Borders: Look, Don’t Touch

By Geneva Boliek-Poling

My experience of borders in the past has been driving on an empty highway passing an old billboard that says “Welcome to Colorful Colorado!” or another state motto of a similar sort. I’ve never been in a situation quite like the Texas – Mexico border where you are dancing just on the edge, a variety of boundaries restricting you to your own country.

A concrete slab in the earth that you can’t step off, as it was at Monument 1, seems almost like a traffic light. There’s no physical force to stop you from just sneaking a foot onto Mexican land. There’s nothing to keep you from running the red light, but you wouldn’t dare. It’s illegal.

Then there’s the fence along the border that cuts through the landscape for over 1,000 miles. It’s massive. It looms. I stood looking down the rusty grid to see the vanishing point where it visually turned to a wall of solid black.

And the river itself, a natural boundary, meandering far from the cities, looks lazy enough. But looks are deceiving. It’s deep and it’s fast and the vegetation on the banks is not forgiving. Each of these perimeters poses their own confine whether it is lawful or physical. I felt so close and so far, however cliché it sounds. How frustrating. How exciting.

A border visit

Photos by Anikke Myers.

Migration is an activity that has been seen numerous times following a climactic mass-extinction event such as a catastrophic volcanic eruption on an island or the development of a bare site, called nudation.  Spores, bacteria, insects, and birds all bring about the initial establishment and initial growth of vegetation. Later, competition between species begins, and plant communities start to replace one another until finally stabilizing themselves or becoming self-perpetuating as a climax community.

On December 9, 2013, I traveled to El Paso, Texas to visit the border between Texas, New Mexico, and Chihuahua.

While there, I visited several locations along the US/Mexico border fence: Monument One, Casa de Adobe, the border fence separating Chihuahua and Texas, and the Stanton Street Bridge pedestrian crossing between the US & Mexico.

At each location, I collected microbe-laden samples from the structures using a cotton swab. Each swab was used to inoculate a Petri dish filled with an agar solution. The samples were labeled on site and transported back to Albuquerque in an incubator, where they have been growing ever since.

Feel free to have a look inside the incubator, I have brought a magnifying glass along for you to have a closer look if you would like. Please do not open the Petri dishes.

-Elizabeth Shores

Buena Vista Archive

Land Arts has a continuing relationship with the Barrio Buena Vista Community that spans over 5 years. Each year Land Arts students engage and collaborate with the community to develop a project. In the past, projects have responded to the needs and interests of community members. This year, students worked to create a way of highlighting and preserving a community resource - the unique history of Barrio Buena Vista.

A show plan was outlined and within less than 48 hours students collaborated on a showcase of materials gathered from the community to display at Centro Artistico y Cultural gallery, which is located in the neighborhood. Through an intense ideation session, proposals ranging from public art installations, tree plantings, to other infrastructural creations were all considered. From this conversation, the concept of creating an archive or collection arose from the many possibilities. 

This concept of an archive, would be activated through a public engagement where neighborhood members could bring their photographs and memorabilia to the gallery for display. This event would provide an opportunity for items to be photographed and catalogued both digitally and in print media on site. This initial event would “start” the archive, additional materials could then accumulate over time under the supervision of a local resident.

In addition to the photo archive, other forms of creative re-representation were also initiated.

A photo booth was set-up to document current residents as well as participants of the event. Also, a wall of possible future projects (created during the ideation process) were posted on a wall where residents could comment and contribute their ideas for projects that they would like to see happen in their neighborhood.

A room was designated for the collection of words - a space that asked visitors to write one word on an index card, which would describe the most important thing in their life. These words would later be added to a file in the archive.

Andre Liptay processing images

Images that were photographed or scanned were processed and printed on site. The prints would then be hung on the walls of the main gallery.

Over the four hours of the event, the walls of the gallery began to fill with images and information. Many community members reviewed the collected images and provided accounts of the people and places they represented. The atmosphere became a living environment of past, present, and future manifestations of a place called Buena Vista.

