Walk Writing by Amelia Bande
Presented with Storm King Art Center
Storm King Art Center, Mountainville, NY
May 27 and June 3, 2017
Writer and artist Amelia Bande will offer an outdoor musical lecture at Maya Lin's 2007-8 earthwork Storm King Wavefield. This program was developed as a project called Walk Writing, undertaken during Bande's 2016 residency at Shandaken: Storm King. Long walks produced a series of audio-text meditations on politics, art, and friendships, intertwined with reflections about the Storm King landscape and the sculptural works of the Art Center. She writes:
"On Earth Day, April 22, I wake up very late. I go on Facebook and someone has posted a live broadcast of the March for Science. Maya Lin is onstage speaking: I am an artist and environmentalist. In my work, I reveal aspects of the natural world that you might not be aware of. I was at Storm King only two days ago. At Lin's Storm King Wavefield, I thought of mountains and the sea as barriers and their correlation to geographical belonging, physical displacement and language. I was also thinking about preservation. Not only of the environment, but also of my interpersonal relationships. I kept on acting as if my friends moving away had no consequences. I want everybody to be as free as they can be, but I wonder if I was pushing people away by not expressing how important their actual presence was for me. What were the chances of Maya Lin appearing on my computer screen? ...awareness of what we are losing...plausible future scenarios that balance our needs with that of nature."
This program is presented with Storm King Art Center as part of their ongoing Wanderings and Wonderings series. Initiated in 2013 by the Storm King Art Center, Wanderings and Wonderings invites visitors to engage with artists in creative and unexpected ways. Participating artists have created tours, maps, performances, poetry and movement workshops, new media, and deeply thoughtful conversations. Since 2015, Wanderings and Wonderings has been co-presented with Shandaken: Storm King, and features select alumni and their collaborators.
As seen at the site-specific earthwork: Maya Lin, Storm King Wavefield, 2009, earth and grass, 240,000 square feet (11 acre site), Storm King Art Center, Mountainville, New York. © Maya Lin Studio, courtesy Pace Gallery.