WEBVTT 00:00:07.720 --> 00:00:12.380 [Andrea Zittel: "Wagon Station Encampment"] 00:00:42.860 --> 00:00:46.320 [WOMAN #1] I've only been here for about a week, 00:00:46.320 --> 00:00:48.440 but I would like to spend two. 00:00:48.440 --> 00:00:51.340 I think that would be a really good amount of time. 00:00:53.110 --> 00:00:57.690 A lot of my own work kind of corresponds with landscapes. 00:00:57.690 --> 00:01:01.290 This is kind of a research activity for me. 00:01:04.379 --> 00:01:06.620 Everybody comes out to the desert for different reasons. 00:01:06.630 --> 00:01:09.290 Historically, that's always been true. 00:01:19.580 --> 00:01:23.979 There's situations where the group will all go on a hike or something, 00:01:23.979 --> 00:01:25.459 or cook dinner together. 00:01:25.460 --> 00:01:28.040 But then, people kind of hang out in their pods, 00:01:28.040 --> 00:01:32.299 which is what is so cool about the way that the wagon stations have been designed. 00:01:32.299 --> 00:01:34.909 You can have that private time 00:01:34.909 --> 00:01:38.209 without it seeming like you're defecting from the group or something. 00:01:41.480 --> 00:01:42.900 [LAUGHING] 00:01:42.920 --> 00:01:44.500 [WOMAN #2] Somebody please enjoy that! 00:01:44.500 --> 00:01:46.200 [WOMAN #1] I would love to eat that. 00:01:46.200 --> 00:01:47.480 [WOMAN #2] Do you want to just claim it? 00:01:47.480 --> 00:01:48.100 [WOMAN #1] Sure. 00:01:48.740 --> 00:01:51.360 [WOMAN #2] I also have an onion and apples. 00:01:56.140 --> 00:01:57.740 [WOMAN #3] And I'm totally jealous... [LAUGHS] 00:01:57.749 --> 00:02:01.399 I think it's such a brilliant idea in the way she's used the space. 00:02:01.399 --> 00:02:04.189 I also think it's a really interesting model. 00:02:04.189 --> 00:02:05.039 It's a private residence-- 00:02:05.039 --> 00:02:06.599 it's not an official residency, per se. 00:02:06.599 --> 00:02:09.848 But she opens it up twice a year to let people come. 00:02:09.848 --> 00:02:12.750 And it's a, I think, a really progressive way of having 00:02:12.750 --> 00:02:15.780 artists and creative people work together and meet-- 00:02:15.780 --> 00:02:18.950 with a no-pressure environment, too. 00:02:21.040 --> 00:02:23.300 [WOMAN #1] I did a lot of hiking, 00:02:23.310 --> 00:02:25.590 and I did some filming, 00:02:25.590 --> 00:02:27.270 and some reading. 00:02:27.270 --> 00:02:30.760 Yeah, and then I'm working on a journal, as well. 00:02:30.760 --> 00:02:34.010 So, Andrea was very generous in talking to me about that. 00:02:34.010 --> 00:02:36.290 [WOMAN #2] Generosity doesn't happen that often 00:02:36.290 --> 00:02:37.880 with regard to land these days, 00:02:37.880 --> 00:02:40.440 so I think that's really radical. 00:02:41.180 --> 00:02:43.300 [ZITTEL] Okay, so the new problem 00:02:44.580 --> 00:02:48.440 is that the paper gets stuck under the letters. 00:02:51.160 --> 00:02:54.380 I'm so drawn to the frontier mentality 00:02:54.390 --> 00:02:58.000 and that idea of having to figure everything out from scratch. 00:03:00.160 --> 00:03:02.600 There have been two generations of wagon stations. 00:03:02.610 --> 00:03:05.890 In the first generation, I essentially gave to friends 00:03:05.890 --> 00:03:07.270 and people who I collaborated with 00:03:07.270 --> 00:03:10.020 who would come out here and stay for periods of time. 00:03:10.020 --> 00:03:13.180 But, it was always the same person visiting each wagon station, 00:03:13.180 --> 00:03:15.750 and they would customize them. 00:03:15.750 --> 00:03:18.740 In those instances, each wagon station was autonomous 00:03:18.740 --> 00:03:21.600 and it would have its own camp stove within it. 00:03:22.480 --> 00:03:24.600 Then, at a point, we extracted those 00:03:24.600 --> 00:03:28.330 because they were starting to fall apart in the elements. 00:03:28.330 --> 00:03:31.970 And they've sort of traveled to exhibitions since then. 00:03:31.970 --> 00:03:33.890 And with these, we've made them all... 00:03:33.890 --> 00:03:35.569 Like, they're all sort of the standard version, 00:03:35.569 --> 00:03:36.950 like, the way I designed them. 00:03:36.950 --> 00:03:40.819 [WOMAN #3] There's locks on either side for this to open up. 00:03:40.819 --> 00:03:44.370 And, there's like little strings up there to put your clothes on. 00:03:44.370 --> 00:03:46.740 There's also a door in the back that locks, 00:03:46.740 --> 00:03:49.230 so if you need any extra air, it's just a quick way out. 00:03:49.230 --> 00:03:52.090 And you can leave it open when you sleep. 