Project Description: This environmental arts project engages communities to participate in a 2 ½ mile GPS- and audio-guided loop-walk on the Bonneville Salt Flats near Wendover, UT. The walking tour follows 20-25 large “interest markers” sprayed on the salt surface with black environmentally safe dye. (The project is intended to be temporary. Over the course of 2-3 years the dye will fade due to weathering). The interest markers consist of rimmed circles, 15-20 feet in diameter, each bearing a different symbol in its center. Over an area of approximately 1.0 x 0.5 miles they will be positioned so that they describe a miniature version of the geographic outlines of ancient Lake Bonneville, an inland sea that once covered large parts of Utah and reached into Nevada and Idaho. The Great Salt Lake and the Bonneville Salt Flats are remnants of this sea.
Guided by a GPS device, which serves as a compass and audio-player, visitors/hikers will be guided from marker to marker, around the outline of the ancient lake. At each marker they can listen to a narrative addressing the natural history of the salt desert, human interaction with and experiences in this environment throughout history, as well as contemporary use of the salt flats. (E.g. at the marker with a mammoth, they will learn about ancient animal life; the marker with the tank discusses military use of the Salt Flats; the marker with the covered wagon addresses the fate of the Donner-Reed party, who crossed the salt flats in fall 1846, erroneously led to believe that this new route would get them to California faster).
The narrative will also comment on the participant’s position in relation to the actual geography of the lake. An example for a narrative: You have walked 0.3 miles from the last interest point. Put in scale to the ancient lake’s actual size this would be a distance of 50 miles. On a contemporary map you are now at the Southern tip of Sevier Lake, a small remnant of giant Lake Bonneville. The walking tour starts and ends at the Salt Flats viewing area a few miles East of Wendover, off Interstate 80. The tour will take approximately 2 hours, including frequent stops to listen to the narrative and appreciate the vastness of the salt desert.
Project Goals: This project dwells on the cusp between art and ecological/environmental and historical/geographical research. It challenges traditional expectations towards visual arts, as it combines art with outdoor activity, and with exploring a unique and precious environment that - unlike other natural monuments in the American West, such as the Grand Canyon or Painted Desert - does not receive much public attention. Due to its educational value this piece will not only address the typical art lover, but also speak to families and serve as an ideal destination for school fieldtrips, both from local schools (Wendover) and from metropolitan centers in Utah and Nevada. It will potentially also attract stopover tourists who travel West-East / East West along Interstate 80. I intend to produce a brochure that will be available at the Wendover Tourist Information Center, which is located on the main road and receives a lot of visitors. The brochure will inform about the piece and give directions to its access point at the Salt Flats Viewing Area off I-80. The brochure will be distributed at other relevant tourist agencies as well, particularly in Salt Lake City and other metropolitan areas in Utah and Nevada. The GPS-device will be available for checkout from the Tourist Center in Wendover.
The piece will also be advertised on the website of the Center for Land Use Interpretation (CLUI) which maintains an artist space in Wendover. Due to its exposed location in the otherwise barren salt desert the work will be picked up by satellites and will likely be visible on Google Maps and Google Earth.
This work aims to point out the relationship or dis-relationship between us (humans) and our natural environment. It discusses how human perception of the natural world has shifted throughout history, from adaptive lifestyles, appreciation and worship executed by pre-historic and historic tribes, to condemning areas with inconvenient climatic conditions, a lack of vegetation and resources as useless “wastelands”, and consequently appropriating them for dirty industries, hazardous waste disposal and weaponry testing. My piece challenges these “modern” views that have manifested themselves throughout the 19th and 20th century. My work advocates for a more holistic life philosophy, where human society and nature are more integrated, where man sees himself within the greater realm of this planet’s history, rather than as separate and alienated from the natural world. I hope that my piece will bring a new awareness to this specific environment of the Bonneville Salt Flats, and to people’s perception of the natural environment in general.
