single channel video, 2005, 50min
music by Andrew MC Kenna Lee  and  Bobby Previte
if you want to rent this work please contact the Video Data Bank in Chicago

In January of 2004, through a successful eBay bid for a piece of land site unseen, 1975 eteam dollars turned into 10 acres of personal U.S. property. The lot, a generic square within the larger American grid of townships, is located in the desert of Nevada. The closest settlement, Montello, “The town that refuses to die,” is eight miles away, and the almost abandoned airbase Wendover, at the edge of the Salt Flats, is located about 30 miles SE. It’s the 10-acre lot and its surroundings that started our search for solutions to problems, which were created by big systems that had made some small mistakes. Through looking, talking to people, listening, measuring, meandering, mapping, modeling, testing and reading we try understand the (mis)-calculations of land surveyors, residues of the military, the appearance of dead cows and the existence of a “public road” that goes right through the center of our lot. We draw connections, test methods to “overcome,” attempt to build bridges and movable overpasses. Things add up and with the help of the town’s people of Montello, NV turn into an “Artificial Traffic Jam,” which temporarily seems to solve all problems.