The Wisconsin Project: clouds

27.3.15

Clouds and High Tension, Appleton, WI

Clouds and High Tension Lines, CE and Rail Road Street, Appleton, Wisconsin, July 2014
© J. Shimon & J. Lindemann

Suburban bleakness among suburban bleakness with clouds being caught in the high tension lines.

And I love the U.S.A.
So share the modern world with me
'Cause I'm in love with the U.S.A. now
I'm in love with the modern world now
Put down your cigarette
Well out on Route 9 it's bleak and nearly dying
Well the modern world is not so bad
-- Jonathan Richmond from "Modern Lovers"(1976)

28.2.14

Snowy Plowed Field, Marshall, WI

The expansive snow-covered plowed field with forest bordering the horizon under the silvery clouds of mid-afternoon before the Winter Solstice translated by film as bands of tone. Yet another field prepared for the planting of continuous corn.

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.

27.3.15

Clouds and High Tension, Appleton, WI

28.2.14

Snowy Plowed Field, Marshall, WI

13.11.12

Found: Lac La Belle Moonlight, WI

4.9.12

Lake Michigan, Manitowoc, WI

9.8.12

High Tension Lines, near Forest Junction, WI

10.7.12

Found: First Lutheran Church, Hayward, WI


Found: Lac La Belle Moonlight, Village of Lac La Belle, Wisconsin by W. F. Groose, Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, Velox 7 real photo post card circa 1905. Postmarked Oconomowoc July 30 9.30 AM and Green Bay July 30 6 PM