Time-Based

Overview

Melissa Smedley and Nanette Yannuzzi

1994

“LAGUNA SALADA & Constancy”, as you see it here, is a five minute excerpt of a two-channel 45-minute series of performances by Nanette Yannuzzi and Melissa Smedley. All performances were enacted in Baja California, Mx. and were exhibited at the Museum of Natural History, San Diego, California, as part of InSite'94, a bi- national exhibition of Installation Art.

Our Installation, (Animal Vegetable, Mineral: Comida para sus Sombrero) and this film, were inspired by our collaborative process and the community surrounding El Sotano---an abandon mop factory in Tijuana-the site of our Installation. Many artists and workers in the shops surrounding the factory contributed to our project and our residency with a sense of curiosity and openness. We were humbled by their support and sharing of their community. The opportunity to live and work in Tijuana during a one-month residency, at El Nopal (summer ’94), our daily walks to la ferreteria, los taquerias y Parque Guerrero, broadened our sense of Tijuana and its day-to- day rhythms providing a well-spring of inspiration Maya Deren’s book The Divine Horseman, her early films, and the art of the Aztecs were also an inspiration.