In May 2008, more than sixty photographers set out to capture a 24-hour day in Joshua Tree National Park in Twentynine Palms, CA. Taking inspiration from English photographer Eadweard Muybridge’s important work in motion study, the goal was to capture sequential movements and the passages of time, rather than isolated still-life compositions. Each photographer was assigned a 14-minute time slot that would be assembled together into a complete video. The result, Escape to Reality: 24hrs @ 24fps, an experimental video rendered in a drop-frame style.
To view video < click here >
The 40+ photographers featured in it are: Ami Flori, Carlos Puma, MiKenzie Denholtz, Maxene Denholtz, Mike Denholtz, Brenda Denholtz, Myles Denholtz, Darrin Dikes, Jose Beruvides, Laura Araujo-Salinas, Paul Gachot, Alma Lopez, Reggie Woolery, Rex Bruce, Douglas Buckley, Julia Buckley, Carlos Garcia, Corinne Cardenas, Sergio Pina, Melanie Berry, Elda Carraco, C.R. Steyck III, Ralph Carraco, Yareli Figueroa, Andy Chi, Brian Leatart, David Carter, Jim Belsley, Geoff Shaw, Vicki Williams, Joanne Lehmer, Jacalyn Lopez Garcia, Geno Lopez, Pat May, Rita Medina, Breeane Diaz, Barbara May, Eva Soltes, Brad Shyba, Jason Marquez, Ethan Turpin, Margaret Burnett, Sarah Bay Williams, and Bruce Miller.
Upon viewing the 6,000+ images shot in May, the Digital Studio team set about importing the files into Final Cut Pro. Intern Lauren Hisada, an art student from Washington state, was heavily involved logging the images and making notes about the photographers involved. Multi-talented, Lauren also wrote music for the video using Garage Band. Intern Heather Sten, a UC Riverside visual art undergrad and primary assistant editor on the project, came to us via a Gluck Foundation arts fellowship.
After much discussion, we decided to incorporate a 1937 text by socialite Mabel Dodge Luhan Edge of Taos Desert: An Escape to Reality, which described her transformation from avant-garde art patron and salon organizer to disillusioned proponent of modernism. Mabel would leave New York in 1919 and take up residence in the southwest desert of Taos, New Mexico. Though Mabel Luhan’s recollections about the desert in her memoirs can seem utopian, a response to the violence of World War I, they resonate today due to our own current period of social change and immense turmoil inflected by war, economics, and new technologies.
In addition to the words of Luhan, we excerpted quotes from Rebecca Solnit’s study of the transition from photography to cinema, River of Shadows: Eadweard Muybridge and the Technological Wild West (2003), winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award in Criticism and of the Mark Lynton History Prize. Solnit takes us through the “annihilation of time and space” ignited by the speed of railroad travel and the invention of photography. We also follow Eadweard Muybridge’s early collaborations with then Governor Leland Stanford in Sacramento and Palo Alto, his first motion studies, as well as his competition and influence on the Lumiere Brothers, Thomas Edison, and Etienne-Jules Marey.
Once a rough cut of images was assembled, we approached the author of Phantom Seed, poet Ruth Nolan to add her vision of Joshua Tree. Ruth, a resident of Palm Desert, became excited about the video project and set about writing and narrating Joshua Tree Imprimature (excerpted below). She also recorded footsteps walking and running through Joshua Tree, a place she had spent many days and nights growing up. While Mabel Luhan’s memoirs, featured in sub-title form are the voice of Escape to Reality, it is Ruth Nolan’s words that are it’s soul. She paints a picture of the desert that is complex, ironic, mysterious, and beautiful.
To complete the project, we were able to acquire the post-modern music tracks “A Place in the Sun” and “Ripcord” from Texas band
Joshua Tree Imprimature (excerpt)
In Joshua Tree
In the land that crowns its needled glories with sand
In the desert made of pavement fallen from the Milky Way
In the desert made of deep holes, carved by grinding stones
In the desert made of gashed canyons, cut straight through stone
In the desert made of walking rain that the eye can far-off see
In the desert made of fan tree palms
In the desert made of cold
In the desert made of Blinding mirage
In the desert made of light so old it whispers like grooved bones
Where the woolly mammoth and rattlesnake cross time and home,
Oceans of time rising and receding, land quaking in their paths
Where the granite batholiths arch their backs
where the red-tailed hawks vault their hunting songs
by Ruth Nolan
About Joshua Tree
Joshua Tree, a land that stretches over 800,000 acres, has over 700 species of vascular plants, whose inhabitants are coyotes, Tarantulas, and lizards. This is a land shaped by strong winds, sudden torrents of rain, and climatic extremes. Rainfall is sparse and unpredictable. Streambeds are usually dry and waterholes are few. The land here may seem to appear defeated and dead, but within its parched environment are intricate living systems.
Viewed from the roadside, the desert only hints at its hidden vitality -- but to the close observer Joshua Tree National Park is an abundance of wildflowers, wildlife, solitude and a place for self-discovery. Two deserts, two large ecosystems primarily determined by elevation, come together in the park. Few areas more vividly illustrate the contrast between “high” and “low” desert. Below 3000 feet (910 m), the Colorado Desert, occupying the eastern half of the park, is dominated by the abundant creosote bush. Adding interest to this arid land are small stands of spidery ocotillo and cholla cactus. Check out the National Park Service website at: http://www.nps.gov/jotr
Photograpic Excursion 2009: Joshua Tree National Park is scheduled for the full-moon weekend of May 8-10th. Our goal is to have over 100 photographers, artists and writers descend upon the desert to conduct various types of research, teaching, and art-making. To be a part of it, contact the UCR ARTSblock Education office by April 1, 2009. This is a free family-friendly event. In addition to UCR, we encourage you to check out: High Desert Test Sites (HDTS), a multi-site arts-research event initiated by artist Andrea Zittel (www.highdeserttestsites.com). Also, the Riverside Arts Museum has launched residencies for local and international artists, available annually (www.riversideartmuseum.org). Also, there are Joshua Tree Highlands Houses two-month artist residencies. (info@joshuatreehighlandhouse.com) 310.562.0511
