Alluvial Albums

Found along Big Rock Creek in Llano, CA in 2017, two family photo albums survived the sand, sun and water in the Mojave desert. Now part of the Waste Wunderkammer, the snapshots, polaroids and ephemera are revealed within the context of little known history of the nearby Llano del Rio utopian experiment. The project is part of MaidenLA 2020.

Concourse C

Selections from the Waste Wunderkammer – Station Eleven Edition – a project for the NEA’s Big Read Morongo Basin 2019 is inspired by Emily St. John Mandel’s book. The collection of curiosities found in the desert parallel’s Station Eleven’s Museum of Civilization, a display of extinct technology housed in the gift shop of Concourse C.  The Mojave version features research into the provenance of each item found languishing in our fragile arid eco-system. 

Selections from the Waste Wunderkammer

Collected since 2013 across the Mojave from Antelope Acres to Piñon Hills, the exhibit includes dirt, dust and research into the provenance of these sometimes rare, sometimes sublime, storied objects along with documentation of their discovery and of course a map. Opening Saturday, August 25th, 2018 from 4-7 PM at the Antelope Valley Conservancy in Quartz Hill, this event is part of Maiden L.A. 2018.

Eco-Scenography at the Wallis

Revisiting my scenographic roots, For Nurture documents the collection of over 300 pounds of furniture pieces gathered from illegal dumpsites in the desert and repurposed as part of my stage design for Edward Albee’s At Home at the Zoo at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills, CA.

Manifesting Giant Rock

Between 65 to 136 million years old, the “Great Stone”, a seven story quartz monzonite rock, is said to be the world’s largest free-standing boulder. Manifesting Giant Rock reveals the local history, biographical information on key characters who lived nearby, events at the site, related publications and contemporary audio stories.

DEHSART

DEHSART >>trashed<< backward began in 2013, capturing, mapping and collecting illegally dumped trash to encourage a new view of waste as a resource through community engagement and collaborative on location assemblage interventions. The project was generously supported by multiple grants from the Antelope Valley Illegal Dumping Task Force.

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Blight Sites

Date: April 20, 2016

Time: 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM

Location: Palm Springs Art Museum in Palm Desert

placekeeping | storiesandstewardship

As part of Arttalks: Conversations with Tomorrow’s Experts

Blight Site Drone 29Palms

Since 2013, Karyl Newman has documented illegally dumped materials left in the Mojave. Using GPS coordinates, she links her images to locations using digital mapping technology, revealing the unseen scope of disregard for our desert. As an artist and researcher, she assembles abandoned objects in place or rescues items to reconstruct stories. In celebration of Earth Day 2016, she is launching a collaborative public map project, Blight Sites, where citizens can contribute their own dumpsite discoveries citing both materials available as a creative reuse resource and areas identified for cleanup initiatives. 

AVE K

Start date: April 6, 2016

End date: April 17, 2016

Location: Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions

By Land or By Sea – a program of FVAF 2016 by Micol Hebron

AVEK

Inspired by Mike Davis’ City of Quartz, Newman read and recorded the names of neighborhoods built along Lancaster’s Avenue K while inside the silo ruin at the socialist utopian experiment, Llano del Rio. Paired with video she captured during a 2013 dust storm where 60+ mph winds obliterated perception of space,  AVE K considers the loosening of land around new housing tracts and solar arrays in the Antelope Valley. The recording begins the podcast, The Next Step, introducing Llano del Rio’s feminist history and a CFP for the centennial event she produced with Cindy Rehm of Craftswoman House in May of 2014.

To learn about how more about how housing tracts impact the desert check out this article.

Talking Trash

Date: March 17, 2016

Location: Hi-Desert Nature Museum

placekeeping | storiesandstewardship

Brown Bag Lecture Series

DEHSART_HDNM

While capturing the desert for a time-lapse project in 2013, Newman discovered an illegal dumpsite in Palmdale, CA. Since then she has been documenting and mapping what we leave behind. Visit DEHSART.com, the word trashed spelled backwards, to learn more about her education program, community cleanup boxes and map based on her instagram images aimed at reversing the rubbish in our Mojave.

Atlas Dumped

Date: September 24, 2015

Time: 6:30 PM

Location: Brooklyn NY

placekeeping | storiesandstewardship

AtlasDumpedMapAs part of the CartoDB Insight Special Event.

 

 

 

Map of dumped materials using Instagram images by Karyl Newman, made possible by the CartoDB Ambassador program.

Squaring the Circle: A Llano del Rio Centennial

Date: May 3, 2014

Time: 1:00 - 6:00 PM

Location: Llano, CA

Art in Place | placekeeping | Public Humanities

SquaringtheCircleLlanoSquaring the Circle is an interdisciplinary arts exhibition on Saturday, May 3rd, 2014 featuring site-specific installations and performances to mark the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Llano del Rio Cooperative Colony, a utopian socialist community established in 1914 by Job Harriman in Southern California’s Antelope Valley. Like the original Llano community, the event participants reflect diversity in their work as historians, visual artists, filmmakers, writers, choreographers, dancers, musicians, activists, and interdisciplinary practitioners.

Produced by Karyl Newman and Cindy Rehm.

Volley

Date: November 7, 2013

Time: 7:00 PM

Location: Greene Exhibitons

placekeeping | Public Humanities

ComradeCoreComradeCore, images of Llano del Rio Colonists from Western Comrade, installed by Karyl Newman.
Dear Comrade
Written and directed by CalArts faculty member Mady Schutzman, “Dear Comrade” is an experimental essay film that documents the story of Llano del Rio (1914-18), the most important non-religious communitarian experiment in western American history. Llano is offered as a site to explore the struggles, courage, frustrations, fantasies, and Sisyphean efforts of innumerable idealists who have assumed comparable struggles in spite of tremendous odds. The story is told through archival footage, surreal re-enactments, interviews with ex-colonists, local residents and historians, and the meanderings of a silent nomad through the ruins of the Llano colony in the Mojave Desert. Through the intersection of stories, a seemingly traditional documentary morphs into a montage of parallel universes, political commentary, clownery, and a palpable desire—failings and disappointments notwithstanding—to give idealism and cooperation another try. Karyl Newman and Cindy Rehm will present their research on the colony and join the filmmaker in a question and answer segment following the screening.

The Next Step: Llano del Rio

Date: September 21, 2013

Time: 2:00 - 6:00 PM

Location: Llano, CA

Art in Place | placekeeping | Public Humanities | storiesandstewardship

Alice Constance Austin by Karyl Newman at Llano del RioNear the dairy barn ruins at the Llano del Rio socialist co-operative, Karyl Newman placed ALICE outside of the silo to honor the feminist architect’s little known designs for the colony.

The September 21st event references Alice Constance Austin’s 1935 book, The Next Step: How to Plan for Beauty, Comfort, and Peace with Great Savings Effected by the Reduction of Waste, created by Craftswoman House/Cindy Rehm and Hinterculture/Karyl Newman with Larissa Nickel to announce and provide context for a call for proposals for the Centennial Celebration in May 2014.

While enroute to the historic location in the Antelope Valley, visitors can listen to a podcast featuring interviews, sound art and site recordings available for download on soundcloud here.