Land Arts students Randal Romwalter, Margaret Shuster, and Chitra Sangtani looking over photographs a local resident contributed.

This video presents materials contributed by the Buena Vista Community for the Buena Vista Archive as these photocopies of objects, images, and photographs were displayed on the walls of the Centro Artistico y Cultural and subsequently archived by Land Arts in the filing cabinet at the close of the event.

BUENA VISTA ARCHIVE: A filing cabinet designed to hold the evolving archive of Buena Vista and the Centro Artistico y Cultural.

The Buena Vista Archive was a collaborative project created by Land Arts of the American West students in partnership with the Centro Artistico y Cultural and the Buena Vista Community

Buena Vista Community Art Event

BUENA VISTA COMMUNITY ART EVENT:
Presenting the Photo Collection of Buena Vista
Saturday, October 19th
1pm to 5pm
Centro Artistico y Cultural
120 Courchesne, Buena Vista, El Paso, TX

The Buena Vista Archive is designed to document and preserve community history and identity. It is our hope that this project will function as an evolving process, created by those who participate now and in the future.

Buena Vista is a predominantly Mexican-American community located on the New Mexico/Texas/Chihuahua border that was a spillover from Smeltertown, Texas. It has been cut three times: once by Paisano, once by the freeway (I-10), and once by a retaining dam, leaving 1/3 to 1/2 of the original population and land area intact. Armando Carlos, Roberto Salas, and the Land Arts of the American West Program have been working together over the last five years to preserve and strengthen the community of Buena Vista through various political and artistic means.

All documents created for, generated, and displayed during this event will be added to the Buena Vista Archive at the end of the exhibition. The Buena Vista Archive will continue to evolve and grow over time, with the help and support of those who contribute. If you would like to add to this collection, please contact Roberto Salas at (619)886-1892.

Map of Gallery

1. BUENA VISTA ARCHIVE: A filing cabinet designed to hold the evolving archive of Buena Vista and the Centro Artistico y Cultural. Feel free to have a look inside, and add ideas, pictures, or thoughts.

2. BUENA VISTA PHOTO COLLECTION: Includes new and old photographs gathered throughout the neighborhood, as well as portraits of attendees at the event.

3. BUENA VISTA PROJECT IDEAS: Presentation of future ideas in the Buena Vista Neighborhood. What would you like to see? Add your ideas.

4. A WORD: What would be the one word that would be the most important to your life? A collection of words; a collection of person- al values; a collection and portrait of Buena Vista.

5. PHOTOBOOTH: Be part of the archive. Have a photo taken with the backdrop of the United States and Mexico. Additionally, personal objects can be archived after having been photographed.

6: ARCHIVE PROCESSING STATION: Location of performative processing and archiving of the content created for and generated during the event.

Organized by:
Armando Carlos
Lara Goldmann
Emily Gonzales
Jeanette Hart-Mann
Ryan Henel
André Liptay
Randal Romwalter
Roberto Salas
Chitra Sangtani
Carina Schnieders
Elizabeth Shores
Margaret Shuster

This project would was made possible with help and support from many individuals.
A special thanks to:

Land Arts of the American West, The University of New Mexico
Roberto Salas, Director, Centro Artistico y Cultural
Armando Carlos, President, The Buena Vista Neighborhood Association
Mrs. Cordero
Luis S. Jimenez
Gilbert Sanchez
The community of Buena Vista

Border Watershed

Buena Vista looking out across the Rio Grande to the border on Mount Cristo Rey.

Land Arts of the American West spent a week investigating the Rio Grande Watershed at the US/Mexico Border, El Paso, TX and collaborating on a social engagement project with the community of Buena Vista and the Centro Artistico y Cultural in El Paso, TX.

On our first day, we met up with the Center for Environmental Resource Management (CERM) at the University of Texas, El Paso for a brief introduction to water issues in this stretch of the Rio Grande. Bill Hargrove, Director of CERM, along with UTEP Biology Professor, Venessa Lougheed, presented several projects they are working on assessing surface and groundwater relationships as these are affected by biophysical, political, and social systems.

