The collaborative practice of Mary and Stephan
 Video excerpt from full-length work.

Higher Ground

HIGHER GROUND is an interdisciplinary work consisting of video, sculpture and photography commissioned by the Houston Airport System, City of Houston Civic Art Program

In the spirit of George Méliès landmark illusionistic film, “A Trip to the Moon,” the artists Hillerband+Magsamen with their children embark on an adventure to construct and fly a rocket ship to the moon by taking apart their Houston, Texas suburban home.

This quirky and seemingly impossible task created out of cut up couches, duct-tape, Amazon boxes and pots and pans turns out to be not only achievable, but also believable. As the artist and their children pull apart and rummage around their home to build a spaceship, this cinematic odyssey references both the creativity and futility of the “American” experience. From backyard wrestling to big box store escapism the work creates a Beckettian theme echoing phrase 'can't go on…must go on'.

High Definition Video with Sound, Duration: 10 min 30 sec. Loop, Aspect Ratio 16:9, 2 Ch Stereo, 2015

Selected Venues:

*Official Selection and 1st prize in the Houston Cinema Arts Festival's CineSpaceprogram juried by Richard Linklater. 
*Official Selection of the London SciFi Film Festival
*Solo exhibition at Diffusion International Festival of Photography in Cardiff, Wales. Curated by David Drake
*Solo exhibition at the Everson Museum in Syracuse, NY. Curated by Elizabeth Dunbar
*Inclusion in Dream Home exhibition at Pingyao International Photography Festival, Shanxi, P.R. China. Curated by Alasdair Foster