I want to go to there
August 19, 2022 10:57 AM Subscribe
Michael Heizer’s City, a 1.5 mile x 0.5 mile monumental artwork in the Nevada Desert is finally open for visitors in September. Write for an invite! Benjamin Sutton has a brief story in The Art Newspaper, and Michael Kimmelman, Todd Heisler, and Noah Throop have a deep dive at The New York Times. (No paywall)
I teach an "Archaeology of the Future" course and this features prominently as something that may stump science in 100k years from now - great to see some high quality pics and get more on the backstory.
posted by Rumple at 11:27 AM on August 19, 2022 [6 favorites]
posted by Rumple at 11:27 AM on August 19, 2022 [6 favorites]
Some people would take that statement as a challenge.
posted by seanmpuckett at 11:33 AM on August 19, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by seanmpuckett at 11:33 AM on August 19, 2022 [3 favorites]
I look at the pictures and think, oh cool
Then see the price tag-- memories of Ozymandias--
And look at my own bank account, the constant source
Of my true despair, that much quieter failure
And wonder which life
Has held much less
Meaning
posted by Jacen at 11:41 AM on August 19, 2022 [8 favorites]
Then see the price tag-- memories of Ozymandias--
And look at my own bank account, the constant source
Of my true despair, that much quieter failure
And wonder which life
Has held much less
Meaning
posted by Jacen at 11:41 AM on August 19, 2022 [8 favorites]
What a last line:
"I suspect it will make a beautiful ruin someday."
posted by doctornemo at 11:45 AM on August 19, 2022 [3 favorites]
"I suspect it will make a beautiful ruin someday."
posted by doctornemo at 11:45 AM on August 19, 2022 [3 favorites]
THIS PLACE IS A MESSAGE… AND PART OF A SYSTEM OF MESSAGES… PAY ATTENTION TO IT! SENDING THIS MESSAGE WAS IMPORTANT TO US. WE CONSIDERED OURSELVES TO BE A POWERFUL CULTURE.
posted by fallingbadgers at 11:50 AM on August 19, 2022 [17 favorites]
posted by fallingbadgers at 11:50 AM on August 19, 2022 [17 favorites]
"I suspect it will make a beautiful ruin someday."
Albert Speer's theory of "ruin value"
[We] should build structures that would resemble Roman ruins even after hundreds or thousands of years. He wrote:
"To illustrate my ideas, I had a romantic drawing prepared. It showed what the reviewing stand on the Zeppelin Field would look like after generations of neglect, overgrown with ivy, its columns fallen, the walls crumbling here and there, but the outline still clearly recognizable. In Hitler’s entourage this drawing was regarded as blasphemous. That I could even conceive of a period of decline for the newly founded Reich destined to last a thousand years seemed outrageous to many of Hitler’s closest followers. But he himself accepted my ideas as logical and illuminating. He gave orders that in the future the important building of his Reich were to be erected in keeping with the principle of this “law of ruins.” "
posted by Rumple at 11:51 AM on August 19, 2022 [7 favorites]
Albert Speer's theory of "ruin value"
[We] should build structures that would resemble Roman ruins even after hundreds or thousands of years. He wrote:
"To illustrate my ideas, I had a romantic drawing prepared. It showed what the reviewing stand on the Zeppelin Field would look like after generations of neglect, overgrown with ivy, its columns fallen, the walls crumbling here and there, but the outline still clearly recognizable. In Hitler’s entourage this drawing was regarded as blasphemous. That I could even conceive of a period of decline for the newly founded Reich destined to last a thousand years seemed outrageous to many of Hitler’s closest followers. But he himself accepted my ideas as logical and illuminating. He gave orders that in the future the important building of his Reich were to be erected in keeping with the principle of this “law of ruins.” "
posted by Rumple at 11:51 AM on August 19, 2022 [7 favorites]
I remember when I was young reading about this in Time Magazine in the 1970s, and thinking that it sounded cool.
posted by ovvl at 11:52 AM on August 19, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by ovvl at 11:52 AM on August 19, 2022 [3 favorites]
When they come out here to fuck my City sculpture up, they’ll realize it takes more energy to wreck it than it’s worth.”
Sounds like a challenge.
posted by star gentle uterus at 11:54 AM on August 19, 2022
Sounds like a challenge.
posted by star gentle uterus at 11:54 AM on August 19, 2022
I often like or appreciate larger sculptures and conceptual art, but this seems like quite a large scale destruction of nature with a side helping of colonialism. Seems like at a certain scale, art should also be of use (and, correspondingly, functional structures should also be art).
posted by eviemath at 12:00 PM on August 19, 2022 [14 favorites]
posted by eviemath at 12:00 PM on August 19, 2022 [14 favorites]
It could be argued that, as an artistic reflection of western civilization and its built environment, disruption of the natural environment is a necessary feature. Absent the profit motive, it becomes all the more perplexing.
posted by cardboard at 12:08 PM on August 19, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by cardboard at 12:08 PM on August 19, 2022 [3 favorites]
OO, so this road...The road out of Ely to Rachel and Hiko, Alamo, etc, used to be called the 93. You could take the 93 instead of the 88 and shave 60 miles off the drive from Las Vegas to Ely, if you like the Western route up through Nevada, rather than I 15, over and up Utah.Yeah, if you cut over to the 93 now, and go to the great basin via Ely, it is 188 miles, the unmarked road is 120 miles or so. I took this unmarked road a bunch of times, it is the trucker route up from Vegas to Ely and to Wendover. It used to be you could choose the 88 or whatever and go up to The Great Basin National Park, or choose the 93. I took a lot of pictures in the Pahranagat National Wildlife Refuge, and took the road many times. There is a truck stop in Alamo with great food and sandwiches as it is a major market. Alamo has a nice motel and food, it is a pretty farm area. Bunkerville is somewhere in this mix, home of the Bundy clan.
I checked out this area on Google Earth a bunch, there were a number of nuclear detonations along here, and I found it amazing, they were clearly marked. The Alien highway goes over from Alamo. The Area that shall be numbered, but not named is to the West of this place, as well. But if you are looking for even more interesting things, there is the Lunar Crater between Ely and Tonopah, and the big playa you can rip aound on. You have to start looking for it about half way. The highway 6 route over Nevada is great in summer the 5-6 6000 ft passes, keep it cool, and I find it beautiful and interesting all the way. I am not sure what this artist plunked his work down on top of or why. There is always a reason for stuff in this area. The unnamed road up, is cleaned up by the Porsche Club of Las Vegas, and in return they get the road, one day per year, for a timed race.
