Forty Acres
Funded by: Center for Land
Use Interpretation, Vis Arts at University of California,
San Diego, and University of California's Institute for
Reseach in the Arts Innovative Residencies Grant (UCIRA)
©
Copyright Larry and Debby Kline, 2006
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FORTY
ACRES was created during a residency at The Center for
Land Use Interpretation’s facilities at Wendover,
Utah. The Klines captured forty acres on the Bonneville
Salt Flats using GPS and Bare Bones (their M1 mobility
scooter/tank), and subsequently mined salt on the land
formerly held by the BLM. The work responds to the vast
mining operations which dominate the landscape in this
region. The
process of marking the land brought a flood of thoughts,
a strangely authentic pride of ownership, a feeling
for the wonder and desperation of the early settlers
as they struggled to cross the terrain by wagon and
on foot and recognition of the physical changes to
the local topography that have been brought by development.
Encouraged by local land use ordinances, a miner need
only stake off a parcel of land, put up posts and
file a few papers to extract minerals from the earth.
In recent years a nominal filing fee has been added
but the overarching mentality can only be described
as a land grab, a Manifest Destiny with no shots fired.
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All
works and Images © Copyright Larry and Debby Kline, 2006 |
