Artist | Nova Jiang and Jamie O'Shea
Situated in the Rio del Oro subdivision, 10 miles south east of Los Lunas, this site is a stark contrast to the Rio Grande agricultural communities a short distance away. The arid sandy landscape was part of a notorious land scam in the 1970's that boasted massive growth potential and available jobs, all of which never materialized. The lack of available services, such as power, water and sewer makes development daunting. Small parcel sizes and county laws make it all but impossible. With so many road blocks to development, the area formed by alluvial deposits of the nearby Monzano Mountains, remains largely untouched. Currently the area is used by 4-wheeling enthusiasts, as an impromptu shooting range and as dump site for a wide range of household, garden and construction materials.
One of two Earthbound Moon sites located in New Mexico, the site is located nine miles east of Moriarty along I-40, which is also part of the historic Route 66. The frontage road leading to the site is densely populated with giant billboards greeting westbound I-40 travelers. The Valley of the Estancia Ranchettes subdivision was established mid-20th century promising to be the perfect investment or retirement home in the Land of Enchantment. EbM's small parcel sits in this undeveloped subdivision, aside from billboards, where the only visiting neighbors are grazing horses. This site is the future location of an artwork by Oakland artist, Travis Somerville.
The land Earthbound Moon owns is located just south of Bledsoe, 1.3 miles down Farm Road 125. The 1.17 acre plot is 1/3 mile east of Farm Road 125. There is a caliche road with an unlocked gate leading to a turn around/parking lot in the dunes. This road and gate, we are honored to say, were added by locals who embraced the site. From here it is a brief walk, with the sign in view the whole time. Previously used for cattle grazing, the property is situated in the 430 acre Branding Iron Subdivision. The area has been divided into hundreds of ±1 acre plots. Given this, the future of the area is unknown. Welcome could continue to be surrounded by wide-open grassland, a few scattered mobile home neighbors, or it could suddenly find itself in the middle of a tract home development.
Earthbound Moon has two sites in Evanston, IL, USA, Earth. One is a sleepy little cove off a bumpy alley behind a residential home at 1823 Grant Street. A bench shaded beneath an oak tree provides respite, privacy, and contemplation for visitors to Jon Whitfill’s work, Keystone. A couple miles south, on the back deck of Creative Coworking at 922 Davis, can be found Keystone’s sculptural diptych partner, Switch. The two works are created from the same books, reimagined by Jon.
We intend for Earthbound Moon itself to be a work of interplanetary conceptual art. Sites will not be just a local artwork/commons, but a node of a larger artwork themselves. Like orchids, each site will be an individual bloom from a single organism that stretches across the human environment. To this end, each site will be joined along one edge with another site in some way, so that were you to take a satellite photo of each, they could be puzzled together to create a standard sculpture garden. The sites, however are being leased in shapes that allow for this sculpture garden to be pieced together not as a terrestrial parcel of land, but as a sphere that could function as a new moon for Earth. A moon held in the public trust by Earthbound Moon, visitable by all humans, serving as a place to relax, exercise, garden, dream, picnic, and perform. A park for all humanity, in orbit around our shared home.
We are committed to keeping all signage off of our sites, exempting the Earthbound Moon plaque featuring information on the specific work. There will be no “keep off” or “do not touch” signs. There will be no fences and guards. The works must be able to withstand nature, both human and environmental. Each sculpture will present a Gordian knot of a challenge to the artists proposing to work the site.
In choosing sites, Earthbound Moon considers every environ that humans encounter as fair game. Not only are we looking at cities, towns, villages and hamlets for sites, but we intend to locate sculptures on the pacific trash vortex , at the bottom of the ocean in international waters, on Antarctica, in the space debris ring orbiting Earth, at the LaGrange points in space, on the moon, on mars, and in extragalactic vehicles. Beyond this, we harbor the desire to work with billboard companies, to get 20% of billboards worldwide donated to photographers, painters, coders and other artists.