outdoor animal ~ 2

Spent roughly ten days traveling throughout Western Pennsylvania...

the places

Uniontown
Ohiopyle
Youghiogheny River
Fort Necessity
Latrobe
Ligonier
Fort Ligonier
Monongahela River
Linden Hall (Dawson)

Followed my wife where her production took her so we could be together when she wasn't working. Stayed in a few hotels – and one motel. Had a lot of alone time. Tried to see things. Tried to read. Tried to write. Tried to think. Tried not to think. Tried to get outside. Tried to take photos. Tried almost every coffee place I found. Most days, I felt like the horse in the banner image above – stuck inside watching other humans do outside things on the tv.**

That image is from a video installation I saw at the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh back in aught-eight. I happened upon it and it shook me. I sat and watched. It finished. I stayed put until it started again and then watched until the end. The full film isn't available online, but here's a trailer from when it showed in Germany:

This film is by an artist I have followed from afar ever since: Doug Aitken. I admire Doug's work. (I will write more about him in the future, possibly next week.) From the artist statement:

The work was filmed in roadside motel rooms across the United States, including those in and around Pittsburgh, symbolizing human mobility, progress, and westward expansion. The transitory spaces are interchangeable and do not provide a clear sense of place. The viewer, transported into alien but recognizable surroundings, is subtly asked to reflect upon our own species’ infringement of the natural environment.

If I could go back in time, I'd take a photo or video in each room to show the "alien but recognizable surroundings" I visited. Instead, I'll share photos from my time infringing on the natural environment.

Racking my brain for any takeaway, or insight gleaned, from the trip leaves me tired. Maybe I need time to process it all. Or, maybe I'm just a bag of meat traveling through time and space and one of my biggest issues is always trying to make sense of things. Stay tuned!

*I love how they title video installations in museums. So many informative details.
**The French Open was what was mostly on.
***The use of the phrase "yacht club" appears to be tongue in cheek.

indoor animal is curated by a human: Tim Papciak. On Mondays, he shares one link to one music video to help spark creativity in himself and in other creative types. On Thursdays, he recommends a book, movie, show, art piece, or link to some dusty corner of the internet that he believes either 1.) adds to the human experience, or 2.) serves as a coping mechanism in the year 2025. Note: this is not, and never will be, self-help content.