There you go. Chances are he has marked a detonation site. Unless they dried out the Pahranagat altogether.
posted by Oyéah at 12:15 PM on August 19, 2022 [16 favorites]
I checked out this area on Google Earth a bunch, there were a number of nuclear detonations along here, and I found it amazing, they were clearly marked. The Alien highway goes over from Alamo. The Area that shall be numbered, but not named is to the West of this place, as well. But if you are looking for even more interesting things, there is the Lunar Crater between Ely and Tonopah, and the big playa you can rip aound on. You have to start looking for it about half way. The highway 6 route over Nevada is great in summer the 5-6 6000 ft passes, keep it cool, and I find it beautiful and interesting all the way. I am not sure what this artist plunked his work down on top of or why. There is always a reason for stuff in this area. The unnamed road up, is cleaned up by the Porsche Club of Las Vegas, and in return they get the road, one day per year, for a timed race.
There you go. Chances are he has marked a detonation site. Unless they dried out the Pahranagat altogether.
posted by Oyéah at 12:15 PM on August 19, 2022 [16 favorites]
The Pahranagat is still going strong, there is camping there, and day break is gorgeous at the Pahranagat. It should be nearby. Relatively.
posted by Oyéah at 12:20 PM on August 19, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by Oyéah at 12:20 PM on August 19, 2022 [3 favorites]
Well, sorry to overpost, but that is way beyond amazing!
posted by Oyéah at 12:39 PM on August 19, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by Oyéah at 12:39 PM on August 19, 2022 [3 favorites]
“I am not here to tell people what it all means. You can figure it out for yourself.”
What it means is what it does. This has taken US$40 million of rich peoples' money and poured that into a hole.
Almost any other use of this money would have been more beneficial to everyone.
America, this is what happens when you barely tax the rich.
At least when the K Foundation burned a million quid they had the courage to burn their own money.
posted by happyinmotion at 12:56 PM on August 19, 2022 [10 favorites]
What it means is what it does. This has taken US$40 million of rich peoples' money and poured that into a hole.
Almost any other use of this money would have been more beneficial to everyone.
America, this is what happens when you barely tax the rich.
At least when the K Foundation burned a million quid they had the courage to burn their own money.
posted by happyinmotion at 12:56 PM on August 19, 2022 [10 favorites]
"Almost any other use of this money would have been more beneficial to everyone."
It's their money - they can use it how they please. Nobody (I assume) is telling you how you should spend your money.
posted by davidmsc at 1:08 PM on August 19, 2022 [3 favorites]
It's their money - they can use it how they please. Nobody (I assume) is telling you how you should spend your money.
posted by davidmsc at 1:08 PM on August 19, 2022 [3 favorites]
[From the second link]
The artwork he has built here is not the monumental structures in the desert any more than the cracked pieces of marble rubble left over from Michelangelo’s David were.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 1:24 PM on August 19, 2022 [1 favorite]
Please note that City is NOT open to the public, and visiting City without prior permission of the artist is NOT currently permitted.So it’s taken most of his life to build and no one is allowed to see it.
The artwork he has built here is not the monumental structures in the desert any more than the cracked pieces of marble rubble left over from Michelangelo’s David were.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 1:24 PM on August 19, 2022 [1 favorite]
"It's their money"
Hold up there. The basis of society is that there is a common good that we all contribute to. That's why we care for each other. We are responsible for each other. That's why we pay taxes - because in a very specific legal sense we contribute some of our wealth to support the common wealth.
I contribute to the school round the corner and to every school in the country even though I don't have kids. I contribute to the hospitals even though I'm not sick right now. I pay for roads at the other end of the country that I'll never drive on.
This is how we fund society. This is what makes civilisation work.
So I am told how I should spend some of my money. That's a good thing.
America seems to have forgotten this.
posted by happyinmotion at 1:44 PM on August 19, 2022 [33 favorites]
Hold up there. The basis of society is that there is a common good that we all contribute to. That's why we care for each other. We are responsible for each other. That's why we pay taxes - because in a very specific legal sense we contribute some of our wealth to support the common wealth.
I contribute to the school round the corner and to every school in the country even though I don't have kids. I contribute to the hospitals even though I'm not sick right now. I pay for roads at the other end of the country that I'll never drive on.
This is how we fund society. This is what makes civilisation work.
So I am told how I should spend some of my money. That's a good thing.
America seems to have forgotten this.
posted by happyinmotion at 1:44 PM on August 19, 2022 [33 favorites]
So it’s taken most of his life to build and no one is allowed to see it.
Mostly true. In another link, there will be 6 visitors per day allowed, weather permitting, at $150/head ($100 for students; local residents admitted for free). They will be bused in after sunrise and bused out before sunset, missing the times when lighting conditions will probably be the most interesting. Even this negligible amount of public access wasn’t given willingly, but as a condition of getting federal protection from development in the area.
posted by cardboard at 1:52 PM on August 19, 2022 [5 favorites]
Mostly true. In another link, there will be 6 visitors per day allowed, weather permitting, at $150/head ($100 for students; local residents admitted for free). They will be bused in after sunrise and bused out before sunset, missing the times when lighting conditions will probably be the most interesting. Even this negligible amount of public access wasn’t given willingly, but as a condition of getting federal protection from development in the area.
posted by cardboard at 1:52 PM on August 19, 2022 [5 favorites]
“Mike is demanding,” he told me, “but I’ve worked in concrete all my life, and I’ve never had the time or money to do something to the best of my ability. Everything is hurry up. It’s about making money. That’s the American way.” On the other hand, Harmon said, Heizer asked him “to produce something that has more to do with accuracy than I’ve ever been allowed even to imagine. This here is my chance to do the best I can.”