View from Rim Road Overlook across El Paso/Juarez and the channelized Rio Grande.

They discussed the channelization of the Rio Grande via the Chamizal Treaty that created the concrete-lined national boundary between the US and Mexico, controlling river flow as a physical mark of delineation. They pointed out inevitable problems ranging from loss of biodiversity, resiliency, and groundwater recharge to non-equitable inputs and outputs within the hydro-political system.

The US Department of the Interior has assessed the Rio Grande as having the highest  potential rate of conflict and crisis of any US river system. The question remains, is this still a river and/or what characterizes a riparian system when a river is without water.  This seems to be the biggest issue: inadequate water resources to serve all users, both human and not. Threats include salinization of surface and ground water, increased water demands, water quality impacts from agriculture, municipal, and industry, changing climate, and conflicting water management policies between bi-national orders.

Behind the fence. Rio Bravo (Rio Grande) trickle into Mexico from the American Dam.

American Dam diversion point where the Rio Grande is regulated between Texas and Mexico users.

American Channel, Rio Grande diversion to serve Texas water rights in the East Valley of El Paso.

John Sproul with Land Arts students.

John Sproul, manager of CERM Rio Bosque Wetland took Land Arts students on a tour of urban river infrastructure and discussed the wetland project east of El Paso.

The Rio Bosque Wetland Project serves as an experimental model for riparian and water quality research. It is the hope of CERM that through this experiment, science and policy can be integrated to create viable solutions that are replicable in the management of other desert rivers around the world.

Rio Bosque Wetlands river channel.

The historic Rio Grande channel was re-established as the central river meander through the Rio Bosque Wetlands, distributing water resources to the 372 acre complex. Over the last decade, drought conditions, water shortages, and increased temperature extremes have marginalized this riparian experiment to a small percentage of its actual land area, killing many of the transplanted Alamos and stressing other species. Mesquite, wolfberry, fourwing saltbush and a host of other native and invasive plants are slowly terraforming this habitat and creating a realistic portrait of the drier and hotter world to come.

Windmill and well at Rio Bosque Wetlands.

The recent addition of a well to the Rio Bosque Wetlands is now bringing supplemental water to a small section of this environment.  Plans are also in the works to pipe water from the local wastewater treatment plant and supply the wetlands with a permanent water source. The wetlands will then act as a water repository for downstream users while improving water quality through bioremediation.

At the Bridge to Nowhere in Buena Vista.

On the following day a tour of the local watershed took us back to basecamp and our host site of Buena Vista. Roberto Salas, Director of Centro Artistico y Cultural and Armando Carlos, President of Buena Vista Neighborhood Association led a walking tour of the area and discussed the fragmentation of this community through policies of eminent domain and political marginalization.  Cemex then drove us to visit the local accidental wetlands within Buena Vista, called Cement Lake, which has a been an oasis of lush riparian habitat and community reprieve from the concrete jungle of urbanization.

Land Arts students with MSHEA gear checking out Cement Lake.

Cement Lake interactive map at Centro Artistico y Cultural with community proposals for recreational open space at a nearby and thriving wetland.

Land Arts students then visited the Centro, where they would be organizing a collaborative experimental public engagement to be held on Oct 19th. With one and a half days to dialogue, organize, and produce the project, Land Arts students jumped in with feet on the ground running.

See upcoming posts for more on this extraordinary event.

Land Arts students making space by cleaning up the Centro and its landscape.

Near Buena Vista, Monument #1 marks the US/Mexico Border and the border of water allocation.

