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The handle http://hdl.handle.net/1887/36549 holds various files of this Leiden University dissertation

Author: Noorda, Ruchama Title: ℞eForm Issue Date: 2015-12-09 ŔeForm 168 Chapter 4: ŔeForm Land(scape) 10 ×14cm,2014. Fig. 4.0. Ŕ

Home Lab , Ruchama Noorda, digital photo,

ŔeForm Land(scape) 170 Rhizome ŔeForm Land(scape) Chapter 4. (Deleuze and Guattari 1987,21) exits and its own lines of flight.’ ible, modifiable, and has multipleentranceways and a map that is always detachable, connectable, revers pertains toa map that must be produced, constructed, drawing or photography, unliketracings, therhizome between pointsand positions...Unlike thegraphic arts, arborescent type,whichare merelylocalizable linkages ligaments, shouldnot beconfused withlineages ofthe metamorphosis, changesinnature.These lines, or mum dimension after whichthemultiplicityundergoes the lineof flight or deterritorialization as themaxi segmentarity and stratification as its dimensions, and positions, therhizome ismade only of lines;linesof a structure,whichis defined by a set of points and nature as well,undergoes a metamorphosis. Unlike this kind changesdimension, itnecessarily changes in one is always subtracted (n-1).Whenamultiplicityof out on a plane of consistency, and from whichthe having neithersubjectnorobject,which can belaid It constitutes linear multiplicities withndimensions (milieu) from whichit grows andwhichitoverspills. has neitherbeginning norend, butalways amiddle but ofdimensions, or rather directions inmotion. It which oneisadded (n+1).Itis comprised not of units etc. Itis not amultiplederived from theone,or to that becomes two or evendirectly three,four, five neither theOnenormultiple.Itisnot theOne even non-sign states.Therhizomeisreducible to it brings intoplay verydifferentregimes of signs, and are not necessarily linked to traits ofthesame nature; connects any pointto any other point, andits traits rhizome: unliketreesor theirroots, therhizome ‘ Let ussummarize theprincipal characteristics ofa

- - ŔeForm Land(scape) 172 mosphere at unpredictable points. Therhizomemetaphor horizontal networks withshoots moving upinto the at able way beneath theearth’s surface, forming complicated rhizome grows inwhatappears to bea random, unpredict one direction from a single rooted source. Bycontrast, the on theimage of thetreegrowing primarily upwards inonly to Deleuzeand Guattari, arborescent systems are modelled which Deleuzeand Guattari call ‘arborescent’. According thought indirectopposition to hierarchical, binary systems Schizophrenia Deleuze and Guattari in The philosophical concept of the rhizome as developed by www.thefreedictionary.com) Also called stem thatoftensends out roots and shoots from its nodes. ‘ Rhizome n.(botany) Ahorizontal, usually underground rootstalk, rootstock Noorda, 2015. Fig. 4.1. (Deleuze and Guattari 1987) Rhizome A Thousand Plateaus , inkon paper, 21×29cm.Ruchama .’ (TheFreeDictionary,http:// , offers an image of : Capitalism and - - in theage oftheInternet,social networking technologies and The rhizomatic model seems to make more and more sense parate fields without imposing aunitary‘coherent’ structure. differently provides auseful model for thinking/presenting thought the future from thepast or vice-versa. Thereisnosequential the ogy. They crop upinthepresent as timetravellers visiting sertation and in‘mywork’ move against thegrain of chronol visionary ReForm heretics Ifollow equally inthis writtendis genealogy’ (Deleuzeand Guattari 1987,31).Thelineof For DeleuzeandGuattari, rhizomatic thinking is ‘ananti- emotional impactoraffectare all literallybeyond me(Ŕ). ‘reading’ of thework, its effectontheviewer/audience, its place’). Itrynottoanticipate or controltheoutcome(s). The and Guattari point out, isalso themilieu(literally‘themiddle I always startandend up in themiddle, whichas Deleuze structures orsingle-strand narratives on what Iend updoing. whole process of making. Ido not seekto impose unilinear ing theinitial idea toremain indevelopmentthroughout the up heterogeneous points of entryto thework whileallow time. My approach is morepara-conceptual not apply strict conceptualmethods to materials ahead of My woŔkisa Ŕhizomatic ŔeForm Ŕesearch pŔoject. Ido rhizome itfavoursnomadic forms ofgrowth and propagation. Rhizome-like itflourishesbest underground. And likethe research mode counter-posed against rational conformism. transformation/a discipline/practice (wayofbeing-doing)/a set ofmovements/an ideal/set of ideals/an ideology of E.g. ReFormisa historical counter-cultural movement/ The R’sare linked andinterchangeable. works stands for: Ruchama –ReFormRhizomeResearch Ŕ: thelogo Iusefor my and making mywork. work buthowIthink that resonates directlynot just withhowIthinkabout my instant connectivity. Itopens upaway of organizing material — making non-necessary connections across dis through Live Earth it — compressed land(scape) how Igo about conceiving — I aim to open - - - - ŔeForm Land(scape) 174 division betweentheory and practice. Ŕhizomatic approach Ihave outlined hereis toovercome the randomly afterthefield has beenploughed. The aim of the stubborn weeds growing from an invisible source that pop up can grow individually and form newconnections likevery heterogeneous and scattered. Broken pieces ofthe system coheres intoa holistic structure, because itis essentially environmental spheres, (what hecalls the‘Ecosophy’) never as Guattari says, thisinterconnectedness ofthesocial and start inthemiddle and move out towards theedges. Yet, than the‘onlooker’ or‘viewer’)cannot take a distance,I unity from whichtheparticipating ‘fellow traveller‘(rather only an underground environment(a milieu)that exists as a history of eventstobeseen from anexternal viewpointbut and shopping malls. the desert creating monuments for housing developments to thepresent:each day bulldozers extend theinvasion of design monumental roadside ruin of theremnants ofahouse. This is aremake of aplace, a Surely theseare theremnantsof a ruinor arebuiltruin Antelope Valley,California 18November 2011. Pearblossom Highway — the ghost ofan idea of a garden town. Fast-forward 29 ×42cm,2011. Fig. 4.2. Llano delRio — , Ruchama Noorda, digital photo an anti-romanticfolly the wayforward. warning signs on monuments plative road side becoming contem slowly disintegrating, in thedesert California linger Llano del Rio in experiments like communitarian The remnants of — a set —

