High Desert Test Sites

HDTS CB08

April 14, 2008 - April 15, 2008

Amy and Wendy Yao's Art Swapmeet (2008)

Ooga Booga

Matt Borruso

Ry Rocklen

Within a patch of carpet on the Coyote Dry Lake Bed Ry Rocklen will perform as Lion Man. With vaccum cleaner in hand Lion Man will suck up dust he sprinkles onto the carpet below his feet. The "High/Dry Lullabye" will be scored by the whir of the vaccum, the chant of the Lion Man, and the hum of the generator.

Meeting with the Sage

Alice Könitz

Alice will meet with a local sage who will distribute advice and wisdom to those who seek it.

Scout

Hannah Greely

Hike to the middle of Andy's 100 acre Pioneertown parcel for a view of "scout"- a small tortoise, it's burden weighing heavily on it's back, also taking in the view of the long journey stretched out before it.

Surveillant Architectures

Julia Scher

The pre-coded narrative mixture of Julia's signs question the generation of trauma by seizing invisibility as its locating device. In a world where open land, public and private, is a conduit for people and technology, how is public order defined? With shifting notions of ownership, ecology, and human rights, the right to real-time surveillance, measurement, and identification is moving into more hands.

The Greater the Goal the Deeper the Hole

Joel Kyack

At the dusty intersection where legitimate archeology meets seat-of-the-pants prospecting, Joel Kyack explores the hidden rewards of impossible tasks.

The Spirit Girls at High Desert Test Sites

Marnie Weber and the Spirit Girls

Marnie Weber's conceptual art band "The Spirit Girls" is based ona narrative fiction that Webber has been working on for the last several years. "The Spirit Girls" are a group of girls who allegedly died in their youth in the 70's and have come back to share their message with the earthbound folk. For High Desert Test Sites, they will perform a highly visual 40-minute set featuring songs from their recent album, "Forever Free".

Time Traveling Hooker

Ann Magnuson

November 7, 2008 - 9:00pm - November 9, 2008 - 9:00pm

Hot on the platform heels of last year's triumphant pole-dancing extravaganza at the Joshua Tree Saloon, Ann Magnuson brings back her belover character the Time Travelling Hooker™. This time our heroic harlot finds herself lost in a wormhole somewhere close to Landers. Utilizing the curviture of time-space continum and aided by the ghostly presence of country-rock legend Gram Parsons, the TTH seeks solace in Room #8 at the Joshua Tree Inn. Video by Matthew Amato.

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Thom Merrick

Thom Merrick's work asks us to take a walk up and down a hill in the vast nature and look at a stone hillside to consider the artwork. Could the area be a part of a painting's edge?

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Jack Pierson

Jack is famous both far and wide for his drive-by signs- catch the latest one at his site along Amboy Road.

Vulnerabilia (cierto desierto)

Jonathan Hernandez

A visual essay from the vulnerabilia archive (photos from newspapers)... the desert as a metaphor of nothingness. The desert as a context for disappearence. The desert of the image. Jonathon's book will be available at the HDTS HQ.

White Russians

Yoshua Okon

White Russians is a collaboration with the Aikin family of Wonder Valley. THe visit to their home not only emphasizes the gaze of the spectator or art-goer, but also reverts it: the family looks back.

WVICA

Wonder Valley Institute of Contemporary Art (WVICA)

RAINBOWS END the inaugural exhibition at the wonder valley institute of contemporary art. The very first exhibition at WVICA will be an all out extravaganza of music, video, performance and art.

Yesterday & Tomorrow

Patrick Jackson

Yesterday & Tomorrow is a play performed by four archetypical characters: a woman, a man, an old woman, and a young boy. Their interactions on stage are not unlike those of their counterparts in late night soap operas. But the characters of this play are preoccupied with more than just melodrama, they are also aware of their actual existence as characters constantly vacillate between melodrama and structuralism; always with one question in mind, "What is my body?" Runtime is approximately 30 minutes.