This is a really interesting quote. I've always wondered what the laborers who do the actual work on these types of projects think. That's a beautiful sentiment.
posted by kittensofthenight at 1:53 PM on August 19, 2022 [21 favorites]
This is a really interesting quote. I've always wondered what the laborers who do the actual work on these types of projects think. That's a beautiful sentiment.
posted by kittensofthenight at 1:53 PM on August 19, 2022 [21 favorites]
It's like NEOM, 25 years after it opens.
posted by chavenet at 1:57 PM on August 19, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by chavenet at 1:57 PM on August 19, 2022 [1 favorite]
There's potentially other issues there per above, but "Take $40m from rich people & direct it to local skilled labor" doesn't sound like the *worst* sort of thing on concept.
posted by CrystalDave at 1:59 PM on August 19, 2022 [32 favorites]
posted by CrystalDave at 1:59 PM on August 19, 2022 [32 favorites]
So what's with the two fields next to it? I assume the buildings are workshops and living quarters, but there's two presumably expensively irrigated fields as well. Some kind of agricultural tax dodge?
posted by tavella at 2:34 PM on August 19, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by tavella at 2:34 PM on August 19, 2022 [2 favorites]
So it’s taken most of his life to build and no one is allowed to see it.
The reason I made this post is because it is finally possible to go.
posted by Going To Maine at 2:34 PM on August 19, 2022 [10 favorites]
The reason I made this post is because it is finally possible to go.
posted by Going To Maine at 2:34 PM on August 19, 2022 [10 favorites]
For my part, Heizer's work at LACMA is such an underwhelming experience, I am not interested in "City", and the concept seems pretentious. I am much more impressed by Hunga Tonga Hunga Ka'api volcano managing to fling 146,000 tons of water into the stratosphere or the human effort required to pull the Space Shuttle through downtown Los Angeles to the Museum of Natural History, or the natural asphalt swamp on Wilshire Boulevard that is the LaBrea Tar Pits.
Heizer should make the site viewable by drone or some other similar method that would protect his precious kingdom and allow viewers to see it from multiple angles and he can still have his solitude and restrict access.
posted by effluvia at 2:36 PM on August 19, 2022 [2 favorites]
Heizer should make the site viewable by drone or some other similar method that would protect his precious kingdom and allow viewers to see it from multiple angles and he can still have his solitude and restrict access.
posted by effluvia at 2:36 PM on August 19, 2022 [2 favorites]
True, it's not the worst...
...but how about "take $40m from rich people & address it to society's needs as directed by democratically elected and accountable representatives"?
Coz what's happening here is not accountable to anyone but a tiny number of patrons.
Nor is it being connected to any rational analysis of how best those resources could be put to use.
posted by happyinmotion at 2:37 PM on August 19, 2022 [2 favorites]
...but how about "take $40m from rich people & address it to society's needs as directed by democratically elected and accountable representatives"?
Coz what's happening here is not accountable to anyone but a tiny number of patrons.
Nor is it being connected to any rational analysis of how best those resources could be put to use.
posted by happyinmotion at 2:37 PM on August 19, 2022 [2 favorites]
So I am told how I should spend some of my money. That's a good thing.
“The government should tell people how to spend some of their money” isn’t really the same thing as “people should not have spent a lot of money on this art project because it seems like a waste”.
I think it is beautiful. I am glad that some money is wasted on beautiful, immense things.
posted by Going To Maine at 2:38 PM on August 19, 2022 [25 favorites]
“The government should tell people how to spend some of their money” isn’t really the same thing as “people should not have spent a lot of money on this art project because it seems like a waste”.
I think it is beautiful. I am glad that some money is wasted on beautiful, immense things.
posted by Going To Maine at 2:38 PM on August 19, 2022 [25 favorites]
nuke it from orbit, just to be sure.
Lewis Mumford would have called this Giantism with ego and cash patterning.
posted by clavdivs at 2:58 PM on August 19, 2022 [1 favorite]
Lewis Mumford would have called this Giantism with ego and cash patterning.
posted by clavdivs at 2:58 PM on August 19, 2022 [1 favorite]
We should be spending way more money on monumental art projects, not less. (For comparison, New York City's 2023 police department budget is around $10.9 billion.)
I would like to see this, but I'm guessing it will be a few years until it is easy to arrange admission given how few tickets are being released at first. (It sounds from the article like he is in failing health, so perhaps policies will change at some point, too.)
posted by Dip Flash at 3:29 PM on August 19, 2022 [7 favorites]
I would like to see this, but I'm guessing it will be a few years until it is easy to arrange admission given how few tickets are being released at first. (It sounds from the article like he is in failing health, so perhaps policies will change at some point, too.)
posted by Dip Flash at 3:29 PM on August 19, 2022 [7 favorites]
...but how about "take $40m from rich people & address it to society's needs as directed by democratically elected and accountable representatives"?
One can always indulge in "whataboutism" against expensive art projects. None of the great monuments of any culture would likely have been built if a strictly, soberly practical attitude had prevailed in all times and places.
And maybe that's fine with you. But personally, I'm glad the weirdos and visionaries and, yes, grandiose ego-trippers have sometimes prevailed, and given us the Pyramids, Stonehenge, the great cathedrals of Europe, the great mosques and temples of Asia, the pre-contact monuments of the Americas, the futuristic, brutalist spomeniks of the former Yugoslavia, the works of Christo and Jeanne-Claude, etc.
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 3:32 PM on August 19, 2022 [28 favorites]
One can always indulge in "whataboutism" against expensive art projects. None of the great monuments of any culture would likely have been built if a strictly, soberly practical attitude had prevailed in all times and places.
And maybe that's fine with you. But personally, I'm glad the weirdos and visionaries and, yes, grandiose ego-trippers have sometimes prevailed, and given us the Pyramids, Stonehenge, the great cathedrals of Europe, the great mosques and temples of Asia, the pre-contact monuments of the Americas, the futuristic, brutalist spomeniks of the former Yugoslavia, the works of Christo and Jeanne-Claude, etc.
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 3:32 PM on August 19, 2022 [28 favorites]
I am so torn by environmental art. His Double Negative really bums me out, just reading about it. You are blowing up mesas for art?
On the other hand, this looks crazy cool. Insane as foretold, and I never thought he would "finish" it. Glad some people will get to experience it. But, so much damage to the environment there, which, it already a pretty harsh place to survive in.
Is the Spiral Jetty a good thing, or a bad thing?
I have a super cool environmental art project in my head, well okay, I have two, but one is way better. But certainly not on this scale. The NYT deep dive link has some sweet drone footage, worth looking at.
posted by Windopaene at 3:38 PM on August 19, 2022 [3 favorites]
On the other hand, this looks crazy cool. Insane as foretold, and I never thought he would "finish" it. Glad some people will get to experience it. But, so much damage to the environment there, which, it already a pretty harsh place to survive in.