- to oneside of thechimneystacks the hollow outline of the among broken bottles, dirtand creosote bushes. Inoticed between theremains of a pair of blackened chimneysstacks out of thecar, ran across thetwo-lane highway, and stood We pulled into theshoulder on Highway 138,Istepped Big Rock Creek.Itattracted farmers, unionised workersand situated near a rare and therefore valuable water source, less homeand communalday-care areas. LlanoDelRiowas design plans putforward byAliceAustin were the kitchen- and divisive). Among themore radical, thoughunrealized dents: Harriman believedthatethnicmixing was premature 1917 Llano supported approximately 1100(white-only) resi ments inthehistory of theAmerican west. (Atits peak in be one ofthemost important non-religious utopian experi Socialist Party politician, Job Harriman. Itisconsidered to founded inMay 1914by a small group ofbelievers led by radical feminist AliceConstance Austin. Thecolony was designed on thebasis of acircularcityplanbyarchitect and Llano del Rio was an early 20thcenturycooperative colony is disturbed. They only germinate whenthesoil inwhichtheyare resting family. Theseeds canliedormant inthegroundforyears. Datura (Jimson Weed). Datura is in the (deadly) Nightshade foundation ofalong gone building filled withrubble and - - ŔeForm Land(scape) 176 For Southern California based historian and political activist, collapsed, the core of the community relocating to Louisiana. Llano del Rio. Afterdeclaring bankruptcy in1918,thecolony heat and general isolation helped tospeed thedecline of and, nodoubt, thedemoralizing effects of theunrelenting internal rivalries betweencompetingpower/interest groups denied Llano’s request to build adam. Ideological disputes, in thecolony’s declineafter theLACounty waterauthority battle over access to a reliable water source was a factor own Harriman-run newspaper, rabbitry, a fish hatchery and a printshop.Thecolony had its Llano also houseda sawmill, dairy farms, apoultryyard, agriculture and thecolony produced alfalfa, cornand fruit. erative wayof life.Thecommunity’s economy was based on committed socialists whosought a better‘boss-free’ coop ruins of its alternative future.’(Davis 1990,3) to viewtheLos Angelesof thenextmillenniumis from the the colonists departure bylocalresidents): ‘Thebest place referring totheLlano ruins (burned to theground after side of Southern California’s history and culture,hewrites, tion to and 21st centuryAmerican capitalist society. Inhis introduc Mike Davis, Llanodel Rio presents an inverted image of 20th City ofQuartz excerpts-from-mike-daviss-city-of <5October 2015> herepeople.tumblr.com/post/27093910811/llano-del-rio- and designer AliceConstance Austin. http://nothingtosee Fig. 4.3.Llano del Rio original cityplan designed byarchitect (1990), Davis’ journey through thedark The Western Comrade. The - - - this manner included Llano delRioand Walden. Samples of pressed medicinal pills. Utopian sitescompacted into pills in the American southwest and formed theminto small, com pian experimental colonies locatedinnorthernEurope and and fragments of builtstructures taken from abandoned uto spa environmentIground samples of earth, plant material exhibition Wonder ValleyintheMojave desert as partof thegroup mounted onaremote 40acresite on theIron AgeRoad in Diopharma Valley, California, 2014. High DesertTest Sites, Diopharma was a performance andinstallation that I Spectacular Subdivision 1 10 x14cm.2011. Fig. 4.4. California Institute for Research intheArts. organized byHighDesert Test Sites andtheUniversity of Angeles-based artcollective Monte Vista Projects and co- Spectacular Subdivision Llano delRio Colony Spectacular Subdivision was curated byJayLizo ofLos . 1 Inthis dioramic makeshift , Ruchama Noorda, digital photo , Wonder - - ŔeForm Land(scape) 178 birth canal. from photographs takenfrom inside thechimney:Llano’s dimensional alchemist ovenpowered bya solar cellmade virtual chimney,builtofphotographs, functioned as a two still standing 130mileswest oftheIron-age site. The the ruined chimneystacksof theLlano delRio commune alongside large (100×150cm)installed photographs of pills fromthese sites weredisplayed inplastic ziplock bags 60 ×80cm,2014. Fig 4.5. Llano delRio , RichardHebdige, digital print,

velopment as ithas played out in theyears since European Valley engaged andmimickedthelogic of real estate de these areas. The ter andenergy required to sustain expanding populations in of theenvironmentalproblems caused bytheamount of wa ‘extra-terrestrial invaders’ ina desert landscape, andbecause the desertboth forthepeoplewho end upliving there as without taking account of theenvironment isa problemin development, thebuying anddeveloping of unused land ual lotsmaking themsubsequently easier to sell.Speculative Subdivisions arepieces of land that are divided into individ around densely populated areas into themiddle of nowhere. cal for thefast suburbansprawl that spreads itself incircles materials that are used inthetypeof building whichis typi the backboard, insulation material andwood are all building and plantmaterial. Theplasterboard made from gypsum, insulation material, digital prints,aluminium, plastic, clay The installation was builtoutofmaterials likegypsum, between private and communal space. site, marking out possible sitesof overlap andcontradiction Text signs on metalpoles weredotted round the Fig. 4.6. Spectacular Subdivision Diopharma , Ruchama Noorda, 2014. exhibition inWonder Diopharma - - - -

ŔeForm Land(scape) 180 Californian desert. settlement began ontheedges of habitablespaceacross the makes no distinction betweenthe organism that inhabits and urgently today than ever.Theapproach Iadopt inmywork occupancy. For methose questionsneed tobeposed more terrain, andtheimplications the consequences of our we come to occupy eventheharshest, most challenging ists buthow we interact withitand on itas a species questions not just about howwerepresentlandscape as art tural site-specific ‘interventions’ and published texts raise 1960’s American Land Artist Robert Smithson, whose sculp the ground upwithreference to thework of theinfluential I set out in this section to map some ofthose links from material sites. Then picture the world as we actually find it… between utopian ideas, human bodies, earthlymaterials and Imagine an ideal, aerialview of the pro-biotic relationships Earth Works and Non Sites 10 ×14cm,2014. Fig 4.7. Datura Stramonium , Ruchama Noorda, digital photo

