Kia Neill in her Grotto at Lawndale
With the Climate Change Summit wrapping-up in Copenhagen, and it not looking so pretty for the future of this blue planet, I recently made tentative “end of the world” plans with my husband (we probably have spent too much time discussing Cormac McCarthy’s The Road). My husband (being at a physical disadvantage) assumed that he and our asthmatic daughter would become sacrificial lambs in the fight against barbarism, while my fit daughter and I would retreat to a well-stocked, ammo-supplied remote cave dwelling (yet to be located). While a morbid scenario, we are not alone in entertaining fantasies of retreating into the hollow earth. Read the rest of this post on my Glasstire blog, We Have The Technology.
Listen to me! Podcast interview of Andrea Grover (curator of 29 Chains to the Moon) and Astria Suparak (director of Miller Gallery) conducted by Eric Sloss (LabA6, College of Fine Arts, Carnegie Mellon University). Find out more about the artists currently on view and their visionary schemes for the future.
Miller Gallery has posted some nice photos from the mega opening reception of 29 Chains to the Moon, and the “flavor tripping” reception, 2009: A Taste Odyssey.
I also have some très casual photos from our weekend in Pittsburgh on my flickr site. Big thanks to Astria Suparak, Brett Kashmere, Hiromi Ozaki, Cesar Harada, Jon Rubin, Carol, Lilah, Margaret Cox, Erin Pische, Michael Johnson, Greg Pierce, Alisa Dix, Lowry Burgess, Bill Daniel, Mark O’Connor, and all those who tasted the Kool Aid with us.
29 
Chains to the Moon: Artists’ Schemes for a Fantastic Future
Guest curated by Andrea Grover
Organized by Miller Gallery at Carnegie Mellon University
Aug. 28 – Dec. 6, 2009
Sept. 11, Fri. 6-8pm: Reception
Artists include: Terreform ONE (Mitchell Joachim, Maria Aiolova, Landon Young, Javier Arbona, Lara Greden), Open_Sailing, Stephanie Smith, more
About the Exhibition
In 1938, the visionary designer R.Buckminster Fuller wrote Nine Chains to the Moon, his radical proposal for improving the quality of life for all humankind via progressive design and maximization of the world’s finite resources. The title was a metaphor for cooperation–if all of humankind stood on each others’ shoulders we could complete nine chains to the moon. Today, the population of the planet has increased more than three times (we could now complete 29 chains to the moon), and the successful distribution of energy, food, and shelter to over 9 billion humans by 2050 requires some fantastic schemes. Like Fuller’s revelation from five decades earlier, 29 Chains to the Moon features artists who put forth radical proposals, from seasteads and micronations to floating cities, to make the world work for everyone.
IMAGES:
Fab Tree Hab, Terreform ONE
Open_Sailing model, Open_Sailing
Astrodome Cinema screens tonight, May 28, 2009, 6:30pm at Contemporary Arts Museum Houston!
CAMH exhibition puts iconic Astrodome on silver screen
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ent/arts/theater/6444037.html#
Astrodome Cinema- CAMH exhibit takes a look at the former “Eighth Wonder of the World”
http://www.houstonpress.com/2009-05-28/calendar/astrodome-cinema
On May 28, 6:30pm I’ll be screening two Astrodome-related films as part of my projects for No Zoning: Artists Engage Houston at CAMH.
Nicknamed the “Eighth Wonder of the World,” “Can Do Cathedral,” and “Taj Mahal of Sports,” the Astrodome opened in 1965 as the first domed sports stadium in the world. During its height, the Astrodome hosted historical gatherings such as the “Battle of the Sexes” (a theatrical tennis match between Bobby Riggs and Billy Jean King); “Millenium ’73 (a convening of followers of Divine Light Mission and the Guru Maharaj Ji); an Elvis Presley concert that broke all previous attendance records; and a 13-car motorcycle jump by Evil Knievel. According to the Astrodome’s mastermind, Judge Roy Hofheinz (former Mayor of Houston), its design was inspired by a visit to the Circus Maxiumus in Rome, and indeed it reigned as one of the largest stages in the world until it closed in 2000. A mere 35 years after its spectacular unveiling, the Astrodome had become a relic. In 2001 on the same complex, Reliant Stadium was built– the first retractable roof football stadium, with 20,000 more seats than the Astrodome. Today, the Astrodome is vacant and its fate is unknown.
The Pleasures of this Stately Dome, 1975, Geoff Winningham, 54:00, 16mm on video, color, sound
A study of the Houston Astrodome as a folk theater, created on the 10th anniversary of the opening of the dome. Winner of the Documentary prize at the Edinburgh Film Festival in 1976, and funded in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. The film includes vintage footage from the construction and grand opening of the Astrodome in 1965, plus footage from ten years of diverse and memorable shows, including destruction derbies, Evil Knievel, Billy Graham, chariot races, rodeos, calf scrambles, and various professional sports. The film is punctuated by an extended interview with Judge Roy Hofheinz, who conceived and built the Astrodome.
The Lord of the Universe, 58:00, 1974, TVTV (Top Value Television), color, sound, video
Sixteen-year-old guru Marahaj Ji attempts to levitate the Houston Astrodome in this 1973 DuPont award winning documentary. Follow the guru from his New York mansion to limousines in Houston and listen to his followers celebrities and non-celebrities alike extol his virtues. TVTV’s creative use of graphics, live music, and wide-angle-lens shots to convey the desperate efforts of these lost children to find a leader. “If this guy is God, then this is the God the United States of America deserves.” Abbie Hoffman. Courtesy Video Data Bank
Further reading:
Last Innings at a Can Do Cathedral, Jim Yardley, October 3, 1999, New York Times
Ode to the Astrodome, Brock Bordelon, astrosdaily fansite