Dust Storm (Dalhart, Texas)
Dust Storm by John Gerrard is a simulated three dimensional virtual space that serves to recreate an area of Dalhart, Texas, a town that was ravaged by The Dust Bowl in the 1930’s. Inspired by a single archival photo from Black Sunday in 1935, one of the most devastating dust storms in American history, Gerrard tirelessly gathered thousands of photos from the site, including more archival documentation, as well as satellite data to recreate the space virtually, all over a 6 month period of time.
The work has been presented in many formats including large scale projections, but is most notably seen as a small digital screen enclosed in a white frame, sitting perfectly centered atop a simple white table. The impression of the piece itself is something sculptural and unassuming. Yet, the screen itself displays something entirely different. The simulation depicts a very ominous, slow-moving storm cloud enveloping a rural desert landscape. Like that of a zombie invasion, viewers are both horrified but also impatient to see the destruction that lies ahead.
Courtesy of the artist, www.johngerrard.net/dust-storm-dalhart.html
Dust Storm is deliberately labeled a simulation rather than 3D animation because it was produced using a game engine which allows for a certain randomness when the storm descends on the virtual Texan town. The medium produces a quality of being immersed in the landscape through use of camera movement that slowly rotates 360 degrees. The simulation’s striking lack of human presence also positions the viewer as the only inhabitant of this space, further emphasizing the feeling of immersion. Sometimes a viewer is confronted with a straight-on view of impending doom, while at other times, the landscape seems almost peaceful and quiet when observed from the storm’s perspective. Gerrard describes this style of simulation as an “orbit,” which is separate from a cinematic loop. A viewer gets to see the dust storm unfold from different angles, but not necessarily as a traditional linear timeline, where perspective decisions are made by the person editing the video.
Gerrard’s fascination with The Dust Bowl stems from a larger interest in both the American South, as well as the powers that launched the economic boom in Texas in the early 20th century. These include the dichotomous prosperity caused by extensive oil drilling, and the subsequent economic tragedy only a few short years later during The Dust Bowl. Born in Ireland, and working between Dublin and Vienna, Gerrard’s preoccupation with rural America is strikingly peculiar. However, his perspective can offer up something unique to this conversation.
“ As an outsider representing a homeland that is not his own, Gerrard approaches his subject matter from an objective rather than a sentimental standpoint, resulting in imagery that is not patriotic, but instead overtly realistic and at times tragic.”
Perhaps he has a bird’s eye view of American history which can often be a more sober one.
Another of his simulation pieces, Sentry (Kit Carson, Colorado), created in 2009 shortly after Dust Storm, operates in a similar space, both physically and conceptually, but instead explores the economic boom of oil drilling. Sentry depicts a pumpjack, the piece of heavy machinery synonymous with the image of oil drilling, in a 360 degree view, much like that of Dust Storm. Gerrard employs a similar motif in both Sentry and Dust Storm; they are both hauntingly distinguished by the absence of people. Perhaps this is simply to create a feeling of being inside these virtual spaces, as there are no other human forms to compare oneself. Yet on a more analytical level, it feels as if Gerrard is giving autonomy to the forces that exist in these spaces: the economy, fossil fuels, mother nature, etc. Humans meddle with these forces, metaphorically tipping the first domino, only to have little control over how the rest may fall. Oil drilling, and reliance on fossil fuels has resulted in environmental catastrophe, and yet Americans should have been alerted to this when irresponsible farming practices largely created the environmental disaster that was The Dust Bowl.
Courtesy of the Artist, www.johngerrard.net/sentry.html
Many artists are attempting to confront us with the potential consequences of our present actions, and one that comes to mind is the work of Marina Abromovic in her 2017 piece Rising. The work is a virtual space, which a viewer enters by wearing a virtual reality headset. Known for her performance art, Abramovic recreates herself in virtual space where viewers are poised to have a virtual-face-to-virtual-face interaction with the artist. Upon entering the digital world, the viewer is met with an avatar of Abramovic in a glass box that is slowly filling with water. In the same way that Dust Storm creates a sense of anxiety in the face of slow-moving ecological disaster, so too does Rising, just in a more human-centered, experiential way.
Courtesy of Acute Art, acuteart.com/artist/marina-abramovic
When thinking of immersive simulation, the most common implementation is the type of work that Abromovic creates in Rising, a somewhat traditional virtual space. So it provokes the question: why has Gerrard chosen to simulate real space in such a small format in a seemingly impersonal way? Perhaps it is because the events in Dust Storm have already happened. There is not a real need to experience the event, since America holds memories of this disaster in its shared history. Yet, this history is too often forgotten, especially those actions that led to the horrors of The Dust Bowl.
When experiencing Dust Storm in person, the piece can be easily overlooked. A gallery visitor might walk past, glancing at the screen, only to double back at the realization of what they are witnessing. A depiction of a catastrophic event such as Black Sunday does not need the heavy handedness of a large scale installation. So it is no surprise that the presentation of Dust Bowl has evolved to be the small sculptural structure it is shown as presently. The way in which the small screen sits on top of an unassuming table, not shouting to be seen “simulates” the way in which these massively important events in our history, which could inform the way we approach our current ecological crisis, tend to be shoved off into the corner, conveniently forgotten.
Sources:
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/08/AR2009060803818.html
www.johngerrard.net/dust-storm-dalhart.html
magazine.art21.org/2010/03/21/john-gerrards-dust-storm-dalhart-texas/#.Xme6hGhKiUk
www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/john-gerrards-virtual-dust-bowl-101184883/
![[perfect.city]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/56eb27558a65e2c2a033b13c/1527019199896-NYO4GASE8CLQ70E7CRPF/Thumbnail+pic.jpg)