Buena Vista, (El Paso) TX, October 17th, 2013

Marz Shuster

            We visited the border site called Monument 1, which is between the United States and Mexico. It was so strange to step on each both sides of the border, but not be able to cross to the Mexican side due to our absent passports and the high international tension. Even though the land looks exactly the same on both sides, there is such a huge difference between the two countries. I could sense the tension between the United States and Mexico,  but nonetheless, 

A resonant conversation

Conversation between Lara Goldmann and Elizabeth Shores at the border between Texas and Chihuaha using walkie-talkies.
10/17/2013

Photo by Emily Gonzales

Collaborative Project: Barrio Buena Vista, El Paso

Amelia Zaraftis

     On October 1st, we met at the Mattox Building in Albuquerque to pack the van for Trip #2.  Evidently, the daily 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM routine of Land Arts was sufficiently imprinted on all participants during Trip #1, as we were packed and ready to go by 7:50 AM.  Bound for the West Texas town of El Paso, it was great to be together again as a group, catching up on the events of the past two weeks in Albuquerque, including the ISEA Conference and the Land Arts Cook Out.

     After a refreshingly short drive from Albuquerque to El Paso, we pulled into the Barrio Buena Vista neighborhood, passing the bus shelter built by Land Arts in 2011, and were delighted to see its shade being appreciated by a member of the community.

     We were welcomed by our host, Roberto Salas, Director of the Centro Artistico y Cultural - Buena Vista (CAC), and gathered to discuss the collaborative project our group would work on over the next four days; a project related to the Buena Vista Community's long established connection to a spring-fed wetland known as the Cement Lake.  Three groups were formed to work on different aspects of the project, with regular meetings to share progress and make changes according to information shared.  One overarching goal of the week's activities was to contribute to the development of an Environmental Protection Agency grant application to fund a Community Environmental Education project for the Buena Vista community.

     Throughout the week we were blessed with the company and assistance of Armando Carlos, President of the Buena Vista Neighborhood Association.

Armando Carlos and Amelia Zaraftis

Chrissie Orr

     Guest artist, Chrissie Orr, joined the Land Arts 2012 program for the El Paso component, leading a group of students who interviewed Buena Vista community members about their connections to the nearby Cement Lake wetland.

     The group of which I was a part of met with El Paso City representatives to discuss the collaborative project and seek partnerships for the grant application.  On Wednesday afternoon, we went to City Hall and met with Socorro Diamondstein, Cultural Funding Coordinator of the Museums and Cultural Affairs Department, and Courtney Niland, District #8 Council Representative.

Marne Elmore & Roberto Salas during the meeting at City Hall

Courtney Niland & Socorro Diamondstein

     Following our meeting at the City Hall, two representatives of the Cemex company who currently manage the Cement Lake Preserve, met with us at the Rio Grande Studio.

Arturo Pastrana (Cemex), Andy Zarabia (Buena Vista), & Carlos Aguilar III (Cemex)

     Wednesday evening saw the group break with home-cooked tradition and head for a meal at the famous Rosa's Cantina.  We were treated to the sounds of a Conjunto Norteno band, which came in off the street and played for an hour or so, inspiring dancing amongst the group.

Table's-eye-view of the group dinner at Rosa's Cantina

     Our group spent most of Thursday drafting letters and emails to potential partnership organizations and community members in order to be ready for distribution on Friday.

Bill Gilbert, Roberto Salas, Marne Elmore, and KB Jones

      On Friday morning, Arturo Pastrana from Cemex organized a site visit to the Cement Lake for our group.  We were required to wear hard hats and high visibility vests, as the lake is currently considered to be part of the mine site, and thus requires particular safety precautions.

Arturo Pastrana, Marne Elmore, Bill Gilbert, and Roberto Salas

     During the week, work was progressing on asbestos removal at the Centro Artistico y Cultural Buena Vista.  On our final afternoon in Buena Vista, the group took a walk to view the space.  Artwork and material related to the social practice we have engaged in this week in Buena Vista will be exhibited in the Centro at the start of 2013.

