PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: January 30, 2006
Contact: Suzanne Hackett-Morgan (702) 507-3559
Pursuing alternate histories Public invited to dedication of first Kymaerica plaque in Nevada
Las Vegas, NV – The ghost town of Rhyolite in Nevada’s Nye County is best known for its colorful boom and bust history in the early part of the 20th century.
Less well-known is its parallel history as a trade center for rhyoleir, the rare lighter- than-air mineral, and as capital of the gwome of Rhyoleind in Kymaerica.
Los Angeles-based artist and geographer-at-large Eames Demetrios will conduct a public dedication ceremony for the first plaque commemorating the
Kymaerican alternate history in Nevada at the Goldwell Open Air Museum on
Sunday, February 12, from noon to 2 p.m.. Demetrios will present a slide program on his Kymaerica project in the Museum’s visitor center, dedicate the bronze marker, and lead celebrants in the singing of a "Kymaerican" anthem (curiously set to the tune of "America the Beautiful," although the last verse may be in a foreign language unfamiliar to most).
3008 Mason Avenue, Las Vegas, NV 89102 (702) 870-9946 www.goldwellmuseum.org Kymaerica is a land largely contiguous with North America but home to thousands of different gwomes whose borders largely anticipated present-day county lines, as if every county in the country had its own, quite different, culture and story.
A certain sense of confusion is all part of the experience, said Kymaerica's creator,
Demetrios, who is also known for films and his work preserving the legacy of his grandparents, legendary 20th century designer/architects Charles and Ray Eames.
Demetrios calls the project "three-dimensional storytelling."
Demetrios has been installing plaques like the one planned for the Goldwell
Open Air Museum in sites across the country over the past few years. Some people
"get" the project right away and some don't, says Demetrios.
"What I've come to understand about the project in general is that it is about the landscape reinterpreted," he says, "and it's also about the way we take our visible environment as being inevitable. For practical reasons we focus on what's in front of us, but the truth is, all sorts of other things could have happened; where we're standing could have been a Chinese village or a Shinto shrine, it could have been under 1,000 feet of ice if we were born a million years earlier ... and I think when we look at things differently, it gives us an insight into our own world. ... But most of the time, it's hard to get that distance to see things in a new way.”
Kymaerica enables people to create that distance. And, he adds, "crossing that line is part of the fun."
Goldwell Open Air Museum is a Nevada nonprofit organization that preserves and encourages artistic exploration in and of the Amargosa Desert near Death Valley
National Park. The Museum cares for an 8-acre outdoor sculpture park near the ghost town of Rhyolite and is best known for the ghostly “Last Supper” sculpture by
Belgian artist Albert Szukalski. Refreshments will be served and an RSVP by February 9th will entitle attendees to a special Kymaerican gift. RSVP’s can be made online at www.goldwellmuseum.org or by calling the Museum at (702) 870-9946.
What: Kymaerican plaque dedication with artist Eames Demetrios
When: February 12, 2006, noon to 2 p.m.
Where: Goldwell Open Air Museum is located near the ghost town of Rhyolite
and the town of Beatty. The turnoff for Rhyolite is about 4 miles west of
Beatty off of State Highway 374, the road that leads west to Death Valley,
California. Head north on a well-maintained dirt road for approximately one
half-mile. Beatty Nevada is 115 miles north of Las Vegas on Highway 95.
For more information: http://www.kymaerica.com
Photo caption: Eames Demetrios
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