Is the Spiral Jetty a good thing, or a bad thing?
I have a super cool environmental art project in my head, well okay, I have two, but one is way better. But certainly not on this scale. The NYT deep dive link has some sweet drone footage, worth looking at.
posted by Windopaene at 3:38 PM on August 19, 2022 [3 favorites]
It will look better once it's been graffiti'd up.
posted by thatwhichfalls at 3:42 PM on August 19, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by thatwhichfalls at 3:42 PM on August 19, 2022 [3 favorites]
It took me a while to realize this wasn’t the same thing as Roden Crater, so I guess there are at least two large scale desert artworks that have been in progress since the 70s by incredibly committed artists. I’d love to see them both, maybe in 5 years or so I can drag the kids on a multi-desert road trip.
posted by Jon Mitchell at 3:49 PM on August 19, 2022 [5 favorites]
posted by Jon Mitchell at 3:49 PM on August 19, 2022 [5 favorites]
"None of the great monuments of any culture would likely have been built if a strictly, soberly practical attitude had prevailed in all times and places."
Every Roman aqueduct in Europe would beg to differ.
posted by happyinmotion at 3:56 PM on August 19, 2022 [4 favorites]
Every Roman aqueduct in Europe would beg to differ.
posted by happyinmotion at 3:56 PM on August 19, 2022 [4 favorites]
...but how about "take $40m from rich people & address it to society's needs as directed by democratically elected and accountable representatives"?
Like the Roosevelt Administration did with the Federal Art Project? It's not like arts funding is purely tied to oligarchy or the idle rich (and perhaps if the government did more in that space, there would be less room for private patronage). Democracy is not, nor has it ever been, synonymous with pure practicality.
...though at least (the vast majority of) federally-funded artwork is publicly accessible to some degree, which is really the main ambivalence I feel about Heizer's piece here. What good are two vast and trunkless legs and stone without a traveler in an antique land to appreciate them?
posted by the tartare yolk at 4:13 PM on August 19, 2022 [2 favorites]
Like the Roosevelt Administration did with the Federal Art Project? It's not like arts funding is purely tied to oligarchy or the idle rich (and perhaps if the government did more in that space, there would be less room for private patronage). Democracy is not, nor has it ever been, synonymous with pure practicality.
...though at least (the vast majority of) federally-funded artwork is publicly accessible to some degree, which is really the main ambivalence I feel about Heizer's piece here. What good are two vast and trunkless legs and stone without a traveler in an antique land to appreciate them?
posted by the tartare yolk at 4:13 PM on August 19, 2022 [2 favorites]
I am so torn by environmental art. His Double Negative really bums me out, just reading about it. You are blowing up mesas for art?
An alternative desert art, treading lightly.
posted by Thella at 4:52 PM on August 19, 2022 [2 favorites]
An alternative desert art, treading lightly.
posted by Thella at 4:52 PM on August 19, 2022 [2 favorites]
Every Roman aqueduct in Europe would beg to differ.
Public works != monuments.
It's the distinction between design and art.
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 4:53 PM on August 19, 2022 [1 favorite]
Public works != monuments.
It's the distinction between design and art.
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 4:53 PM on August 19, 2022 [1 favorite]
Every Roman aqueduct in Europe would beg to differ.
This isn't much of a comparison. I doubt those aqueducts were thought of as monuments to their culture at the time. Let alone works of art. Is there anything that survives a couple millennia that can't be considered a monument to its culture? I can tell you, if someone finds a pristine F150 in some hermetically sealed garage 2000 years from now, it would absolutely be considered a priceless monument to its culture.
Of course, we're talking art here. Art almost always reflects its underwriters in one way or another. Not necessarily you or me.
"take $40m from rich people & address it to society's needs as directed by democratically elected and accountable representatives"
On top of what they are already paying? I've no reason to think anybody involved here is not honoring their legal burdens. You want more. For your reasons. It's not as if there's no tradition of democratically elected and accountable representatives using money to build frivolous or non utilitarian things. All on your behalf. Is that not good enough? You still want more?
Until then, it's their money to spend as they see fit. FWIW, it looks like that money was spread around. All that dirt doesn't move itself.
posted by 2N2222 at 5:05 PM on August 19, 2022 [1 favorite]
This isn't much of a comparison. I doubt those aqueducts were thought of as monuments to their culture at the time. Let alone works of art. Is there anything that survives a couple millennia that can't be considered a monument to its culture? I can tell you, if someone finds a pristine F150 in some hermetically sealed garage 2000 years from now, it would absolutely be considered a priceless monument to its culture.
Of course, we're talking art here. Art almost always reflects its underwriters in one way or another. Not necessarily you or me.
"take $40m from rich people & address it to society's needs as directed by democratically elected and accountable representatives"
On top of what they are already paying? I've no reason to think anybody involved here is not honoring their legal burdens. You want more. For your reasons. It's not as if there's no tradition of democratically elected and accountable representatives using money to build frivolous or non utilitarian things. All on your behalf. Is that not good enough? You still want more?
Until then, it's their money to spend as they see fit. FWIW, it looks like that money was spread around. All that dirt doesn't move itself.
posted by 2N2222 at 5:05 PM on August 19, 2022 [1 favorite]
Personally I prefer his early, funny work.
posted by aquanaut at 5:10 PM on August 19, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by aquanaut at 5:10 PM on August 19, 2022 [4 favorites]
Saying that the money should have been better spent is much like saying that we shouldn’t do space exploration because the money could have been better spent on solving our problems on Earth. Thing is, it wasn’t gonna be. Not before a radical restructuring of things, anyway. The government in the ‘60s would have put that money towards the Cold War more directly, and Heizer’s rich donors today would have paid for some other art, or maybe a superyacht.
“City” looks amazing, like the Yucca Mountain site I wanted to see. It actually uses Brutalist principles well. I’d love to see it, although I don’t suppose I ever will. Aside from all the trouble of getting there, it looks so, so hot.
posted by Countess Elena at 5:23 PM on August 19, 2022 [4 favorites]
“City” looks amazing, like the Yucca Mountain site I wanted to see. It actually uses Brutalist principles well. I’d love to see it, although I don’t suppose I ever will. Aside from all the trouble of getting there, it looks so, so hot.
posted by Countess Elena at 5:23 PM on August 19, 2022 [4 favorites]
I see the Metafilter Brigades are here decrying the use of money to make art. I guess that the communist revolution some folks fantasize about is apparently going to be devoid of aesthetic indulgence. Perhaps we should discipline all the sculptors and painters and other flippant intellectuals by sending them to the farms so they can serve the people with tireless struggle. We could start with the folks who have time to write comments on Internet forums.
