My #NoPipelines eco-art and poetry projects include: Walking Wildwood Trail, Triage, Spooked, Soundings, and The Ties That Bind. These are assemblage art installations in protest of fracked-gas pipelines proposed for Virginia that will have negative impacts to community health, ecosystems, waterways, and environmental justice. The pipelines and compressor stations proposed are not needed, are a boondoggle for Virginia ratepayers, and will not benefit Virginians.
Learn more about my projects at the links above, and read below to find out how you too can use land-art as a protest tactic against fossil fuel infrastructure.
Learn more about my projects at the links above, and read below to find out how you too can use land-art as a protest tactic against fossil fuel infrastructure.
The Art of Protest: A User Guide
Art can be one of the many tools we use to fight the Atlantic Coast (or any fracked gas) pipeline and compressor stations. The tips below will help you get started on your own project. Check out some examples of the outdoor installations, three in Nelson County (Spooked: Just Make Yourself at Home, Soundings, and Walking Wildwood Trail) and one in Bath County (Triage).
Do it Yourself
1) Location. Scout one or more locations on your property. These could be right in the proposed path of the pipeline, or places with special resonance for you, or both. If you create a "web" of works, then the pipeline can't cross your land without plowing through one or more of your pieces. Making a single piece is a good way to start - add more if you have the time and energy.
2) Bold or Nuanced? Decide whether you are going to make something big and highly-visible or something smaller or more camouflaged. 3) Choose your materials. If you want the piece to last forever, choose materials that are impervious to weather such as metal or glass. If you are fine with it eventually falling back into the landscape, use biodegradable but weather-resistant materials. 4) Choose your medium: Are you going to make 3-D collages, called assemblages? One kind of assemblage is a container of some sort - a box, basket - that is decorated or holds special objects or writing. But you can get creative - use a boot, a baby carriage, an abandoned bird's nest or a Sunday hat. Or you can go sculptural: tie or fuse found objects together - old plows, sewing machines, pitch-forks; use fiber, make a banner, knit a protective coat for your tree. 5) Just Do It. Make your art. Install it. Photograph it. Film it. 6) Copyright Registration. Now register your copyright (see the section on this below). Rooted in the Land
This is the critical part: whatever you make, no matter how simple or elaborate, has to derive its meaning from its location and it must be dug in, tied to, hung from, wrapped around, nestled in...the landscape. If you could just put it in your house and it would be just as meaningful and just as lovely, then the pipeline company would just say "well move it then." This work has to be as much a part of the landscape as a family graveyard or a piece of historic architecture.
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Collaborate
Get in touch with local artists who are eager to stop the proposed pipeline and are willing to collaborate with you to develop a project on your land.
If you like the assemblage + poetry concept, I can work with you to make something on your land, or collaborate with you, developing a concept based on the site, and its human and natural history. Other Examples
The tactic of using art and poetry to resist environmental destruction and degradation is not new. Here are some examples of how other individuals and communities have used art to save the places they love:
Landowners Put Hope in Art Project to Combat Pipeline A radio interview with artist Aviva Rahmani about a visual art and music project against the Mountain Valley Pipeline. And an online article about the project. Climate Action Alliance of the Valley in Harrisonburg, VA, worked with sculptors Mark Schwenk and Cheryl Langlais to produce The Defenders, which was exhibited regionally to raise awareness and funds to fight the proposed ACP. Learn more. Oregon: Han Shan Poetry Project Two other articles about the Han Shan project: McLellan Park Blog Globe & Mail article Alberta – Peter von Tiesenhausen CanTech article This Canadian example demonstrates the point that the physical location and surrounding landscape of these works of land art is integral to their meaning, and these would have be be mitigated by any eminent domain taking. As an article by attorney Monica Goyal notes, registering the copyright is just a step you take to demonstrate willingness to go to court. Stanza Stones is a project in the UK by poet Simon Armitage. Seven stones are inscribed with a one stanza excerpt from Armitage's poems; the sites are in the Pennine landscape that inspired the poetry. |
Register Your Copyright
Next, register your copyright with the US Copyright Office. They have an electronic copyright registration process, nicknamed eCO, that allows you to upload photographs of your work. The instructions are user-friendly, but I can walk you thought it if you have any questions. It does take many months for your registration to be complete, but in all your letters and comments to FERC you can state that you have a work of outdoor, land-based, installation art and have filed to register the copyright. If it ever comes to using eminent domain lawyers, they can make certain that your art work is taken into account by the energy company.
Next, register your copyright with the US Copyright Office. They have an electronic copyright registration process, nicknamed eCO, that allows you to upload photographs of your work. The instructions are user-friendly, but I can walk you thought it if you have any questions. It does take many months for your registration to be complete, but in all your letters and comments to FERC you can state that you have a work of outdoor, land-based, installation art and have filed to register the copyright. If it ever comes to using eminent domain lawyers, they can make certain that your art work is taken into account by the energy company.
See Some Examples
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