Centro Artistico y Cultural Buena Vista

El Paso entries

Jennifer Etelka Gorst

El Paso 10/23/2011

Lying in my tent at night I am surrounded by new sights and sounds, ones that tell me it is almost time to end this journey. Why am I both so fascinated and repulsed by these freeways, planes and electrical wires? Grids that carve out the sky. I have just been ushered out of the forrest and born into this visceral visual auditorial nightmare landscape. The drive wasn’t even that long. I feel so out of context in my tent. I want to close my eyes but the blinking of that electrical plant won’t let me, can’t look away. Familiar sounds of my “herd” give me comfort. I know these footsteps, tent zipper fluctuations, and pre-bedtime rustlings. I will miss the backs of your sleep deprived bobbing heads while traveling in our van, your progressively soiled pants, and failing sneakers, your 6AM faces.

El Paso photo by jg

El Paso 10/28/2011

El Paso marked the end of our second journey, the destination after our stay in the Gila Wilderness, a relatively unspoiled retreat post Mata Ortiz. In El Paso I was able to reconnect with old friends who helped shape who I have become, familiar smiles at the end of a long journey. Both are San Diego based artists and UNM alumni. Roberto Salas, whose property we stayed on while working together to improve his childhood community of Barrio Buena Vista, and Yoshimi Hayashi, my former professor.

Personally, it meant coming full circle in my experience as an artist, specifically in regards to Land Arts, as Yoshi was Bill Gilbert’s student and Land Arts participant at UNM in 2000. Yoshi’s stewardship was not lost on me, his passion and dedication to Land Arts is a result of the initial and longterm commitment to the program by Bill and so many others. It has been an experience that will reveal itself more to me as time passes, re-contextualizing my future, supplying me with an infinite array of artistic fodder, and confirming my role as artist in my community, wherever I choose that to be. Proving to me that I can grow in my art practice anywhere, that boundaries are only set by my personal limitations, and that every person you meet has the capacity to teach you something new, Land Arts has been pivotal. It has shown itself to be a place I can forever return to, the only tools I need are lip balm, a compass, and a tent. I now have that and so much more.

"Mountain becomes Sardine" photo by jeg

group shot @ Mata Ortiz photo by md

"The Belts" collab jeg

"Havalina" jeg

Rat Dance Celebration at Buss Stop photo by jh I think

"Sprain" jeg

El Paso Bus shelter project

El Paso

Project: Land Arts program production arm Survival Kit Collective (SKC) collaboration with Roberto Salas director of the Centro Artistico y Cultural (CAC) and Armando Carlos president of the Buena Vista Neighborhood Association (BVNA) in design and construction of a bus stop for the community.

Budget: $1,000 in Materials

Participants: Armando Carlos, Nina Dubios, Bill Gilbert, Jane Gordon, Jeanette Hart-Mann, Ryan Henel, Elena Lopez, Roberto Salas, and many others.

Time frame: four days/nights

Day one

Roberto and Armando show us potential sites for the bus shelter. Accompanying us are Sam

Douglas, the documentarist and his crew.

Taking a moment to speak with a bus driver, see what they think of the project.

Armando checks in with a Buena Vista resident who uses the bus.

Initial sketches

Ryan and Roberto looking over design proposals.

Finalizing the choice of site. It was decided to build on city land, across the street from

the westbound bus stop, thus avoiding having to deal with the department of transportation

which has consistently ignored requests from the community to provide a bus shelter.

Back to the drawing board. Plans are worked out...

... a scale model takes form, sun angles are considered.

Day two

Nina, Jane and Elena work on a revised model.

The scale model helps figure out the angles, cuts, and amount of lumber needed for the

actual project.

Construction begins.

Roof structures are brought down the hill...

... and over to the site ...

... positioned...

... and the ground is marked for location of supporting posts.

Digging post holes.

Leveling and bracing.

Post-sunset concrete pour - long day.

Day three

Anchoring roof structure to posts.

Celeste helping pre-drill for the lag bolts.

Roof is up...

... pre-cut slats go in...

Day four

Jenn trims the roof slats.

Elena, Jane and Nina apply stain to the whole structure.

Bill putting up horizontal slats.

Ryan and Bill build the bench.

And done!

Bus schedule and route.

Armando and the whole crew together to celebrate.