— how - - inspired byandreacted against aspects of Smithson’s work. by becomes field through the actions (oftenritual) performed the inhabited terrain inflicted on a ‘virgin’ landscape. and temporary modifications rather than as permanent scars reworked sand and earth areultimately presented as trivial about nature. Theman-made interventionstracedacross the observations to newways ofenvisioning timeand thinking by contrast movesina diaristic style from highly personal in an emotionally detached or ‘objective’manner.Thetext say is neithernatural nor historical.Instead itis presented space. Formethelandscape representedinSmithson’s es the romanticnotion of theruinas a haunted or ahallowed ruins of ancientRomeandbydoing so hekeeps complicating these ‘monuments of Passaic’ are on an equal footing with the tive tour guide. Ina blankly ironic style, Smithson implies that ‘historic’ sitewiththeauthorcast intheguise of authorita as iftaking thereader on an illustratedtour of a significant of urban development and industrial activityalong theriver ries of flatblackand whitephotographs documenting traces essay. Invokingtheideaof ‘ruins inreverse’, hepresents a se considered relevant bySmithson, and isnot disclosed inhis where theartist happenedto growup,thoughthis fact is not Passaic County, anondescript suburb of NewJersey is of thesites and thematerials whichmake upthelandscape. imagining thefuturebyexaminingsoil, takingan inventory than looking only for evidenceof thepast hesets about a series of archaeological or historical sites. Passaic In hiswidelycirculated essay, actors , Smithson takes therole ofthecurious tourist visiting on it.Indeveloping this approach Ihave both been 2 Artforum Smithson, R.‘ATour of TheMonuments of Passaic’, — , 1967,45–51. together theyform thefield.Terrain A Tour oftheMonuments ofthe 2 However, rather - - - ŔeForm Land(scape) 182 US based LandArtists likeSmithson, Nancy Holt, Michael Earthworks are literally bound to thesitestheyappear in. within whitecubespace whetherinamuseum or a gallery. making: site-specific contemporary worksnotcontainable to describethenewgenre of art hewas interested in fade away and come tonothing. all man’s works, no matter how monumental or‘heroic’ will on theplanet.Smithson’s ultimatemessage seems to bethat Universe butrather as an ultimatelydispensable newcomer is seeking toputmaninhisplace,not as theMaster of the history. Here,as elsewhere inSmithson’s work, theartist of countering theanthropocentric human-focused viewof seems to beusing thevast scaleof geological timeas a way than tryto reverseit’(Smithson 1973,307).HereSmithson one would haveto recognize this entropic condition rather reincorporate these things that seem ugly. ….Itseems that cept theentropicsituation andmoreor less learn howto before thesettlers came. Hewrites: ‘...wehave to ac for a frontieror a lost, unspoiled wilderness the nostalgia piece heusesthenotion of entropyto reflectcritically on decline/loss of momentum inanygiven system. InthePassaic a concept thatis commonly used torefer theinevitable tied to his concern withirreversible processes ofentropy, Smithson’s notion of geological rather than historical timeis Smithson coined theterms ‘LandArt’and ‘Earthworks’ Robert Smithson Fig. 4.8. — particularly widespread inthe‘New World’ The FountainMonument

1967 . and The GreatPipes, — the world - see: centre and peripherybytransporting documentary and the concept of the‘non-site’ and set upadialectic between often inremotelocations. In addition, Smithson introduced and raw materials to make monumental big gestureworks Heizer, and James Turrellused heavy industrialmachinery nature; artinanexpanded field rather than conceiving land like Longi.e.framing/documenting experiencesin/with linked) are moreinclined tofollow theexample of people work andthelandscape inwhichitisset are inextricably porary artists who make site-specific work in whichtheart to methat a newgeneration of‘neo’-landartists (contem er can share in by becoming a participant as wellas an observ embodied experience works also provide opportunities for theincorporation of subtle traces’ (ibid.)inoron theland’ssurface. Site-specific fully bendnatureto artistic aspirations but‘to leave merely Long (and Hamish Fulton) theintentionwas notto force and Byttebier2014, 74) ForEnglish landartists likeRichard their bluntdesire to rearrange thelandscape.’ (Stalpaert tended tobecritical of theAmerican Earthworks group for Art Movement that emerged inEngland inthesame period and art theoristKarolien Byttebierpoint out: ‘TheLand UK. Astheatre and performance theorist Christel Stalpaert to theapproach to landart developed inthe1960’s scape. Inthat respectmywork bearsa closer connection sculptural formsor permanentinterventions intheland pressions of actual material)rather than as big footprint through documentation (video and photography and com 1970’s American Land Art.Theyexistand are circulated ventions whencompared tothemonumental gestures of scale and appear as somewhat personal, temporal inter and committed tomaking, operate on an entirelydifferent sanitized spaceof fancy New York galleries. appeared on thepristine walls and cementfloors inside the film footage of wilderness orundeveloped sites suddenly ‘art world’ and the‘real world’. Piles of earth or stones or ing a dialogue between the‘inside’ andthe‘outside’, the of landscape material traces takenfromremotesites — The kindof earth-focused body works Iam interested in entering intothelandscape and its ecology. Itseems — into metropolitan galleries therebycreat — opportunities, whichtheviewer — the raw material ------ŔeForm Land(scape) 184 back inside thelargerecosystem. materials and settings inthese pieces,Iseek to place myself invented private rituals. Byattempting tomergewiththe as a seriesof temporarysitespecific interventions and/or into thiscategory. TheworkImake could bedescribed art as action on a‘raw’ terrain. My ownwork falls clearly clouds behinda photo ofa chimneystack heldupbywooden looks fake, staged, manufactured, back-lit: unreal...fluffy It is thesky that is real inthisphotograph. Everything else magical thinking. knowledge, fromsnakeoilsandthe promotion of sick without authority, frompseudo-andparanormal a duck/yelling,from‘kwakzalver’,treating the from Quack Dutch ‘kwaken’,frommaking anoiselike Quackery Photo: Sinziana Velicescu. Fig. 4.9. . Afraudulent claimtomedicalknowledge, Diopharma , Ruchama Noorda, 2014.