That being said, this artwork strikes me as being awfully self indulgent and hostile. I'm grateful to the NYT for its excellent essay and photography because it's the closest I'm likely to ever get to enjoying the art. There is something grand about this inhuman scale and sterile landscape but it is also awful. In both senses of the word; terrible and inspiring awe.
I'm really struck by this part of the NYT article: "He habitually berates and bad-mouths most of them and others, so it’s striking how fiercely Heizer is loved by those closest to him." 40 years in the desert building a monument you really wish you didn't have to let anyone see, it says something about a man. I am glad he was able to achieve his vision though, as bitter as it seems. Maybe the misanthropy is the message.
Reading this reminded me again of Leonard Knight and his monumental project in the SoCal desert, Salvation Mountain. It's quite haphazard and the opposite of carefully built. Also quickly on its way to ruin. But it too is a singular architectural vision. The artist's deep belief that God is Love and the medium to communicate that was hay bales covered in mud and donated house paint of every diverse color. It is a place of joy. Also quite accessible; just show up.
posted by Nelson at 5:35 PM on August 19, 2022 [20 favorites]
That being said, this artwork strikes me as being awfully self indulgent and hostile. I'm grateful to the NYT for its excellent essay and photography because it's the closest I'm likely to ever get to enjoying the art. There is something grand about this inhuman scale and sterile landscape but it is also awful. In both senses of the word; terrible and inspiring awe.
I'm really struck by this part of the NYT article: "He habitually berates and bad-mouths most of them and others, so it’s striking how fiercely Heizer is loved by those closest to him." 40 years in the desert building a monument you really wish you didn't have to let anyone see, it says something about a man. I am glad he was able to achieve his vision though, as bitter as it seems. Maybe the misanthropy is the message.
Reading this reminded me again of Leonard Knight and his monumental project in the SoCal desert, Salvation Mountain. It's quite haphazard and the opposite of carefully built. Also quickly on its way to ruin. But it too is a singular architectural vision. The artist's deep belief that God is Love and the medium to communicate that was hay bales covered in mud and donated house paint of every diverse color. It is a place of joy. Also quite accessible; just show up.
posted by Nelson at 5:35 PM on August 19, 2022 [20 favorites]
This is beautiful and that green stuff over there, is his self sustaining farm. This is am amazing enterprise, I have walked around, been in that area, I would love to walk it.
posted by Oyéah at 6:31 PM on August 19, 2022 [5 favorites]
posted by Oyéah at 6:31 PM on August 19, 2022 [5 favorites]
I mean, this guy seems like a real asshole. So, like, yeah, some of us have had our fill of tyrants, and wouldn’t mind seeing this city razed flat, preferably before this Heizer character croaks. This business about art is besides the point, really, in my book.
posted by Don.Kinsayder at 8:32 PM on August 19, 2022
posted by Don.Kinsayder at 8:32 PM on August 19, 2022
whoa... somehow posted early. Art comes somewhere in all that, between boredom of life and the weaving of spirituality. So what is this creation if an empty City so driven by one man? How did American culture help produce something so huge? Something that that barely any people get to have access to? I suppose it's like American wealth. Literally so huge and powerful that it can barely be contained. Jealously guarded. Of no use to its owners but to possess. Ordinary people can walk in its shadows but not comprehend it.
posted by Mister Cheese at 9:15 PM on August 19, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by Mister Cheese at 9:15 PM on August 19, 2022 [1 favorite]
I mean, this guy seems like a real asshole. So, like, yeah, some of us have had our fill of tyrants, and wouldn’t mind seeing this city razed flat, preferably before this Heizer character croaks. This business about art is besides the point, really, in my book.
So his life's work should be demolished while he's still alive, just to teach him a lesson?
You sound at least as misanthropic as him.
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 10:16 PM on August 19, 2022 [11 favorites]
So his life's work should be demolished while he's still alive, just to teach him a lesson?
You sound at least as misanthropic as him.
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 10:16 PM on August 19, 2022 [11 favorites]
It looks like the ultimate skate park or maybe some billionaire can turn it into their own personal tomb.
posted by Beholder at 12:08 AM on August 20, 2022
posted by Beholder at 12:08 AM on August 20, 2022
I'm really happy and glad Heizer was able to complete City. When I studied, Heizer (+ Schwartz, Turrel, Smithson ...) were very inspiring helping me believe in actioning large scale change. I'm currently doing an (industrial) thing [I'll write on it later in the year] across a hillside, it's about a kilometre end to end, incorporating landart thinking, (along with a lot of ecology & engineering), even thinking of it would be impossible sans Heizer's audacity.
$40M, who cares, we waste that on ball games every day. Landart endures.
posted by unearthed at 12:57 AM on August 20, 2022 [10 favorites]
$40M, who cares, we waste that on ball games every day. Landart endures.
posted by unearthed at 12:57 AM on August 20, 2022 [10 favorites]
This really is fascinating art. It would be incredible to see in person.
Self-indulgent and selfish billionaires blow billions on hideous super yachts and the like all the time. Begrudging an eccentric artist spending $40m and decades of his life creating an enormous private artwork out in the desert seems odd.
I have always wondered why rich people don’t spend their hordes on eccentric monuments and follies. If I had billions I’d probably commission a gigantic granite pyramid in a remote and inaccessible location or something like that.
posted by fimbulvetr at 3:52 AM on August 20, 2022 [6 favorites]
Self-indulgent and selfish billionaires blow billions on hideous super yachts and the like all the time. Begrudging an eccentric artist spending $40m and decades of his life creating an enormous private artwork out in the desert seems odd.
I have always wondered why rich people don’t spend their hordes on eccentric monuments and follies. If I had billions I’d probably commission a gigantic granite pyramid in a remote and inaccessible location or something like that.
posted by fimbulvetr at 3:52 AM on August 20, 2022 [6 favorites]
Ugh, hoards not hordes. Haven’t had my coffee yet.
posted by fimbulvetr at 3:58 AM on August 20, 2022
posted by fimbulvetr at 3:58 AM on August 20, 2022
I really hope I can see this someday--his work is really interesting to me, and it seems (maybe?) like it would be easier to get to than Roden Crater. (also perfect to pair with a visit to Meow Wolf Vegas, the Neon Boneyard, and James Turrell's Akhob, while staying at Damien Hirst's hotel room !).
