Garden del Rio Grande curated by Emilie Trice
VR exhibition created in Mozilla Hubs for the 2020 Ars Electronica Festival
Participating artists and institutions: Jaime Carrejo, John Jota Leaños, Rafael Fajardo, Cherish Marquez, LAST/RESORT Club (Artists: Jeremy Billauer, Sarai Levinson, Cherish Marquez, Scott McKinney, Austin Slominski, Emilie Trice, Jullian Young), Black Cube Nomadic Museum, Denver, Colorado; Desert Valley Art Ranch, San Luis, Colorado
Autonomy is a myth. So is manifest destiny. These so-called “ideals” of American individualism and exceptionalism have contributed, greatly, to the current state of social, political and moral polarity in the United States, especially in relation to the region surrounding the Rio Grande River, which runs from central Colorado south to New Mexico and then along the U.S./Mexican border to the Gulf of Mexico.
The acceleration of technology is hurling us towards new frontiers, either designed by us or assigned to us, often without our input. Before we can use technology to create a different and better future, we need to reimagine our past and take steps towards reverse-engineering our present. How can technology reconnect us to the land? Or amplify indigenous voices? To what extent can art and design fortify sustainable ecologies or empower equitable narratives? Is it possible to go forward by looking back?
Autonomy, as a social ideal, is misleading – we all need each other in order to progress, and often just in order to survive. Everything happens in concert with everything else. Garden del Rio Grande seeks to illuminate the connections that bind us – to each other, to the land, to our shared past and to our collective future.
Above: 5 min video run-through of Garden del Rio Grande, built in Mozilla Hubs + audio description featuring all artists & collaborating institutions
Below: Jaime Carrejo’s Virtual Monument, presented in collaboration with Black Cube Nomadic Museum, Denver