it isclearthat itis aphotograph, thebordersof thecardon seems to bepart of thelandscape buton closer inspection toshopped inafterwards. Atfirst glance, thechimneystack ground look real enough buttheycould also have beenpho sticks. Thedeepshadows cast across thesand inthefore renders portable ina literally compressed formtheshattered of herbal and mineral medicine. Thepiece distributes and idealized sitegot compacted and mediated via theimaginary Diopharma pill you can dissolve inside your mouth. grinding, Icompress an entirelandscape into theform of a suddenly scattered around thesite. Through theprocess of Spring, and from thefloor of thebeigecube,flowers appear to life‘invisibly’at night, soil imbuedwithlatent energy). Itis ment is,inreality, full of life(plantsand animals that come much faster herethan inother places. Thedesert environ is notemptybutsilent;traces ofhuman existence disappear graph appears new,untouched and almost sterile.Thedesert in a whitecube.Everything inside thebordersof thephoto particular ‘site’ (i.e.thephotograph) Iactuallyfeellikeam actual real world setting centrally into account butat this Site-Specific art is generally defined as artthat takes the even brownpowder. evaporates and theheterogeneous contents turninto an intensifies as themoisture stored inside thesefragments stones, thebitsof plants and treesinside thebowl, thesmell into ever-smaller pieces. Whilst Iam grinding therubble, three-dimensional space grindingfragments of the landscape in this photograph, Iamsitting inthemiddle ofapartway specificity is thatitliterally brings its own ground withit: orama ‘that whichis seen, a sight’. What Ilikeabout site- The Greekword‘diorama’ comes from di ‘through’ + only a stage-like foreground to anchor itto…. ‘fact’ isitneeds to besecured bysandbags because thereis in theviewer’s eye…instead itbarelyholds upat all.The don’t matchup.Theentireinstallation barely holds together two horizon lines which thephotograph isprinted become apparent, and the becameformetheplacewhere theidea of the — the ‘interior’and ‘exterior’horizon lines - - - - ŔeForm Land(scape) 186 that has gone to ground. ment, andcommunal living:thesubsistence version of utopia dream ofsocial(ist) housing, garden cities,suburban develop resembles thepainted backdrops onecan find inthe animal background of thesite intheMojave desert’s Wonder Valley duced bythemanipulation ofdepthperception. Thenatural creating areal-seeming perspective, itisan illusion pro illustrates an (imagined) historical eventor landscape and in (a piece ofvisualquackery).Thetypical museumdiorama three-dimensional, something of an honestly exposed illusion ing and thework itself. Theclassic diorama is usually partly the same timea documentation of a process of art packag non-space dialectic. Thework could thusbecome at one and thus an attempt on mypart toengage withSmithson’s space/ and three-dimensional experience of place. back toan actual location inorder to complicate thetwo logical site as experiencedina museumor gallery-like setting I chose theform ofadiorama inorderto bring thearchaeo Fig. 4.10. Diopharma, Ruchama Noorda, 2014. Diopharma is is - - - - ral’ habitats. Thepaintedbackdrops work toauthenticate return thespecimens (animals or ‘early man’) to their ‘natu History museum. Inthese settings thediorama functions to Palaeolithic times as represented inadisplay inaNatural cages ata zoo or indepictions of thelifeof ‘early man’in cures’ like ‘superfoods’: a finely ground powder ofalgae or by theexaggerated healthclaims of products and ‘miracle side is inside a merger occurs. Thework is inpart inspired unite withthelandscape bytaking it(all) in.Oncetheout I wanted to offer thepossibility for visitors to thesite to the terrainandhistory that secures iteasier to swallow. neutral ‘natural’ therapeutic pillform, Isetout to makeboth homogenous organic matter andpresenting theresults in spectives. Bygrinding soil and building debris samples into In D merging thelatter withtheformer. the naturalness ofthefigures intheforeground effectively iopharma Ruchama Noorda, digital photo 10× 14cm,2014. Fig. 4.11. Ideliberately avoided thismerging of per Ŕ

Home Lab ( compressed landscape) ,

- - - ŔeForm Land(scape) 188 back to lifeagain inside thebody. distilled fromtheearth which,onceingested, are brought landscape’ ceuticals. In commonly made inthemarketing of‘miraclecure’pharma promise of immediate access to transformative experience on thepackaging ofconvenienceand superfoods and the On theother hand, Iwas interested inplaying withand the publicas thepathtoinstant health. wheatgrass added to aglass of water whichis presented to ery ofearly20thcenturydesert healer and self-proclaimed project…seemed to channel themail-order health quack artist, Kim Stringfellow mentioned that my‘performative TV station KCET, local desert studies scholar andfellow- (8 April2014),anon-linejournal sponsored byLApublic In a reviewofthe — Fig. 4.12. Diopharma a concentrated dose of vitamins andminerals Spectacular Subdivision Diopharma Iaimed to offer passers-by ‘instant , RuchamaNoorda, 2014. showfor Artbound - - and medicine-man. Dubbedthe‘King of Quacks’bythe Valley intheMojave desert by Springer, aradio evangelist 1944 outside Las Vegas, not farfrom Wonder in built resort reference hereisto thenow abandoned Zzyzxhealth minister CurtisHoweSpringerofZzyxxfame’. Lebensreform movement inAmerica. Adolf Just, was one of themost influential advocates for the (1872–1945), a follower ofDoctor Sebastian Kneipp and of Naturopathy’ discussed earlierinthis dissertation. Lust as a connecting bridge backto Benedict Lust, the‘father work Iwas unacquainted withthis history; Springer serves over theradio in returnfordonations. article. Springer offeredplant-based miraclecurepotions springs-spa, whichheattempted to pass off as thegenuine eral water and mud-cures, andcreated a gas-heated ‘hot’- American Medical Association in1969,Springer offered min 4 3 <4 October 2015> http://articles.latimes.com/2002/jun/16/local/me-then16 Hucksterism and Miracle Cures’,June16,2002, Home’, 8April 2014,www.kcet.org<4October 2015> Cecilia Rasmussen ‘Zzyzx:AnUnlikelyHome of Kim Stringfellow ‘Spectacular Subdivision: TheArtof

4 Prior to making my 3 The

- ŔeForm Land(scape) 190 • •• • vegetarianism/raw food, granola • thefeetenpleinair • asceticism • equal wage • teetotalism • freelove/sexual reform • common property • self sufficiency • • anarchism • political nudism • antimilitarism • pacifism PHARMACA: micro-organisms) gluten, animalproducts, and traces of gypsum, nuts,cement, material and dirt(may contain Ingredients: ruins, sand, soil, plant lation atGalerie van Gelder Amsterdam, 2014. Fig. 4.13. Ŕ,

Compressed Landscape minerals and trace elements. Comprises nearly100%of essential • •  • • all-encompassing ideology • • weed/unwanted plant •  • • jealousy • bankruptcy • • poor soil • water shortage EFFECTS: SIDE by creating afunctioning socialist socialism society wouldgradually convert to society of capitalism, thelarger community withinthelarger issues associated withinstinctual arrogance selfishness and greed. ing, family, security, boundaries, need forsurvival,safety, ground , Ruchama Noorda , instal - - home and combined these earthy medications withpersonal brought theLlano delRioand Wonder Valleypillsback On returning totheNetherlands inthespring of 2014,I Compressed Landscape the soil collected from (failed) Utopian sites. in order to (Ŕe)-activate the vital spark (élanvital) present in the medieval alchemist intenton turningbase metal intogold the essential properties of materials. Iwas seeking to mimic installation revolved around naturopathic beliefsconcerning ‘spacing out’ina remote, ‘psychedelic’ desert landscape. The taking inNew World wilderness settings: theidea of people refer at thesame timeto thehistory of psychotropic drug the collective &individual aspects ofhuman existenceand for overcoming thedualistic split betweenmind and body, with water. Theywerepackaged witha fact-sheet: aguide were presented to visitors as instant art-works, to be taken macist dispenses and a patient passively imbibes. The pills ‘prescription’ nowusually refers to anorder that a phar pre-packaged and industrially manufactured, theterm prescribed medications. Butas medications have become tions writtenbya qualified practitioner compounding the a prescription labelled wide variety ofdata. Untilthebeginning of the20thcentury, Ŕ Amsterdam (28June–3 July 2014).Theexhibition was titled magazines. Iexhibited these at theVan Gelder Gallery in photographs, drawings and related material taken from . HereIcreated akindof pro-biotic compost fedfroma