ART!
posted by armacy at 6:47 AM on August 20, 2022 [3 favorites]
ART!
posted by armacy at 6:47 AM on August 20, 2022 [3 favorites]
Ugh, hoards not hordes. Haven’t had my coffee yet.
I have heard that the pyramids were largely constructed using slave labor, or near to that, with perhaps not the healthiest working conditions? So spending hordes would be the more appropriate choice in that case, at least. I recall a post about the construction of the Suez Canal from last year that describes the working conditions for canal construction labourers as well - not as extreme as what I’ve heard for the pyramids, but also definitely relying significantly on spending working people’s bodies as much as spending money. The proximity of this art piece to nuclear testing sites makes me wonder slightly about that, as well.
posted by eviemath at 7:03 AM on August 20, 2022
I have heard that the pyramids were largely constructed using slave labor, or near to that, with perhaps not the healthiest working conditions? So spending hordes would be the more appropriate choice in that case, at least. I recall a post about the construction of the Suez Canal from last year that describes the working conditions for canal construction labourers as well - not as extreme as what I’ve heard for the pyramids, but also definitely relying significantly on spending working people’s bodies as much as spending money. The proximity of this art piece to nuclear testing sites makes me wonder slightly about that, as well.
posted by eviemath at 7:03 AM on August 20, 2022
Personally I prefer his early, funny work.
Ha ha, but I do still like his 80s graphical work (which tends to get callbacks in the exhibit posters for this more questionable landscape art).
posted by snuffleupagus at 7:28 AM on August 20, 2022
Ha ha, but I do still like his 80s graphical work (which tends to get callbacks in the exhibit posters for this more questionable landscape art).
posted by snuffleupagus at 7:28 AM on August 20, 2022
About the $40 million number that has been getting a lot of focus above -- per the NYTimes article, that figure is his estimate of all spending over 50 years, and includes his considerable sweat equity. So actual yearly spending in dollars was probably a lot lower than the overall figure suggests.
Compared to what gets spent on corporate giveaways, prisons, or highways, this is such an incredibly tiny amount, even pretending that the $40m number is accurate and was mostly in cash (both of which seem doubtful).
posted by Dip Flash at 7:41 AM on August 20, 2022 [4 favorites]
Compared to what gets spent on corporate giveaways, prisons, or highways, this is such an incredibly tiny amount, even pretending that the $40m number is accurate and was mostly in cash (both of which seem doubtful).
posted by Dip Flash at 7:41 AM on August 20, 2022 [4 favorites]
A good chunk of that $40M was spent on labor costs, hiring other people like the neighbor Gracian Uhalde to help build it. I don't know if that's RightThink for "the basis of society that there is a common good" but it's not like the money was literally burnt.
This business about art is besides the point, really, in my book.
I hate to follow up such an unpleasant comment with a question inviting further discussion. But.. if the point of this artwork isn't "the business about art", um, what does your book think the point is?
posted by Nelson at 8:07 AM on August 20, 2022 [3 favorites]
This business about art is besides the point, really, in my book.
I hate to follow up such an unpleasant comment with a question inviting further discussion. But.. if the point of this artwork isn't "the business about art", um, what does your book think the point is?
posted by Nelson at 8:07 AM on August 20, 2022 [3 favorites]
I was talking about the arguments against this guy, his art, the expenditure, etc. It seemed like you and others were trying to debate those in the “against” camp, and, well, all I was trying to say was that people were coming at this from a visceral, primal place. Perhaps. For me at least. I felt like the polite—“but . . . art!”—pushback was missing the point that sometimes people are just sick of tyrants putting their designs on the world. I was trying to be unpleasant because I found the all pleasantness rather galling and obtuse. That’s all.
posted by Don.Kinsayder at 10:15 AM on August 20, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by Don.Kinsayder at 10:15 AM on August 20, 2022 [1 favorite]
I guess that the communist revolution some folks fantasize about is apparently going to be devoid of aesthetic indulgence. Perhaps we should discipline all the sculptors and painters and other flippant intellectuals by sending them to the farms so they can serve the people with tireless struggle. We could start with the folks who have time to write comments on Internet forums.
The artists are already tirelessly serving their capitalist masters. They're waiting on them hand and foot in restaurants and coffee shops. The poets are writing tweets for Lockheed Martin which no one will ever (willingly) read. The painters and sculptors are graphic designers are making logos and labels for crappy plastic products destined for landfills. And those are the lucky ones. Of the most visionary and interesting filmmakers I know personally, one of them works at an Amazon warehouse, and the other one still lives with his parents at age 30 and films legal depositions for a living. If you want to make a film that's not a neo-fascist superhero narrative, you're out of luck. And even if you do go along with what the capitalist masters of the studios and streaming services demand, they might just destroy your work for a tax break. Musicians get paid fractions of pennies per play, while the recording industry as a whole is more profitable than ever. But do continue to post on this internet forum about how socialism stifles artistic expression.
posted by vibrotronica at 10:42 AM on August 20, 2022 [1 favorite]
The artists are already tirelessly serving their capitalist masters. They're waiting on them hand and foot in restaurants and coffee shops. The poets are writing tweets for Lockheed Martin which no one will ever (willingly) read. The painters and sculptors are graphic designers are making logos and labels for crappy plastic products destined for landfills. And those are the lucky ones. Of the most visionary and interesting filmmakers I know personally, one of them works at an Amazon warehouse, and the other one still lives with his parents at age 30 and films legal depositions for a living. If you want to make a film that's not a neo-fascist superhero narrative, you're out of luck. And even if you do go along with what the capitalist masters of the studios and streaming services demand, they might just destroy your work for a tax break. Musicians get paid fractions of pennies per play, while the recording industry as a whole is more profitable than ever. But do continue to post on this internet forum about how socialism stifles artistic expression.
posted by vibrotronica at 10:42 AM on August 20, 2022 [1 favorite]
(Really did not think that this post would get people worked up about the value of this kind of art and a discussion of the cost of art in society. Obviously divisiveness is not a proof of value, but wow.)
posted by Going To Maine at 10:55 AM on August 20, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by Going To Maine at 10:55 AM on August 20, 2022 [4 favorites]
I'm 100% in favor of more funding for art. Public funding, private funding, pay artists to make more art. My comments have been a reaction to a discussion that seemed to suggest this $40M should not have been spent on this art project and that instead the presumed rich people who funded it should be taxed instead. And the money used in some other way that is "more beneficial to everyone" that is unspecified but perhaps is schools and hospitals and roads?
