Interdisciplinary Artist

Trash Piles On the Acts

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Graffiti artist Jose Estrada

Click Here The events at Sam’s trailer kept on coming throughout the Arts In the One World Conference, January 27-29. The 1951 Spartan trailer  moved to the CalArts’ front lawn for the event.  The trailer is still a work-in-progress; the scheduled completion date is June, 2011. Some of the artists were so happy with the trailer they returned to the stage for repeat performances – film, dance, music and multi-media productions – throughout the weekend.

Many remarked that the space was inviting – even the inside in its unfinished state seemed to welcome artists and audiences alike.  Night time performances inside the trailer were especially intimate and light-hearted.  Daytime events staged outside under an awning in the warm provided a welcome space to relax on three sunny California days. Several dancers mentioned that they liked the way the floor (still only a subfloor) swayed with their movements during indoor performances.  Multimedia Interdisciplinary Artist  Kenyatta Hinkle said as she worked inside the trailer, she felt it had a life of its own.

Arts In the One World is a gathering of artist-activists interested in using their art to help bring about social change. First convened in January 2006 by Erik Ehn, AOW at CalArts is linked to it’s sister Arts in the One World conference at Brown University.

The CalArts blog Seen and Heard recently posted two articles about The Trailer Trash Project. Tatiana Williams wrote that many students at CalArts have gotten involed with the project.  And Lindsey Lollie wrote this post about an encounter she had at the trailer during the Arts In the One World Conference:

This past weekend Sam Breen and his amazing trailer was a great hit.  He renovated an old trailer which kind of looks like a space ship and transformed it into an art space.  Musicians, dancers, artists, singers, animators, filmmakers and photographers came to gaze and participate in what was a series of performances and installations.  It started on Thursday and ended Saturday.  I along with some other dancers choreographed small pieces to be performed inside and around the trailer.  meanwhile, in between performances, a bunch of us were waiting for more people to arrive and we started our own little dance party/show on the stage.  We took turns going up and making a fool of ourselves.  We were having fun in the moment.  There was a stage, and nobody around to judge us, just close friends and the opportunity was taken.  I filmed various people dancing and I hope you will enjoy.

This post is part of a series documenting Sam Breen’a Spartan Restoration Project. Please see his first post here and check out the archive here. The CSPA is helping Sam by serving in an advisory role, offering modest support and featuring Sam’s Progress by syndicating his feed from http://spartantrailerrestoration.wordpress.com as part of our CSPA Supports Program.

Slouching Towards Yucca Mountain, a video installation by Eve Andr̩e Laram̩e РUnited States Artists РGreat art forms here

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A cast of nineteen fictional characters explore the post-Atomic Age West in this video installation, Slouching Towards Yucca Mountain. Funds in the amount of $9,500 are sought for video editing, completion of an installation and creation of an artist book/exhibition catalog.

The project explores issues and ironies surrounding the problem of radioactive waste disposal in the United States. The non-linear narrative of Slouching Towards Yucca Mountain involves time travelers who discover these tunnels and question the use and misuse of the so-called “empty wastelands” of the American West.

Using tropes and clich̩s of the Western film and science fiction film genres, a subtext of environmental expos̩ unfolds in a suspenseful talk: part fact, part fiction. It is set in an ambiguous time period Рunstuck in time Рpartially 19th, 20th and 21st Century.

The project reveals American values and beliefs about nature, conquest, ownership and the use of land, and environmental justice issues. It does so with a mixture of creativity, humor, and dead seriousness.

I want to draw attention to issues of sustainability, renewable vs. non-renewable energy, waste disposition, geological time, and “cowboy extractionary economics.”

With your support I will produce twenty 1-3 minute long video loops: one for each character plus an introduction. The video loops will be incorporated into a series of video sculptures within a room-sized installation.

During a residency at the Goldwell Museum 15 miles from Yucca Mountain, thousands of still phtogrpahs and hours of video footage were shot in Death Valley, CA and the ghost towns of Rhyolite and Goldpoint, NV. During the preliminary project development I worked with former students and emerging artists, Courtney “scrap” Wrenn, Chelsea Noggle, Michel Tallichet, Mia Ardito, Emily Montoya and Benji Geary.

As an interdisciplinary artist who has worked at the confluence of art, science and nature for over twenty years, I feel a responsibility to examine environmental issues and ecological problems through my research and work. This is where my aesthetics and pedagogic ethics merge; I want my work to contribute to future generations.

In 2002 the U.S. government began developing Yucca Mountain as a deep geological repository for high-level radioactive waste. Due to geological faults, and climate uncertainties, the project was terminated; however a maze of excavated tunnels exist beneath the mountain. The U.S. currently has no master plan for permanent disposal of radioactive waste; it is in temporary storage at hundreds of sites across the country. This environmental problem has hardest hit the indigenous peoples of the Western desert lands. I want to raise public awareness, involve communities and initiate discussions through my work.

via Slouching Towards Yucca Mountain, a video installation by Eve Andr̩e Laram̩e РUnited States Artists РGreat art forms here.