The Wisconsin Project: Hi-Way 8 Motel, Ladysmith, WI

12.2.14

Hi-Way 8 Motel, Ladysmith, WI

Hi-Way 8 Motel, Ladysmith, Wisconsin rephotographed (7.11.2013)
© J. Shimon & J. Lindeman

Found: Hi-Way 8 Motel, Ladysmith, Wisconsin, circa 1950s

Sometimes the trees reveal the passage of time in rephotography projects. A seedling evergreen in the circa 1950s photo becomes giant then topples in a storm before showing up as a stump half century later. The Hi-Way 8 in Ladysmith has survived severe storms for decades and the the influx of chain hotels and restaurants. The rates are still cash-only cheap (less than $45 with tax for a room with two beds for 2). The room we stayed in last summer featured a vintage pink tiled bathroom with shower plus a microwave and coffee maker for a handy early morning breakfast. Since the 1990s, we stayed there each time we traveled to Ladysmith to see dance performances at ChaliceStream one night watching the rain pound and the wind blow.

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THE WISCONSIN PROJECT

Our research-driven Wisconsin Project contemplates the rooted-ness and state-of-mind resulting from inhabiting a single place, our native Wisconsin, for a long time. Through critiquing postcard views both made and found, we learn a great deal about past and present Wisconsin. We began making postcard views of the places immediately around our studio and on our drives around Wisconsin in about 2008. We use the vintage postcard film format and print the cards in palladium and cyanotype. By communicating details of a specific place, seeming to register only marginally on the national radar, the project seeks to bring audiences into a Wisconsin mental space. Some in the art world would argue that the Midwest, particularly Wisconsin, makes for banal “fly over” subject matter. Our project challenges that by finding meaning in the ordinary and inviting audiences to examine, dialog, and reflect on the particular emotional quality of the idiosyncrasies of place and the perceptions of those both inside and outside of it. Sometimes distant memories are involved and a longing for a time now gone. Wisconsin’s glacier inflected landscape and proximity to the Great Lakes creates an exotic arena for living that informs our project. The life cycle plays out and rural and urban ruins serve as monuments to existences as people, places, and ideas surface then vanish. Ultimately, we aim to grapple with complex perceptions of Wisconsin ranging from nostalgic, romantic, and idealized--as depicted on myriad real photo postcard and standard tourist postcards--to mysterious, dark, and Gothic as conveyed in works of art and literature such as Michael Lesy's "Wisconsin Death Trip" book and Werner Herzog's "Stroszek" film. The project culminated in a residency with workshops and community collaborations and the installation "We Go From Where We Know" at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center 10.13.2013-3.7.2014 and later the Harvestore Bandshell for Fermentation Fest in 10.2014. The blog continues the exploration of postcards.