Ŕ contained a set of detailed instruc - - ŔeForm Land(scape) 192 Design: Paul Gangloff. Fig. 4.14. Ŕ bijsluiter (instruction leaflet), 27×33cm, 2014. land development. work is documented as atwenty-three-step program for Jacques Rousseau’s denunciation of private property. The store inMarfa, Texas, andpositioned 6feetfrom a public monument mounted inthebackyard of a former hardware Hortus Conclusus, 213SDean, MarfaTX Land Development land is privatelyowned. Thepercentage of private landin tected bythetoughest trespassing laws because nearly all the most desolate sweeps of desert areprivateandpro In Texas thereispractically no‘publicland’, because even The textisfrom mother goddess modelled on thewomb (Scheck2008,98). graphy theHortus Conclusus isthemystical garden of the structure, whichwas later painted blue.Inmedieval icono- from thesoil dug outto form thehollow infront of the water, paint andpaper. Theadobe bricks werecompacted on-site overa six day period inJune2013from local dirt, highway leading toan intersection. Thepiecewas made Fig. 4.15. Noorda, 2013. Discourse onSocial Inequality Hortus Conclusus, 213SDean, MarfaTX

was a (1754), Jean roadside , Ruchama - ŔeForm Land(scape) 194 started to rain, filling thebasin withwater. piece of paper andhad sealed itwithsome tape and mud,it On thesixthday, just as Ihad appliedthetextwrittenon a soil, mixeditwith water and placed itinto brick sizemoulds. bricks bymixing thesoil withbuckets of water.Itook the very warm days digging into thestony ground and forming I could use was situated behind afenceandIspent seven or donated (Big Bend National Park). Thepieceof landthat land or sites thathavebeeneitherbought (military bases) roads and highwaysthatconnect theindividual pieces of Texas is greater thaninanyother state.Theexceptionsare ‘savage’ man fallen from paradise connects to theattempt of choose. TheRomanticidea oftheBon Sauvage as a happy animal likeany other, buthehas afree will,anabilityto For Rousseau, maninhis state of nature is essentially an Ruchama Noorda, 2013.Photos: Paulien Oltheten Fig. 4.16. Hortus Conclusus, 213SDean, MarfaTX ,

but withitestablished divisions inthenatural world. This is Rousseau, modern people may have established native organisations of land use andownership. Accordingto the systemof private propertyandto experimentwithalter almost all reformmovements at some moment to overcome conceived as a or collective-species basis. Thedesert landscape isoften agine anewbeginning or a definitive ending on an individual and inparticular thedesert formtheultimate placeto im For many Europeans theUnitedStates, theAmerican West, The New World, California and Lebensreform source and basis of all inequality is thedivision of land. where ‘evil’starts, likethe fall out of paradise. The original Ruchama Noorda, 2013.Photos: Paulien Oltheten Fig. 4.17. tabula rasa Hortus Conclusus, 213SDean, MarfaTX (the Latinword ‘deserta’

Civil Society, means ,

- - ŔeForm Land(scape) 196 succession of May novels Germanic looking protagonist OldShatterhand Friedrich May (1842–1912).InMay’s adventure fiction the already becomepopularized byGerman writerslikeKarl The romanticised ideaof theAmerican southwest had also counterculture. European Lebensreform movement and California’s hippie further explorethedocumented connections betweenthe that is stillassociated withthestate’spopulation, and to utopian/dystopian lifestyle questing andexperimentation I firstwentto California in2011to research thelegacy of have projected theirfantasies ofrenewaland apocalypse. cohorts of artists andsecessionists of one kindor another ‘empty’ or ‘forsaken’ place). Onthis clean slate, successive ‘wild nature’ and ‘wild people’. fantasy of going backto nature andback to thebasics of European-American version also embodies theEuropean poster nudefor thesunworshipping Lebensreformers, this (1902) byFidus (seech.2).Whereas in 1904,has surprising similarities to thepainting Winnetou III age. Thedrawing of Winnetoufor thecover ofKarl May’s embodies theromanticizedNordic idealof thenoble sav tact withNative Americans. HebefriendedWinnetou who , drawn bytheGermanpainter Sascha Schneider

— goes west and comes incon Lichtgebet became the — Lichtgebet hero ofa - -

civilization. convinced that thesource of his ill-health was an allergyto dug a hole intheground under a rockto livein.Nagel was meant thathegrew his hair long,discarded hisshoesand and adopted a look that combined Jesus and Tarzan. This gustaf nagel (1874–1952). Nagel had become a vegetarian centric version of primitivism.Anexample istheGerman in theLebensreform movementthat had developed anec I am particularly interested inatradition of male characters by Sascha Schneider,1904. Fig.4.18. Book cover of Carl May’s Winnetou III

- ŔeForm Land(scape) 198 which was runbyCharles Manson. sents for metheantipode to thedystopian Manson family, Hollywood Hills inthe1960’s and early70’s. Baker repre centred around a successful health food restaurant inthe was a typical example of a hippy‘Love’ community. Itwas was thecharismatic cultleader of the In California, Father Yod (James Edward Baker 1922–1975) of Tarzan in a Hollywood movie (Hundley 2007). While he of Tarzan ina Hollywood movie (Hundley2007).While he Baker moved to California fromOhio to audition forthepart <20 November 2015> com/2014/01/16/mongrel-patriot-review-isis-aquarian/ audition for ‘Tarzan’ https://newtopiamagazine.wordpress. Fig. 4.20.Father Yod (James Edward Baker)during his Altmark. Fig. 4.19.gustaf nagel, postcard Arendsee b.Seehausen

html <20November 2015> sorazul.blogspot.nl/2015/03/el-padre-yod. Wha of theYod-family. http://elretrovi Fig. 4.21.Father Yod as cultleader Ya Ho Source Family , which

