Installation, performance, lecture, gathering
Form and Concept, Santa Fe
Modernist land art works by the likes of Robert Smithson and Michael Heizer have come under increasing scrutiny by contemporary Native American artists who view these heralded art-historical works as unwanted physical impositions on stolen land. Working through the visual language of atmospheric ASMR (autonomous sensory meridian response) Harjo presents a handful of canonical land art pieces as digital tourist simulations, offering viewers and listeners cheap and easy access to these often prohibitively expensive and physically exclusive curated landscapes.
During activation with spoken-word performance alongside audio and video projection, Harjo highlights the emotionally and spiritually dislocating effects of Western perceptions of land-as-property, exacerbated as Indigenous lands worldwide continue to be stewarded by capitalist interests.