Me, I'm glad to see some wealthy art patrons spend $40M of private money over 40 years to help this get built. Even if I don't like the actual art outcome much and it seems destined to not be viewable by almost anyone in person. There's a certain majesty in the hubris of it all.
I'm with Going To Maine; it's remarkable what a heated discussion this has produced. I think it's in part a reaction to the aesthetic of the art itself, the gigantic forms and alienating presentation. Also it's partly just the bad side of Internet conversation, the drive to sharp words, and I regret my own contributions to that tone. Thanks in particular to Don.Kinsayder for generously answering my ill-tempered question in a way that helped me better understand what they were saying.
posted by Nelson at 11:02 AM on August 20, 2022 [2 favorites]
Me, I'm glad to see some wealthy art patrons spend $40M of private money over 40 years to help this get built. Even if I don't like the actual art outcome much and it seems destined to not be viewable by almost anyone in person. There's a certain majesty in the hubris of it all.
I'm with Going To Maine; it's remarkable what a heated discussion this has produced. I think it's in part a reaction to the aesthetic of the art itself, the gigantic forms and alienating presentation. Also it's partly just the bad side of Internet conversation, the drive to sharp words, and I regret my own contributions to that tone. Thanks in particular to Don.Kinsayder for generously answering my ill-tempered question in a way that helped me better understand what they were saying.
posted by Nelson at 11:02 AM on August 20, 2022 [2 favorites]
Here's a list of ~190 movies of varying quality with a budget of $40 million. It would be funny if every review of movies like Sex Tape or Small Soldiers ended with "This money should have been spent on schools and hospitals." On the other hand it would be funny if critics of a $40 million hospital argued "This money should have been spent on another League of Their Own."
posted by ejs at 11:21 AM on August 20, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by ejs at 11:21 AM on August 20, 2022 [3 favorites]
When someone says I can’t visit something like this, it just makes me want to overfly it with LiDAR drones and release the geometry in hopes that it will only be known to history, in the very, very, very long run, as a capture the flag map for Splatoon or something. That’s your gift to mankind, buddy. We turned it into a theme park anyway.
posted by bigbigdog at 11:41 AM on August 20, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by bigbigdog at 11:41 AM on August 20, 2022 [2 favorites]
Nothing against $40M over a few decades for public art in general on my end. This particular piece, at 6 visitors per day, only some days, at a cost of $100+, and only begrudgingly arguably does not qualify as public art. But mostly I’m just coming back in to the thread to ask if we could we debate the environmental issues as much as the price tag?
posted by eviemath at 12:39 PM on August 20, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by eviemath at 12:39 PM on August 20, 2022 [2 favorites]
Public art bridges an uncomfortable and most often an unfulfilling compromise between what an artist wants to create, and what the public wants to see. I have friends who create work as public art, and have been entertained with their colourful stories of what it is like to work in that sphere. There is a tremendous amount of control over their work, starting from the application process, through to committee input at multiple phases, meetings where the public can weigh in (and that goes like you would imagine). It is a far cry from the modern view of an artist alone in their studio, making art without a constituent, and hoping that the art will find its own constituency. Public art is thankless work for the most part.
City, however, is not public art. It was made by an artist who was self-funded, in that the patrons, who individually valued his work and vision, provided the money more as a stipend and work expenses, and the artist was free to purse their creative vision as they wish with those resources.
I am not a fan of this work, it seems nihilistic, hollow and terror-inducing, and telling that it is a simulacrum of more meaningful art from extinct cultures. But I will say, somewhat cynically, that it does seem like it represents where we are at, now, and in that way, it is pretty great. And pretty sad.
posted by nanook at 1:10 PM on August 20, 2022 [5 favorites]
City, however, is not public art. It was made by an artist who was self-funded, in that the patrons, who individually valued his work and vision, provided the money more as a stipend and work expenses, and the artist was free to purse their creative vision as they wish with those resources.
I am not a fan of this work, it seems nihilistic, hollow and terror-inducing, and telling that it is a simulacrum of more meaningful art from extinct cultures. But I will say, somewhat cynically, that it does seem like it represents where we are at, now, and in that way, it is pretty great. And pretty sad.
posted by nanook at 1:10 PM on August 20, 2022 [5 favorites]
The idea that art has to pay for its self, is dead wrong. He blew up a mountainside, oh my god, the nuclear weapons unleashed in that area! The whole thing seems like a mausoleum for someone, and I don't think it is the artist. His personality traits are his, and not the art. He is a person none of us has met. We don't know anything but hearsay, to have an emotional response to a massive land art, is sort of a pose, considering the sheer amount of land real cities take, and adjacent land for the servicing of cities. This piece is nothing in comparison to road building, track laying, etc. I am struck by the stark beauty of this. And with all the myth about what all goes on in that general area, it is a mausoleum for those we lost, and don't know we lost, those we sacrificed in the name of security, experiments we condoned as a society by turning a blind eye. I love this work of art, it stands on it's own.
In art criticism, there is a triangle, the art, the medium (in this case scale, location, execution, materials,) and the viewer. The art is this enormous piece, and what it is, and all of us who eventually view it in real time, or in any other way. I can hear my feet on the dry land. I can hear distant birds, I can feel the silence between movements, and the heat, and an eternity of steps, in some way like a penance, for everything that was ever done out there, pink clouds and radioactive snow.
The artist made it, his work stands. He runs a self sustaining farm nearby, it is ready to be seen. I am amazed by this effort. It is beautiful, to the extreme.
posted by Oyéah at 1:48 PM on August 20, 2022 [14 favorites]
In art criticism, there is a triangle, the art, the medium (in this case scale, location, execution, materials,) and the viewer. The art is this enormous piece, and what it is, and all of us who eventually view it in real time, or in any other way. I can hear my feet on the dry land. I can hear distant birds, I can feel the silence between movements, and the heat, and an eternity of steps, in some way like a penance, for everything that was ever done out there, pink clouds and radioactive snow.
