Paul Dallas / Group XXVI, Apr 08 - Sep 08

READYFASTERBURNSLONGER

8/21/08 to 8/24/08

MAK Center for Art and Architecture L.A. at the Schindler House, 835 North Kings Road, West Hollywood, CA 90069

Inspired by the anxiety of "watchfulness" pervading the United States, Paul Dallas examined perspective and point of view, as physical and cultural phenomena in the context of the U.S.-Mexican border. In the past fifteen years, the U.S. has transformed the border region into a highly militarized zone and it has become a testing ground for the latest in surveillance and security technology. The physical wall between the nations has, in effect, become a virtual wall, with the border "fence" relegated to a symbolic function in the landscape. "The Twin Towers Project" was an attempt to evoke the dissolution of the boundary between the U.S. and Mexico and to question the nature of a border between two countries so profoundly interconnected. Positioned on either side of the border to create a visual cross-border dialogue, the towers became interchangeable icons which could record panoramic sights on one side while simultaneously screening them on the other side for a public audience. This virtual transference democratized surveillance, transforming the activity into a shared event. At a time when the U.S. is closing Border Field State Park to make way for a new "no man's land" and shutting its doors to one of the last places where divided friends and family can meet without crossing the border, this project attempted to call attention for the need for connective public space.