- - God thefather. In1957heopened threehealthfood restau called himself YaHoWha (Yahweh),referring toHimself as leader archetype of the1970’scommune movement.He became theGod oftheSource family, theultimatepaternal did notget therole,hestayedon inCalifornia and eventually and ‘wellness’ movements andhas a highconcentration of a major hubof today’s California-based NewAge, ‘slow food’ the area around Mountain Drive.ThecityofSanta Barbara is nudist colonies, beatnik winecults and hippycommunes in in theearly 20thcentury bywealthy Europeans, mid-century art-and-lifestyle communities founded intheMontecito hills ment and itsAmericanoffshoots. These includeexperimental and surrounding area havewiththeLebensreform move of California because of the historical associations, thecity Initially Iwas drawn to Santa Barbara on thecentralcoast who took therole as themiddlemen betweenmenand God. relationships withmen.Theyreached God onlythrough men it seemsthat inhispatriarchy thewomenhad to havesexual members invarious polygamous groupings. From the accounts thirteen spiritualwives,whileparticipating withotherFamily Royce, tenVolkswagen vans for communal transportation and a hundred followers. AtonetimeFatherYod owned aRolls aged tocreateahealth food enterprisethat supported almost Freemasons.’ Family dressed up‘as AmericanIndians, ancientEgyptians and of Kundalini yoga; Rosicrucian workshops and theSource western and eastern mysticism. Thereweregroup sessions the kabala, tantric sex,some form of Theosophy and a mixof of theAge ofAquarius. His teachinghowever was based on any there,convincing himselfhewas destined to bethefather sidered hisspiritual mentor.Heclaimed tohave had an epiph Baker had travelledto India withYogu Bahjan, whom hecon Restaurant. and later whenthesewereclosed: TheSource HealthFood rants onSunset Boulevard: TheOld World, TheAware Inn, 5

6 5 6 FatherYod was anable businessman and man watch?v=C6ms7YTCh10, <14March 2015> Jim Baker] http://www.youtube.com/ Ibid. Re-Visiting Father andtheSource Family[CultLeader -

- - - - ŔeForm Land(scape) 200 and self-described clairvoyant, Charles Leadbeater at Ayar in mystic was ‘discovered’ byprominent British Theosophist mer homeofJiddu Krishnamurti (1895–1988). This Indian town ofOjai,whichhouses theKrishnamurti Center,for Fleishman estate just outside SantaBarbara, and the nearby depth psychology studies andislocated on theformer Max the Pacifica Graduate Institutewhichspecializes inJungian counterculture history. Additional regional resources include literature withspecialcollections on comparative religion and houses an extensive archive of esoteric and wisdom tradition Hermann Friedrich Sexauer). store inCalifornia (established in1934bytheGermanborn nesses. Thecitywas also hometoone thefirst organic food commercial spas, meditation, yoga and ‘spiritual health’busi ments eversince. West Coast 20thand 21st centurycounter-culturalmove I have beenexploring thecross part of theregular Arts Symposium Visiting Speakersseries. during this timefor alarge student and faculty audience, as Barbara togive apresentation on myresearch and art work ductive and Iwas invitedbytheArtDepartment atUCSanta movement. India in1909and hebecame themessiah of thetheosophical The library at Universityof California SantaBarbara My visitto SantaBarbara in2011proved to bevery pro 7 1917, inKennedy 1998 Fig. 4.22.BillPester, Palm Canyon, California, Colloquium, 11October 2011. Department of Art,University of California Santa Barbara,

traffic between European and traffic betweenEuropean and .

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involved notjusta trafficinideas, therapeutic practices in Germany and theLow Countries. These historical links century Wandervogel and ‘Nature Boy’movements based 1960’s Californian‘flower power’ and theearly20th My main area of interest istheconnection betweenthe to Kennedy, hislargely visual argument based on vintage link with the Beatgeneration (Chidester 2012).According the preferred genealogy for California hippyculturewas the online interviewwithBrian Chidester, Kennedy states that tended to prideitself on being generally ‘progressive’. Inan with a fewnotorious exceptions (e.g. theManson ‘Family’), ments andtheearly hippycultureinCalifornia. This culture, what tendedto beseenas Nazi-affiliated Lebensreform ele iconic Lebensreform images, adirect connection between a stironthealternative scene byshowing, oftenthrough Francisco throughout the1960’s. that grew out of thecounter-cultural milieuaround San head officeofthe New Age and HumanPotential Movement foundation in1962,Esalen has played animportant roleas the famous spiritual centre and retreat inBig Sur.Sinceits tive bookstores inCalifornia, includingtheEsalen Institute, ing circles. Infact it was rejected bynearly all thealterna go down wellinalternative NewAge publishing and practic in California inthe1930’sand 40’s. Kennedy’s book did not mitment toLebensreform ideas, and who wenton to settle set of Germanimmigrants, who arrivedwitha strong com on American cultureand the attitudes towards nature of a traced theorigins of thehippymovement to theinfluence Anthology FromGermanyto California1883–1949 Kennedy published his book, When theAmerican counter-culturalhistorian Gordon of modernism. or marginalized inmost ofthecanonical published histories ing, whichuntilquiterecentlyhave tended toberepressed began excavating strands of mystical and Theosophical think within thelocal population. Intracking theseconnections,I immigrants, often finding a positive reception from elements food movementsmigrated totheUSand settled thereas personnel, as keyfigures intheLebensreform and organic and alternative living arrangements, butalso an exchange of Children ofthe Sun,APictorial Children ofthe Sun (1998), he created - - - - - ŔeForm Land(scape) 202 wrinkle inAmerican history meant that…(alternative book and Blood-and-Soil ideology. As Kennedy notes:‘Thisodd legacy of theNational Socialist commitmentto ‘eco-fascism’ Hesse, theywereonthewhole less comfortable withthe to theworks of ‘alternative’ GermanwriterslikeHerman in the1960’swerefamiliar with,and warmlyresponsive While many members oftheAmericancounter culture suspect andtheGermanpeople as ‘enemiesof democracy’. War Twoperiod, Germanculturewas typically portrayed as 20th century.Heargues thatintheimmediate post World less efficiency’ and ‘military values’ during the first half on the American media of German perpetualcommitmentto ‘ruth circles, because itcomplicates thestereotype widespread in Lebensreformers, appeared to beprovocative inNew Age photographs of longhaired sandal wearing Nature boy based enterprises suchas health cures, health food stores and They oftenspread theirideas through practical and health way totheUnitedStates and especially to theGolden State. scene, anumberof prominent Lebensreformers foundtheir Long beforea generation of tie-dyeutopians arrivedon the Nature Boys: California’s Wandervogel planted onto Americansoil’ (ibid.). embraced this newform ofradical German paganism trans turned theirbackson everything Judeo-Christian and instead hippy “Nature Boys”) edenahbez appealed stronglyto young American Jewishmenlike(proto that, according toKennedy: ‘(t)heLebensreform lifestyle… in Americawas renderedevenmoreproblematic bythefact gests apurely‘nativist’origin for thehippycounter-culture seemed unthinkable’ (ibid.). a wholegeneration ofnaked forest-dwelling Germans… by very thoughtthat their‘’Summer of Love” was preceded Generation alone had set thestage for thehippies. And the stores) …could no longer telltheircustomers that theBeat Any uncomplicated notion ofa simplegenealogy that sug 8 as theinventor of thesmoothie. who called himself GypsyBoots, is widely acknowledged ahbez’s best friend,Robert Bootsin, afellow Nature Boy 8 and Gypsy Boots who had andGypsy Boots whohad - - - John and Vera Richterwereimmigrants from Germany established inLos Angeles byJohn andVeraRichterin1917. for instance theEutropheon, a vegetarian raw food restaurant uting radical ideas imported fromEurope. Sucha placewas restaurants. Oftentheseplaces werealso centres fordistrib 1908, Sexauerhad for instance already beenan enthusiastic Anapamu Street).Prior to hisarrival intheUSAaround Santa Barbara in1934(Sexauer Natural Food Shopon Afterwards, Sexauer also opened ahealth food store in subculture. Wandervogel movementand theCalifornian nature boy rant thus functioned as theliving linkbetweentheinterwar the LaurelCanyon Boulevard inLos Angeles. regular gig playing thepiano at this health food storeon encountered thenatureboyphilosophy whenhegot a California’s most famous Nature Boys,ebenabhez, first and strong advocates of Lebensreform philosophy. Oneof 9 nature-the-eutropheon <5 April 2015> http://restaurant-ingthroughhistory.com/2014/02/02/back-to- Cafeteria. Illustration from article byJohn Whitaker Fig. 4.23.Advertisement of theEutropheon LiveFood Subculture’. Hippy.com. <29November 2014> G. Kennedy andK. Ryan, ‘HippieRoots &ThePerennial 9 This restau

