The Demolition (excerpt), single channel NTSC video, runtime 10 minutes looped, 2005

Among other things, consider The Demolition to be a piece that offers the viewer an opportunity to reflect on the strong symbolic power of the home. Filmed on location in Washington, D.C., this video documents the systematic destruction of an old mansion under a blue sky. The excavator tasked with conducting the demolition, and the home itself, engage in what becomes a rather gruesome narrative where the home falls prey to the appetite of its aggressor. It is in this anthropomorphic realm that the significance of such a structure’s symbolic power can be felt. Perhaps for the viewer, this symbolic power relates to concerns deeply routed in personal, family, or community experience. Or,it may reference even broader cultural notions such as that of the home being a staple symbol of the American Dream; this being a particularly interesting thought given the setting of this rather idyllic and classically American residence. Or perhaps even broader still, The Demolition may draw near the very nature of our relationship to material position, and how it manifests in the associations we draw, particularly with regards to the context and medium in which it is presented.

The Demolition was filmed on the grounds of the Embassy of Switzerland in Washington, D.C. and could not have been made without their support. Additionally, it was featured at the UCLA Hammer Museum as part of Too Much Freedom? Freewaves’ 10th Biennial of Film, Video & New Media in 2006, CinemaScope at Scope art fair in Miami 2005, 2006, and New York 2006, and other notable venues.