THE NAIL THAT STICKS OUT GETS HAMMERED IN

This piece took place in the attic of an old army barracks located at Fort Barry in the Marin Headlands, two miles north of San Francisco. It was our studio during our residency at the Headlands Center for the Arts, an art residency program that had taken over the old army buildings. The room was filled with fifty battery operated "dancing " flowers that moved in response to sound waves. On either end of the room was a speaker that played, at considerable volume, a "dialogue", an argument between a drill sergeant and a veteran. The vets monologue at first sounds rational, although scared, but it soon becomes apparent that he may have lost his grip on reality. The Sarge is the voice of authority, dominance. His job is to break down the will of the recruit--to "re-invent" the man. The voice of the other--the paranoid, frustrated Vet, struggles to assert himself and maintain his identity, while the dancing flowers wiggle and squirm in response to the sound of their voices. The sound-activated flora, a representation of the natural, are man-made and move to our rhythm.

The Nail That Sticks Out Gets Hammered In, 1992, Collaborative site-specific installation (with Robin Lasser), Headlands Center for the Arts, Sausalito, CA; dual audio tracks and dancing flowers, 8'x 16'x 40'