- - ŔeForm Land(scape) 204 months at atime,inthe1920’sand early1930’s. countryside, camping ingroups oftenfor two tothree youngsters intentoncommuning withnature roamed the between theages of twelveand eighteen. Backpack-wearing by Herman Hoffmann inBerlin1901,for Germanyouths ing movement that had its origins inahikingclubestablished Wandervogel. TheWandervogel movement was a freewheel tion of nature. TheNational Socialists sought topromote by campinginthegreat outdoors and teaching anapprecia similar program of strengthening bodies, building character a similar movement,theWoodcraft Folk whichfollowed a fined Nazi aesthetics. TheEuropean communist partieshad the neoclassical idealization of thehumanformwhichde mass calisthenics, health and beauty wenthand inhand with and thefamily.Thenew emphasis on physical education, sations an alternativeeducational framework to theschool individuals, offeringthroughthestate and voluntary organi national stock through systematic reform, toughening up formed in1922witha similar agenda, tostrengthen the a military templateliketheBoyScouts.Hitler Youth was this was to beachieved through organisations modelled on cal and spiritual/psychological reformation ofthemasses and The fate of theBritish Empireseemed to reston thephysi conscripted formilitary service during World War One. condition andlackofdiscipline among working class youths military establishment werealarmed bythe poor physical of publicserviceand a lovefortheoutdoors. TheBritish lived incities, wilderness survival skills,communitarian ideals were devoted to teach young people, most ofwhom now Boy Scout and GirlGuidemovements. Thesemovements Powell, a retired Britisharmy officerformed theWolfCub, United Statesat thetime.In1907inBritain, Robert Baden- Similar movements arose elsewhereinEurope and the oppositional versionof theselargerscale efforts. Wandervogel movements canbeseenas an alternative or for thestate and thevalue oflabour. The Lebensreform and such as service to thecollective, thevirtues of self-sacrifice the Woodcraft movementto promote communist ideals, and warrior code, whereas thecommunists inevitably used Nazi ideology throughan ideology of survival of thefittest - - - - - to bedrafted into the military in1900,and thesecond time conformist ideology andlifestyle,thefirst timeforrefusing was arrestedand imprisoned several times forhis radical non- and theignominious exitfrom thegarden of Eden. Sexauer redeeming humanity byreverseengineering thefall of man repetition, butto activelyde-eroticize it.Thusmiraculously and demystify thespectacle of thenaked figure bybanal the beliefthatnudismwould serve notjust tode-stigmatize a ‘theoreticalnudist’ (ibid.).Theoreticalnudismrepresented sidered himselfa philosophical anarchist, a radical pacifist and Haight-Ashbury district suddenly wentglobal. Sexauercon Summer ofLove, when theimage ofthehippylifestyle inthe shop closed in1966,theyear before San Francisco’s storied health, politics and economics (Kennedy 1998,159).Sexauer’s congregate, to read and buyuncensored radical books on non-conformists, and became a placewherepeople could as abookstore and meeting placeforlike-minded pre-hippy As Kennedynotes,Sexauer’s healthfood store also served Witzenhausen unknown, 1907,Archivder Deutschen Jugendbewegung, Fig. 4.24.Heidelberger Wandervogel, photographer - ŔeForm Land(scape) 206 universal love and moral self-improvement. universal love and moral self-improvement. The heartof Tolstoy’s doctrine centred on thelinked ideas of of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin LutherKing (King 2005,149). disobedience, whichhad also helpedshapethephilosophies American Transcendentalist,HenryDavid Thoreau on civil the state. Anotherimportant source werethewritings of Tolstoy’s writings on non-violence and passive resistance to tious objector, Sexauer had beenheavily influencedbyLeo the war against Germany. As alife-long pacifist and conscien enemies of theUnited States, thenon theverge ofjoining interned, along withthousands ofother Germanslabelled as in 1941whenSexauer (whoneveranglicised his name)was Resurrection (1899) Towards theendof hislifeTolstoy used royalties from 207 ×73cm,State Russian Museum, 1901. Fig. 4.26. Association Fund. Photo: PhillipT.Timms.Vancouver Museum and Planetarium Fig. 4.25.Doukhobors, inCanada (nude protest), 1906. , hislast novel, tohelpsponsor the passage Leo Tolstoy Barefoot, Ilya Repin, oil on canvas, Ilya Repin,oil oncanvas,

- Gnostic beliefthat‘thekingdom of god is within’not located mystical strands inTolstoy’s thinking including, especially, the (Alston 2014,22).Sexauerwas also strongly attracted tothe farmers whowereemigrating toescape persecution inRussia to Canada of theDoukhobors, a group of Christian socialist Ryan 2003). than to theharsher climateofnorthern Europe (Kennedy and istence more suited to thetemperate weatherinCalifornian while sleeping incaves, tentsand treehouses living simply hand to mouth inrural and wilderness settings The Nature Boys renounced materialism andwereintenton imported theLebensreform and Naturmensch philosophies. European immigrants, mostly fromGerman backgrounds who American subculture.TheNature Boys werefirst-generation was home totheNature Boys, thefirst proto-hippy drop-out Kerouac, Allan Ginsbergand WilliamBurroughs, California with thewidespread circulation of texts bypeople like Jack long before theBeat movementgained national momentum In theyears immediatelyaftertheSecond World War, in some posthumous extra-terrestrial ‘heaven’. Fig. 4.27.Nature Boys,1948.

