A Year in the Iditerod* follows a lone man through 2020 as he navigates the empty spaces of hotel rooms, airports, and modern life - including real life developments such as COVID-19). Film, live performance, site installations will be recorded and compounded upon, producing content and meta-content. All new filming and performing will cease at the end of 2020, with a year of further reflective works and meta-content to come - including installations, ceramics, and a feature-length art film. I will provide occasional updates here, though more frequent updates are available via MY PATREON . Collaboration opportunities - especially for ceramic artists - will be actively sought for this project for late 2020, throughout 2021. See below for more information.
A scene from A Year in the Iditerod*
What is it?
A year-long (2020) filmmaking and interpreting project, amassing hundreds of hours of footage, combined with live performances. This will be followed by a year-long (2021) production of content and meta-content of multiple types.
What does the title mean, and why does it have an asterisk?
The Iditarod Trail is a 1,000+ mile-long trail in Alaska. It conglomerated the long-established trails of various Alaskan native peoples, and continued to serve as an important travel and trade route into the early 20th century. Its name is now most commonly associated with the long-haul sled dog race of the same name. As with those that travel the trail to this day, our protagonist is engaged on a long trek over well-traveled paths about which he knows as little as himself. The * in the name refers to the misspelling of the word 'Iditarod'; this concept - of misspelling, of misunderstanding, and of simply missing - is a key part of our journey.
What will the output be?
We are producing a large volume of content, and are still determining all modes of expression; however, several modes have been established:
Why ceramics? What are you looking for from potential ceramic collaborators?
Ceramics is one of my favorite art forms, and holds a special place in art history - as well as everyday human affairs. Ceramics can be resolutely practical, gaining everyday use for long periods. Even when disposed, they remain as testaments to the lives and creative expressions of people who are long-since dead. They are one of the oldest forms of available arts and crafts from human history, and are often one of the only ways to study or interact with the lives of everyday people from ancient civilizations.
More than twenty years ago, I had one of the most important film-related experiences of my life. I watched - with no expectations or context - Fellini's wonderful, strange masterpiece, Fellini's Satyricon. It would be pointless to try and describe the full experience here, but after being immersed in the film, I found the ending especially poignant and striking. The protagonist/narrator is telling a story, and simply stops mid-sentence - and suddenly, it is 2,000 years later, and he and everyone else in the story are long-since dead and forgotten. They exist now only as fresco ruins on an unimportant cliff along the Mediterranean.
A year-long (2020) filmmaking and interpreting project, amassing hundreds of hours of footage, combined with live performances. This will be followed by a year-long (2021) production of content and meta-content of multiple types.
What does the title mean, and why does it have an asterisk?
The Iditarod Trail is a 1,000+ mile-long trail in Alaska. It conglomerated the long-established trails of various Alaskan native peoples, and continued to serve as an important travel and trade route into the early 20th century. Its name is now most commonly associated with the long-haul sled dog race of the same name. As with those that travel the trail to this day, our protagonist is engaged on a long trek over well-traveled paths about which he knows as little as himself. The * in the name refers to the misspelling of the word 'Iditarod'; this concept - of misspelling, of misunderstanding, and of simply missing - is a key part of our journey.
What will the output be?
We are producing a large volume of content, and are still determining all modes of expression; however, several modes have been established:
- in 2020...
- two or more live performances that will be key elements of the story progression, and give people an opportunity to view the creation of part of the work
- site-specific installations that will exist as their own works, while also potentially being further engaged as meta-content for new works
- in 2021...
- major focuses will include:
- feature-length art film
- ceramic collection/fragments for multiple installations and uses
- gallery/museum-focused audio/visual experiences
- major focuses will include:
Why ceramics? What are you looking for from potential ceramic collaborators?
Ceramics is one of my favorite art forms, and holds a special place in art history - as well as everyday human affairs. Ceramics can be resolutely practical, gaining everyday use for long periods. Even when disposed, they remain as testaments to the lives and creative expressions of people who are long-since dead. They are one of the oldest forms of available arts and crafts from human history, and are often one of the only ways to study or interact with the lives of everyday people from ancient civilizations.
More than twenty years ago, I had one of the most important film-related experiences of my life. I watched - with no expectations or context - Fellini's wonderful, strange masterpiece, Fellini's Satyricon. It would be pointless to try and describe the full experience here, but after being immersed in the film, I found the ending especially poignant and striking. The protagonist/narrator is telling a story, and simply stops mid-sentence - and suddenly, it is 2,000 years later, and he and everyone else in the story are long-since dead and forgotten. They exist now only as fresco ruins on an unimportant cliff along the Mediterranean.
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As with a missing ending to an ancient book, there is no following him or his contemporaries any longer. The story has come to an end; our ability to reflect on them is an agent of further alienation from them. This distance - between subject, artist, and viewer - is a key theme in my photography and other work, and I feel that ceramics will help carry it forward. My goal is to take (to me) "iconic moments" from the year of filming and commemorate them on ceramic objects. This will be done in a few ways, as represented below.
Ceramic Collaborators Wanted
Our goal is to produce ceramic works of multiple types, all with a focus on the series. Ideally, we would engage a number of different artists to this aim, and all of the following are possible avenues of collaboration:
For more information
Ceramic Collaborators Wanted
Our goal is to produce ceramic works of multiple types, all with a focus on the series. Ideally, we would engage a number of different artists to this aim, and all of the following are possible avenues of collaboration:
- We want your unusable/unsellable pots. If you were going to otherwise smash it, we'd love to discuss taking it off your hands. Our goal is to create a large collection of fragmented items and shards bearing images from the series...what was once an unusable piece could very quickly become a key part of our project. We are especially interested in East Coast US potters, as we would be in a position to pick items up directly.
- We are open to commission discussions and intend to pursue them with a few select artists. We will probably proactively contact potters, but if you have a proposal for an interesting take on the series, we would be happy to discuss it.
- We would love to hear from you even if neither of these works out. Perhaps something else will - and in the meantime, we would get to learn about your own work!
For more information