00:03:52.090 --> 00:03:54.970 It gets a little cold, though, so I usually close it. 00:03:54.970 --> 00:03:57.650 And, there's a shelf for everything that you need. 00:03:57.650 --> 00:03:58.750 And that's pretty much it! 00:03:58.750 --> 00:04:02.490 [WOMAN #2] I watched the full moon arc across the entire sky 00:04:02.490 --> 00:04:04.580 over the course of the evening. 00:04:04.580 --> 00:04:07.160 You're inside, and you can see the environment 00:04:07.160 --> 00:04:09.220 framed by Andrea's designs, 00:04:09.220 --> 00:04:11.750 really consciously and intentionally. 00:04:15.280 --> 00:04:17.519 [ZITTEL] Now, we have the communal kitchen, 00:04:17.519 --> 00:04:18.870 and the outdoor showers, 00:04:18.870 --> 00:04:21.608 and the composting toilets. 00:04:21.608 --> 00:04:24.439 This is a sort of communal living situation 00:04:24.439 --> 00:04:27.300 that only works because it's a certain amount of time 00:04:27.300 --> 00:04:30.849 and we send people all of these protocol sheets out before they come. 00:04:30.849 --> 00:04:36.659 Okay, so if you want to follow Dean and do that on every one-- 00:04:36.659 --> 00:04:37.939 the double layer. 00:04:38.980 --> 00:04:42.940 And, if you want, you could take that, too, 00:04:42.949 --> 00:04:46.809 and then just put a like little edge four inches in. 00:04:50.680 --> 00:04:53.110 I think that the Wagon Station Encampment was sort of 00:04:53.110 --> 00:04:58.120 slowly walking into a situation of inviting other people to come be here. 00:04:58.120 --> 00:05:01.499 We always say it's sort of a cross between a retreat and a residency 00:05:01.499 --> 00:05:03.199 and a normal campground. 00:05:04.060 --> 00:05:06.680 It would be redundant to create, like, 00:05:06.680 --> 00:05:10.380 another art residency when there's so many of them. 00:05:17.699 --> 00:05:20.909 Everybody has their desert fantasy. 00:05:20.909 --> 00:05:27.639 And so my particular fantasy was probably living on an alien landscape. 00:05:27.639 --> 00:05:30.590 When NASA tests habitation on Mars, 00:05:30.590 --> 00:05:32.229 they have a station in the Mojave Desert, 00:05:32.229 --> 00:05:34.050 and I always thought that was so interesting, 00:05:34.050 --> 00:05:36.930 that this is the landscape that was chosen 00:05:36.930 --> 00:05:39.449 to be most representative of another planet. 00:05:39.940 --> 00:05:41.980 I think the aesthetic of these was, sort of, 00:05:41.990 --> 00:05:44.090 a sci-fi pioneer aesthetic. 00:05:44.090 --> 00:05:46.439 And I don't know if that's my aesthetic now, 00:05:46.439 --> 00:05:48.999 because it's constantly changing. 00:05:52.129 --> 00:05:54.279 My great grandparents were pioneers just south of here, 00:05:54.279 --> 00:05:56.539 and they settled in the Imperial Valley. 00:05:56.540 --> 00:06:00.400 The temperatures in the Imperial Valley are about ten degrees hotter than here-- 00:06:00.409 --> 00:06:02.409 and this gets pretty hot. 00:06:02.880 --> 00:06:05.540 When I feel like complaining, I keep thinking about them. 00:06:05.550 --> 00:06:07.080 They would live in a tent, 00:06:07.080 --> 00:06:08.839 and I guess they poured water over the tent 00:06:08.839 --> 00:06:10.779 to cool things off. 00:06:20.800 --> 00:06:23.580 It's so funny, I get upset when people say there's nothing here. 00:06:23.940 --> 00:06:24.560 [ZITTEL] Okay! 00:06:25.040 --> 00:06:25.920 [WOMAN #2] Thank you so much! 00:06:25.920 --> 00:06:26.480 [ZITTEL] Sure. 00:06:26.480 --> 00:06:28.920 [WOMAN #2] It was really magical and inspiring and awesome. 00:06:28.930 --> 00:06:29.610 [ZITTEL] It was good to meet you. 00:06:29.610 --> 00:06:31.240 [WOMAN #2] You too, and what an honor. 00:06:31.240 --> 00:06:31.640 [ZITTEL] Bye! 00:06:31.660 --> 00:06:32.380 [WOMAN #3] It was really nice to meet you. 00:06:32.380 --> 00:06:33.700 Thank you so much. 00:06:33.700 --> 00:06:34.760 It was awesome. 00:06:34.760 --> 00:06:36.539 [ZITTEL] Have a good trip! Bye! 00:06:36.539 --> 00:06:38.789 [ZITTEL] But, there's something about the space 00:06:38.789 --> 00:06:41.680 that I think really calls to people who want to try 00:06:41.680 --> 00:06:45.040 and invent their own structures for living.