— a mode ofex - ŔeForm Land(scape) 208 One celebratedNature Boy who featured in saint inbeard and sandals’ (Kerouac 1957). summer of 1947he came across the‘occasional Nature Boy Kerouac notedthatwhilepassing through Los Angeles inthe group of Westcoast Nature Boys in1948.In This photograph probably taken byGypsy Boots, shows a the Hollywood hills, pitched directly under theletter Lof Ahbez lived withhis wifeand son ina tentinLos Angeles in be capitalized’ (Kennedy 1998,167). lower case ‘becausehethought onlyGod and infinity should part-time yogi andfull-timemysticwho wrote his name in he worked as ajazz pianist and bandleader. Ahbezwas a adopted bya family inKansas City,where,as a young adult, Scottish mother, ahbez was orphaned inchildhood and was in his teens.BorninBrooklyn in1908to a Jewish father and himself whenhehittheroad and headed west fromKansas (written inlowercase) George AlexanderAberlechose for Sexauer’s Santa Barbara store was eden ahbez,thealias as earlyas 1948(see above) and who occasionally visited Fig. 4.28.eden ahbez (Nature Boy), Life Magazine Life On The Road magazine , 1948.

Cole, theonly other ‘coloured’ male,apart from Sammy Eden abhez cameto publicattention in1948whenNat King utensils, a bicycle,sleeping bags for thefamily and a juicer’. reproduced above, his possessions consisted of‘cooking the Hollywood sign. According to the Nature Boy Dean Martin and Tony Bennett,recorded ehbez’s song dominated byItalian American singers likeFrankSinatra, Davis Jr,admitted to theranks ofthe1950’s crooner pack . performed byNat King Cole in 1948, Youtube. Fig. 4.29.Video still,thesong Nature Boy Life magazine article byeden ahbez

ŔeForm Land(scape) 210 However, Cole’s producer at Columbia initiallydeclined to ally incorporated as astaple of Cole’s ‘live’performances. became a surprise favouritewithaudiences andwas eventu with thenorms of contemporary pop music ballads, soon terms ofeitheritsformor its content, itslyrics or its length, popular music of that era,and whichfailed to conform in rest of thesinger’s repertoire, butfrom themajority of the repertoire. Thesong whichstands apart notjustfrom the later Cole began incorporating thehaunting ballad intohis of paper withthecomposition writtenon it.Someweeks appeared as iffrom nowhereand handed thesinger a piece the end ofaperformance whenthestrange Christ-like figure Cole recorded thesong after meeting ahbez backstage at Fig. 4.30eden ahbez (Nature Boy), Life Magazine , 1948. - in order to secure therights to thesong. abhez down to his makeshift home on a Hollywood hillside mind, ittook therecord company several months to track record it,andwhenCole finally convinced him tochange his million copies. and eventually Cole’s recording of thesong sold more thana charts forfifteenweeks,was number one foreightweeks, after itsrelease inMarch 1948.Itstayed intheAmerican Despite itsstrangeness, thesong was a major hitintheUS Is just to loveandbeloved inreturn’. Is just to loveandbeloved inreturn’. Is just to loveandbeloved inreturn’. Nature Boy ‘The greatest thing you’lleverlearn ‘The greatest thing you’lleverlearn ‘The greatest thing you’lleverlearn One magic day hepassed myway While wespokeofmany things They say hewandered veryfar A verystrange,enchanted boy Very far, over landand sea A littleshyandsad of eye But verywisewas he This he said to me: And thenone day, There was a boy Fools andKings (eden ahbez, 1948) [Instrumental]

ŔeForm Land(scape) 212 material site and sculptural form intheLand Artof 1960’s landscape has beenbroughtinto theforeground as both dustry in the early years of the 20th century. TheCalifornian less fiction films since therise oftheAmerican cinema in the world. It has figured as the brightly lit backdrop in count iar, most photographed, most widely ‘circulated’ landscape in impact. TheCalifornian landscape is probably themost famil ment both of which,Iwould argue, have had amajor global source ofan ‘image industry’ and a counter-cultural move the home of both Hollywood and hippies.California is the me along withit,severalthousand miles west to California, earth. Inthiscase theground itself has beenshifted, and The focus of this chapter has beenoncemoreupon the Portable-Digestible Landscapes turopathy as laid outbySteinerandother Lebensreformers are also meantto function according to theprinciples of na of flight’ (Deleuze and Guattari 1987, 21).Thefield works ‘that has multipleentranceways and exits andits own lines visit theon-siteinstallations, or witness theperformances equally tothereader and to members of thepublicwho parate times, events and places. Iproduced a to chartanetwork of subterranean connections linking dis use theconcept of therhizomederived fromplant biology Guattari in a metaphor) oftherhizome as developed by Deleuzeand documented herebuild on theidea (as both a practiceand tion as an elementwithinit.Thechapter and theprojects is invited to immerseherself withinthis field and tofunc settings, theterrain becomes a ‘field’.Thevisitor-viewer attempt to mergematerials withconcepts andconcepts with earlier interventions and I thinkofthemas field works. As I 1914. My site-specific works arein dialogue withtheseother Joe Harriman erected his socialist commune Llano delRioin to theMojave Desert, thesame ‘empty’platform on which soil of theAmerican Southwest. Herethescene switches chapter, Bussum’s soggy Dutchmud isswapped for thedry art world andtheAmerican counter-culture.Thusinthis conflicting mythologies oftheAmerican West,theAmerican describe inthis chapter set out to engage withthese often and 70’s conceptual artists such as Smithson. Theprojects I A Thousand Plateaus . Following theirexample, I map, available ------bridge betweenOld World roots and NewWorld branches way myAmerican works are myattemptto build aliving ble-digestible landscapes’ and as pro-biotic medicine.Inthis from historical utopiansitescirculate in pillformas ‘porta such as Just and Kneipp.The compressed materials taken the American Westas muchas to Northern Europe. and to bringLebensreform back ‘home’,whereitbelongs to

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