A video with a good friend and artist

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This video is the culmination of an idea for an installation I could have never pulled off on my own (please watch video before reading).

This project is one of the most fun adventures I can remember working on for a while. Not only did I get to help produce a movie, of which I have watched a countless number, but I also got to work on this project with a good friend and fellow artist Stuart Lantry. I have had the awesome pleasure of sharing a studio space with Stuart over the past year. He has been a great motivator and creative companion, always down to shoot the shit and talk about art and our work. Making this installation and video with him was an amazing collaborative experience that I plan to relive in the future.

I am currently living in Norwich, Vermont about a half mile from the bridge that takes you into Hanover, New Hampshire where Dartmouth College is located. About 100 feet from my house, as I walk to work, I pass this decrepit skeleton of a houseboat. Houseboat is a rather generous description of the structure, it is a pipe frame of a tent attached to a plywood floor on three very large pontoons. It has been there on the same spot, right where the river comes next to the road, for as long as I can remember. This structure has probably sat there for at least ten years garnering garbage, weeds, spiders, and disrepair. Don't get me wrong, this houseboat is not really an eyesore. It is beautiful in it's own right, interesting shapes are formed by the bare architecture of the tent structure, it is slowly being reclaimed by nature. The Houseboat (I like to call it a Houseboat because it really brings it to a more mystical, livable place in my mind) is situated directly beneath the only street light along a good stretch of road and accordingly attracts a lot of insect-life when it gets dark out. This attracts spiders to the structure who use the pipes of the Houseboat to spin strategically placed webs that provide the most plentiful bounty. This also made for perfect lighting in the video.

We started working on the installation at about 2:30AM, four days before the opening of our POD show together. At first we were cautious. We ducked behind the structure every time a car drove by (there were four), so as not to be too conspicuous. We were very quiet and careful of speaking to each other about logistics and composition. The lady who owns the property that we were trespassing on lives across the street from the lot and we kept an eye out for lights and sounds coming from that direction. The crickets and frogs were loud. 

By about 4AM, maybe a little after, we finished the installation to our content. At that point we were so reckless and nonchalant and giddy about the whole situation that we stayed around an extra 15 minutes to get some glory shots of the work and some slow pans. 

As we were deciding to leave we heard another car coming and thought it bad to break our streak so we hid behind the structure again. This time, however, the car pulled straight into the lot. They lingered, not making any noise. I decided to poke my head out to see what they could possibly be doing and was greeted by a pair of search lights coming from the cars. My immediate response was to jab Stuart and say, "We need to stop hiding, RIGHT NOW." The police greeted us and patted us down, found nothing. They inspected our hiding spot, found nothing. All of our tools and materials were splayed out on the grass in front of the structure. We explained that the installation was for an art project, that it was totally non-destructive, and that we could take it down as soon as needed. The police officer called in our IDs and then told us to start taking it down. I asked the officer if we could wait until sunrise to take it down so as to document it in the light. He responded with a curt no, so we took down the installation. It took about five minutes. He then he said we could "carry on."

We walked back to my house not knowing whether we were in any kind of trouble or not. The policeman had taken down our names and addresses but had not given us a ticket or a summons or anything. Still trying to figure out what happened, we watched Easy Rider until 6:30 AM and then went to our respective beds. The structure stands now as it did before, but every time I walk past it I do not feel longing or potential, I feel accomplished and giddy about what was there only for a short time. A part of me wants to to do it again to see if I can get away with it. I need to do this more.

Gallery view of Ephemera. All plastic wrap was recovered from the original installation and is on display with the video.