling Basin (Calperum Station)

The passages below are quoted from ANU's Engaging Visions website:

The goal of the Engaging Visions Research Project was to configure a model procedure for visual artists to participate in, and/or engage with, Murray Darling Basin catchment communities to help address environmental concerns.

The subject of the Engaging Visions Research Project was an established ANU School of Art program called Field Studies. During a Field Studies program artists participate in a series of field trips to locations of artistic inspiration while interacting with and learning from communities in the area. Artworks generated through this experience are exhibited in the local community.

The Field Studies program was convened and coordinated by the Environment Studio at the ANU School of Art. The research evaluation component of Engaging Visions was conceived and conducted by the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science at the ANU.

This research project was undertaken from 2007 to 2010. It focused on four Field Studies programs in the Murray Darling Basin: St George (Queensland 2007), Tumut (New South Wales 2008), Riverland (South Australia 2008) and Benalla (Victoria 2009).

Landscape

Here's a snapshot of a recent little (9"x12") drawing. It's a return to some work I was doing in Philadelphia.

It's been awhile since I've spent any time outdoors...since Portland in mid-December. I decided during that trip that I needed more time outdoors, that it was essential for my well-being, though I haven't been great at doing this since then. One thing I remember from Land Arts was how differently things became prioritized. No more 24-hour news, reality TV, traffic, etc. Every day was an adventure and every day was also very basic -- we had to make sure we had enough food and water, and if we didn't, we needed to make plans. Not quite the same, though, as when you need groceries in a city or town and you can just run to the store in 5 minutes. Supplies could be hours away if we didn't plan accordingly. This kind of distance from the hustle and bustle of the world of people was refreshing.

There's so much going on in the world of people that it's easy to miss things that are worth while. Things seem to move fast beyond comprehension, yet time strangely appears never to change. The seasons are myths that don't really affect us. We can get any kind of food we want regardless of the time of year. Exploring your physical surroundings seems odd and senseless when you have a car to go places and so much to do online.

I know that with every change, something is always given up. Our relationship to the natural world is very strange now. I find this compelling. And I believe that part of the reason why I have felt so alienated in my life is because of my alienation from the natural world.