An Ephemeral History of High Desert Test Sites: 2002-2015

OCTOBER 21, 2017 - OCTOBER 22, 2017

Since 2002, High Desert Test Sites has organized a semi-annual series of roving events that bring together local, domestic, and international artists whose contributions have responded to Joshua Tree, Twentynine Palms, and the surrounding areas. The nature of these works have been for the most part ephemeral, yet even those projects imagined with more solidity and structure have had trouble enduring the elements. For the most part, the history of High Desert Test Sites is preserved in the memory of the participants and the viewers of each edition rather than the landscape.

This year’s iteration of High Desert Test Sites is built around An Ephemeral History of High Desert Test Sites: 2002-2015, a month-long exhibition focused on the project’s history. In addition, a pseudo-symposium titled The Palm Talks compliments the exhibition with live music and presentations on the topic of non-communities.

The Palm Talks includes both local and non-local contemporary thinkers, historians, writers, and artists, whose contributions culminate in a momentary glimpse into our collective state. Set within the context of the legendary Palms Restaurant in Twentynine Palms and presented with live musical accompaniment by M. Cay Castagnetto and The Renderers, there will be a negotiation between language and sound, noise and meaning, music and speech. Participants in The Palm Talks include Fiona Connor, Trinie Dalton, Gary Dauphin, Steve Kado, Alexander Keefe, Nancy Klein, Annelies Kuiper, Cailin O’Connor, Litia Perta, Linda Sibio, Laura Sibley, Bobby Jesus and Frances Stark, Sam Thorne, James Owen Weatherall, and others.

An Ephemeral History of High Desert Test Sites presents an incomplete and partial look at the organization’s fifteen-year history, based on the artifacts, ephemera, and facsimiles that have been recovered by High Desert Test Sites and past participating artists. It has prompted a desire to document the organization’s history, to create a living archive of contributions that were otherwise ephemeral and temporary, and to observe the narrative of the gathered material in order to tell the story of the organization, the vast community of artists involved, and the landscape that has witnessed these activities.

High Desert Test Sites 2017 is complimented by new projects and contributions by Fiona Connor, Bob Dornberger and Sarah Witt, Neil Doshi, Edie Fake, Glenn-Murray & Co., Oliver Payne, Carolyn Pennypacker Riggs, and Ry Rocklen.

A publication for the exhibition will be available as part of the Saturday, October 21 edition of the Hi-Desert Star, a local newspaper that has served the community since 1957.

High Desert Test Sites 2017 is curated by Sohrab Mohebbi and Aram Moshayedi, with Tatiana Vahan, Elena Yu, Vanesa Zendejas, and Andrea Zittel.