Project Description: This environmental arts project engages communities to participate in a 2 ½ mile GPS- and audio-guided loop-walk on the Bonneville Salt Flats near Wendover, UT. The walking tour follows 20-25 large “interest markers” sprayed on the salt surface with black environmentally safe dye. (The project is intended to be temporary. Over the course of 2-3 years the dye will fade due to weathering). The interest markers consist of rimmed circles, 15-20 feet in diameter, each bearing a different symbol in its center. Over an area of approximately 1.0 x 0.5 miles they will be positioned so that they describe a miniature version of the geographic outlines of ancient Lake Bonneville, an inland sea that once covered large parts of Utah and reached into Nevada and Idaho. The Great Salt Lake and the Bonneville Salt Flats are remnants of this sea.
Guided by a GPS device, which serves as a compass and audio-player, visitors/hikers will be guided from marker to marker, around the outline of the ancient lake. At each marker they can listen to a narrative addressing the natural history of the salt desert, human interaction with and experiences in this environment throughout history, as well as contemporary use of the salt flats. (E.g. at the marker with a mammoth, they will learn about ancient animal life; the marker with the tank discusses military use of the Salt Flats; the marker with the covered wagon addresses the fate of the Donner-Reed party, who crossed the salt flats in fall 1846, erroneously led to believe that this new route would get them to California faster).
The narrative will also comment on the participant’s position in relation to the actual geography of the lake. An example for a narrative: You have walked 0.3 miles from the last interest point. Put in scale to the ancient lake’s actual size this would be a distance of 50 miles. On a contemporary map you are now at the Southern tip of Sevier Lake, a small remnant of giant Lake Bonneville. The walking tour starts and ends at the Salt Flats viewing area a few miles East of Wendover, off Interstate 80. The tour will take approximately 2 hours, including frequent stops to listen to the narrative and appreciate the vastness of the salt desert.
Project Goals: This project dwells on the cusp between art and ecological/environmental and historical/geographical research. It challenges traditional expectations towards visual arts, as it combines art with outdoor activity, and with exploring a unique and precious environment that - unlike other natural monuments in the American West, such as the Grand Canyon or Painted Desert - does not receive much public attention. Due to its educational value this piece will not only address the typical art lover, but also speak to families and serve as an ideal destination for school fieldtrips, both from local schools (Wendover) and from metropolitan centers in Utah and Nevada. It will potentially also attract stopover tourists who travel West-East / East West along Interstate 80. I intend to produce a brochure that will be available at the Wendover Tourist Information Center, which is located on the main road and receives a lot of visitors. The brochure will inform about the piece and give directions to its access point at the Salt Flats Viewing Area off I-80. The brochure will be distributed at other relevant tourist agencies as well, particularly in Salt Lake City and other metropolitan areas in Utah and Nevada. The GPS-device will be available for checkout from the Tourist Center in Wendover.
The piece will also be advertised on the website of the Center for Land Use Interpretation (CLUI) which maintains an artist space in Wendover. Due to its exposed location in the otherwise barren salt desert the work will be picked up by satellites and will likely be visible on Google Maps and Google Earth.
This work aims to point out the relationship or dis-relationship between us (humans) and our natural environment. It discusses how human perception of the natural world has shifted throughout history, from adaptive lifestyles, appreciation and worship executed by pre-historic and historic tribes, to condemning areas with inconvenient climatic conditions, a lack of vegetation and resources as useless “wastelands”, and consequently appropriating them for dirty industries, hazardous waste disposal and weaponry testing. My piece challenges these “modern” views that have manifested themselves throughout the 19th and 20th century. My work advocates for a more holistic life philosophy, where human society and nature are more integrated, where man sees himself within the greater realm of this planet’s history, rather than as separate and alienated from the natural world. I hope that my piece will bring a new awareness to this specific environment of the Bonneville Salt Flats, and to people’s perception of the natural environment in general.