Towards Readiness
Video Installation, 2009, Duration varies
In the Fall of 2007, the first-year graduate students from University of California, San Diego were welcomed by the fires. As Southern California dust began to seep into our newly settled studios, a mandatory advisory alerted residents to remain inside—some stayed in San Diego while others (including myself) retreated to LA for better air quality. From this extended event of migration, developed the beginnings of Towards Readiness.
In 2009, I began research in preparedness methods by enrolling in the local Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) program. CERT “educates people about disaster preparedness for hazards that may impact their area and trains them in basic disaster response skills, such as fire safety, light search and rescue, team organization, and disaster medical operations”. A six week course on safety may never make one fully prepared, however it supported the development of a number of fundamental concepts of this project: parallels of training and rehearsal, structured improvisation, maneuvering through complexities of scale and re-functioning of objects. Readiness is a state between present and future, foretelling what is just beyond the horizon, coaxing any present danger into view. The installation Towards Readiness consisted of three video works Drag and Carry, Blanket Drag and Basket Grip, and was presented at University of California, San Diego in November 2009.
