Tijuana, BC, Mexico & The Museum of Natural History Balboa Park, San Diego, Calfornia
1993
electric motors, industrial loom, raw cotton, buckets, wood, Salt 15 feet high by 35 feet long by 35 feet wide. Loom dimensions: 15 feet long by five feet wide
Animal Vegetable Mineral: Comida para su Sombrero, is the result of a year-long collaboration between artists Nanette Yannuzzi and Melissa Smedley. Exhibited as part of InSite '94, a bi-national exhibition of site-specific installations our two installations were exhibited in both Tijuana & San Diego (different but related Installations) and included several video performances. The video you see here, “LAGUNA SALADA and CONSTANCY”, is a five minute excerpt of a two-channel 45-minute series of video performances.
Site #1 The Museum Of Natural History, Balboa Park
Throughout this cumulative art experiment we explored ideas relating to invented rituals and tools, identity and place. Using the camera as a participant we collected a series of performative moments that allude to a history of human presence in the landscape. By mapping our personal taxonomies within the context of The Museum of Natural History we sought to raise questions about the many parameters dividing human beings from the natural world.
Site #2 El Sotano, Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico:
El Sotano, formerly a small family-owned mop factory, was the site of our one-month residency in the city of Tijuana. During this time we explored this subterranean factory filled with cotton, dust, and piles of machine part), Carlos Hauter, the talented chef and owner generously gave, not only his property, (El Sotano) but his kitchen. He was a major supporter of the project and our ambassador to his neighborhood as well. And last but not least we couldn’t have begun this project without the support of Gary Ghirardi, whose brilliance and insight were unmatched.