The artist made it, his work stands. He runs a self sustaining farm nearby, it is ready to be seen. I am amazed by this effort. It is beautiful, to the extreme.
posted by Oyéah at 1:48 PM on August 20, 2022 [14 favorites]
Douglas Adams could approach descriptions of how unspeakably vast and remote Garden Valley Nevada is, there is no mention of his female companion whom he asked to live out there, she made important contributions during the design and construction, up until departure some decades later,
, MH ranch.
Best way to appreciate this place ,approach from Nye County via cherry creek summit to Adaven. Or leave the 93 just south of Lund and take the road to Adaven , little mountain retreat deer haven has a commanding view of the garden valley the picket sign marks the way 50 miles . You can see his fields from up here , it is a long drive from Adaven to MH ranch but this is better then coming up a wash across a valley a second summit and.another wash to get to his road . ts big really big and stretched apart vast concavity of sage creosote .
posted by hortense at 1:57 PM on August 21, 2022 [2 favorites]
, MH ranch.
Best way to appreciate this place ,approach from Nye County via cherry creek summit to Adaven. Or leave the 93 just south of Lund and take the road to Adaven , little mountain retreat deer haven has a commanding view of the garden valley the picket sign marks the way 50 miles . You can see his fields from up here , it is a long drive from Adaven to MH ranch but this is better then coming up a wash across a valley a second summit and.another wash to get to his road . ts big really big and stretched apart vast concavity of sage creosote .
posted by hortense at 1:57 PM on August 21, 2022 [2 favorites]
It's a little strange to say how that money should've been spent on something more worthwhile or something that benefited society. Look, I think I’m about as far left a socialist as you can imagine, but this is a rich person’s (or rather rich people’s) art project. It’s not like taxpayer money was used to pay for it—then I would definitely be against it. (That’s not to say that the government shouldn’t fund arts—they should—but half a billion dollars for a single work of art would be pretty dubious.)
But if this guy hadn’t started this project, where would that money be? Would it have gone towards homeless shelters? No. It would’ve just sat in those rich people’s offshore accounts. Or, since they are clearly arts-oriented, those people would’ve simply spent it on some other artwork. But what can you do? It’s rich people who like art. I have issues with the former but at least the latter has some potential value. Better a mega project that everyone can enjoy on some level than money in a vault that no one is even aware of.
posted by zardoz at 3:54 PM on August 21, 2022
But if this guy hadn’t started this project, where would that money be? Would it have gone towards homeless shelters? No. It would’ve just sat in those rich people’s offshore accounts. Or, since they are clearly arts-oriented, those people would’ve simply spent it on some other artwork. But what can you do? It’s rich people who like art. I have issues with the former but at least the latter has some potential value. Better a mega project that everyone can enjoy on some level than money in a vault that no one is even aware of.
posted by zardoz at 3:54 PM on August 21, 2022
The argument is really against wealth accumulation of the sort that enables such projects in the first place, not about whether this or that is an appropriate way for very rich people to spend their money. These large scale private follies*, like yachts, just kind of extra highlight the broader issue, however.
(* In the architectural sense at least, though arguably also in the more common sense of the word.)
posted by eviemath at 6:03 PM on August 21, 2022
(* In the architectural sense at least, though arguably also in the more common sense of the word.)
posted by eviemath at 6:03 PM on August 21, 2022
My little poem was just over 40 words.. at a thousand dollars per word, it would earn me more than my highest annual salary ever, and cover my rent for at least three years...
posted by Jacen at 6:48 PM on August 21, 2022
posted by Jacen at 6:48 PM on August 21, 2022
half a billion dollars for a single work of art would be pretty dubious
4% of a billion, I think.
posted by Going To Maine at 9:03 AM on August 22, 2022
4% of a billion, I think.
posted by Going To Maine at 9:03 AM on August 22, 2022
hey, Going To Maine.. I've been thinking about this art since you posted
this blows my mind, I'm glad you shared. I think art blowing minds is worth the price, I will leave it to others to imagine better worlds and just economies where all the scales balance perfectly. In this world, and on a cosmic scale of time, I'm just glad someone got to do this.
posted by elkevelvet at 10:11 AM on August 22, 2022 [4 favorites]
this blows my mind, I'm glad you shared. I think art blowing minds is worth the price, I will leave it to others to imagine better worlds and just economies where all the scales balance perfectly. In this world, and on a cosmic scale of time, I'm just glad someone got to do this.
posted by elkevelvet at 10:11 AM on August 22, 2022 [4 favorites]
From overhead City looks like the world's most enormous skate park. Another checkmark in its favor imo.
posted by Lyme Drop at 1:32 PM on August 22, 2022
posted by Lyme Drop at 1:32 PM on August 22, 2022
I loved the NYT piece and I hope to visit City someday. It feels like something that Jon Bois would have imagined existing in the 17776 future.
posted by brainwane at 7:25 AM on August 25, 2022
posted by brainwane at 7:25 AM on August 25, 2022
A vast sculpture in the Nevada desert is finished at last, an Economist article by someone else who has visited and had some observations I haven't seen elsewhere.
Now finished, the work is as much a garden—albeit one with no flowers—as a city. There are mounds and walkways, as well as discrete spaces that could be neighbourhoods. Your perceptions, as you stand at the foot of the rising steles or lie at the bottom of the huge pebbled bowl known as the “Teardrop”, are constantly jolted.Also
Jokes and visual puns abound. From one angle, “Complex One” seems to be a simple earthen wall with struts sticking out; move farther back and the struts come together to frame the wall as if it were a painting. Mr Heizer may be playing with geometry and sightlines, but he is also teasing self-important galleries and museum curators.
Now 77, the artist himself has made his last visit to the site. He lives far away, at sea level, for the sake of his damaged lungs ... His stubbornness is undimmed. Asked if he thinks environmental concerns add extra significance to his work, or whether “City” may inspire people more interested in experiences than in things, he is blunt: “It’s the visitor who does the interpretation. I don’t give a damn.”posted by Nelson at 5:32 PM on August 31, 2022 [1 favorite]
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"Incans, Olmecs, Aztecs—their finest works of art were all pillaged, razed, broken apart and their gold was melted down. When they come out here to fuck my City sculpture up, they’ll realize it takes more energy to wreck it than it’s worth.”
If I ever happen to be driving through the barren (and gorgeous) area, this will be a must-see.
posted by davidmsc at 11:19 AM on August 19, 2022