Higher Ground

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

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 the phrase 'can't go on…must go on'.

Higher Ground-Photographs:

36”x42” Archival Pigment Prints, Edition 1/3 + 1 AP.

A series of large photographs that have accompanied the Higher Ground video in exhibitions.

Exhibitions:

Documentation of selected exhibitions that have shown the Higher Ground work:

Higher Ground [Relics of a Mission], Fotofest, Houston, Texas
Higher Ground, Everson Museum of Art, New York
Higher Ground, Cardiff Photo, Cardiff, Wales

Higher Ground [Gift Shop], Lawndale Arts Center, Houston, Texas

Higher Ground: OPERATIONS MANUAL

In conjunction with the Everson Museum of Art, the Houston Arts Alliance, the Houston Airports System, and the Austin Film Society we published an 8”x10”, a 16-page softcover book titled “Operations Manual.”

The book was designed by Jenny Conte of Sharp Egg Design.