Suzanne
Treister
2009
MTB [MILITARY TRAINING BASE]: VIDEO TRAINING DEMO/Camp Marfa, Texas, USA
DVD 7:33 mins looped
 |
 |
 |
 |
| MTB/Camp Marfa, Texas, USA is a non-interactive video game demo set within the Chinati Foundation and Donald Judd's compound located in Marfa, Texas, USA. | |||
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Chinati Foundation: 'In 1911 Camp Marfa was built here and it was a base camp for Cavalry Unit which protected American businessmen and ranchers against the Mexican revolutionaries and then buildings were added in the 20s and 30s, mess halls, etc and in 1940 it was renamed Fort D. A. Russell and it became a Military Garrison and in World War II it was used to house German prisoners of war. | |||
 |
 |
 |
 |
| In
1945 it was deactivated and in 1946 it was shut down and then it lay
dormant for about twenty years during the 50s and 60s and then in
the very early 1970s some of the buildings which I think are now used
as apartments for artists in residence, interns and staff members,
they were renovated to become assisted living homes for the elderly
and that didn't actually go through and in the 1970s Judd established
residence in Marfa. He started to work on plans to use this space
for permanent installations for a limited number of artists. He was
really interested in sort of getting away from the New York art world
where he felt like things were really impermanent and created some
kind of permanent exhibition out here and he wanted artists to interract
with the land.' Transcription of Chinati Foundation tour guide's introduction. |
|||
 |
 |
 |
 |
| 'The Chinati Foundation is a contemporary art museum located in the mountainous Chihuahuan Desert region of far West Texas. It exhibits large-scale installations by a limited number of artists on the premises of a 340-acre former military base, Fort D.A. Russell, and in converted building in the town of Marfa. Chinati was conceived and founded in the 1980s by the late artist Donald Judd as an alternative to the traditional, anthology-style contemporary art museum. Judd believed in the purity of art and its intrinsic value for humans and aimed to bring art, architecture, and the landscape together to form a coherent whole. He situated his museum in Marfa, close to the Mexican border, believing that the remoteness and vast open spaces of far West Texas enhanced the viewer's experience of the art works. | |||
 |
 |
 |
 |
| At
this site he created his largest and most complex works, and architecturally
altered the buildings to house the permanent collection. In addition
to Judd's work, the collection includes two dozen sculptures by John
Chamberlain installed in a former warehouse, an outdoor work by Claes
Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, an installation in colored fluorescent
light by Dan Flavin occupying six former army barracks, installations
by Ilya Kabakov and Roni Horn, poems by Carl Andre, paintings by John
Wesley and drawings by Ingolfur Arnarsson - all exhibited in their
own buildings. The Chinati Foundation also hosts temporary exhibitions,
and has recently mounted celebrated shows of the work of Robert Irwin
and David Rabinowitch. 1 Cavalry Row, Marfa, TX 79843' http://www.chinati.org |
|||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
Donald Judd's former home/studio compound: 'In 1971, Donald Judd rented a small house in Marfa, Texas in an effort to escape the confines of the New York City art world. Having passed through West Texas while serving in the army from 1946-1947, the Minimalist sculptor admired the sparse desertscape of Marfa and the surrounding Presidio County. Judd would later purchase several Marfa buildings and a nearby 60,000 acre ranch. He converted the adobe walled, military HQ compound in the centre of Marfa into his private residence and studios. |
|||
 |
 |
 |
 |
| In
1979, Judd also acquired a large expanse of land, which included the
abandoned Army Fort Russell, with the help of the Dia Foundation.
The structures at Fort Russell became storehouses for Judd's large-scale
permanent works. Today, Judd's private residences and studios are
cared for by The Judd Foundation, while The Chinati Foundation protects
most of Judd's large installation pieces in Marfa.' http://juddgentrified.blogspot.com/ |
|||