THE Valley’s magnetism pulls people in from across the world. Culture floods in through the mountains that have been held sacredly by the indigenous peoples of The Valley. Now the foot of these mountains has become a mecca for artists. Its uniqueness and cultural richness inspires creators.
“It is unlike any other place,” Cortney Lane Stell, executive director and chief curator of Black Cube says.
Black Cube Nomadic Art Museum is a non-profit contemporary art museum that travels from place to place, producing site-specific artworks.
The Valley recently has become a muse for Black Cube in conjunction with London-based artist Marguerite Humeau. Humeau and Black Cube are erecting Orisons, which aims to turn a non-farmable piece of land into a place of reverence. Themes of interconnection, sacred space, and community forefront the installation. Orisons questions what is sacred to The Valley, even before humans lived and tended these lands.
Black Cube prides itself on working with communities to make relevant work, so getting the people of The Valley involved in the project was important to Stell. Jones Farm Organics plays an instrumental role in the upcoming Orisons art installation. It acts not only as a location, but as a liaison for local communities. Black Cube has reached out to scientists, elders, farmers, and even psychics to get an in-depth understanding of the place they want to create art in.
The installation opens on July 29 and will be on view and free to the public to tour by reservation until June 2025.
Alamosa Citizen recently talked with Stell about the project. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
ALAMOSA CITIZEN: With an installation this large, it’s daunting to comprehend. We want to understand the organization, the project, and more about the artist, Marguerite Humeau. Could you give us some insight? How do you bring something like that together and create an art installation on a piece of land so big?
CORTNEY LANE STELL: To give you a little bit of context, we’ve been working on this project for three and a half years, so it’s been a long time in the making. To give you some framework, I run Black Cube Nomadic Art Museum. We’re a nonprofit and we’re headquartered in Denver, but we produce artworks all around the world.
The idea with the organization is that most art these days is shown in what we call “white cubes.” They’re like museums or gallery spaces where the walls are painted white. That method of making art or displaying art became really popular around the turn of the century, a little bit before that, as a secular sacred space where you can just contemplate the object without any context around it
Well, fast-forward to this day and age, and a lot of art is seen as elitist, that it’s relegated to museums, and it’s not really deeply connected to communities or place. And so, Black Cube does just that. We produce really ambitious artwork that relates to location, community, place, all of that. That’s really the thrust of our work.
What we do is, generally, through our fellowship program, we take an artist on. We start with a small pool of money and our own ambitions and go on the journey of finding a location, developing the artwork.
Orisons, which in the artwork means prayers, that’s what it translates to.
The artwork that we’re seeing, actually, the artist has developed over the time about, I would say, over 10 different concepts for this land. The reason why we’ve had so many twists and turns is because a big part of her practice, and the organization’s practice, is about being really open to what you don’t know. This community, this landscape, has so much to give. Once you start uncovering one bit of information, it takes you down so many different paths.
All these different concepts, some of them have been changed because of financial constraints. To do something at 160 acres, takes a lot of capital. Some of the changes have been due to ecological concerns, concerns with wildlife, or concepts we felt wouldn’t be resonant with the community. I really appreciate the artist’s dogged perseverance to pursue a project at this scale. It’s very complicated to think about the birds or the impact on the soil, and all of that.
AC: The project itself has been ongoing for a period of years, and the installation itself is going to be there through 2025. That’s a five-year commitment. How do you enter into that type of contract that allows Black Cube, Marguerite, the project itself to develop over a period of time and then stay on the land for a period of time? Is there a contract, some kind of relationship with your organization and the land owner?
CS: I think that our organization, we are built for partnership. I would think the alternative, the evil twin of Black Cube, doing things the bad way, they would go into communities and just plop art. I would actually call it plop art. It would be art that we just buy a piece of land or rent something and just drop art down. And that is not the way that we work.
We might want to work with a mall or a historic location. We have to be open to all these kinds of partnerships. With this particular site, there’s such an urban-rural divide that it was really important to us to work with locals. And so, part of that was finding the land.
When I started looking for land, when Marguerite was really thinking about engaging in agricultural space, I spent a lot of time researching our whole state. I met with our state’s head of agriculture, Kate Greenberg. I went to water commission boards. I really tried to immerse myself in what it was like to be in ag at this day and age. And in order to understand what it would be like to come from a contemporary art perspective and say, “Hey farmers, can we use your land?”
I isolated the San Luis Valley after all of my research into agricultural communities because of the deep history with the acequias, with the Spanish settlement in the area, and how farming has been a real deep root in communities since then. But also, the overlay with all of the sacred sites that are in the Valley.
There are so many sacred sites. The indigenous communities really loved Mount Blanca. That’s an important peak for them. We were really interested in the confluence of big agriculture and all of these sacred sites. I think this confluence is also interesting because geologically, this area is so anomalous in the world. Once I identified that the San Luis Valley I felt was of real interest, I put feelers out to all my contacts to see if they knew anyone that wasn’t using land. That was essentially what I was looking for, who’s not using land that might be open.
I was introduced to Jones Farms Organics, and I learned that they bought land, this land that we’re using, at auction about a decade ago, well, I guess longer than that now, 13 years ago. And that they were using the paper rights to offset the water operations on the farms.
And so, when I learned that, I was like, “Oh, I think there’s an opening for Black Cube here because they’re not physically working the land, but they need to hold onto the land.” And so, I had several conversations with Sarah Jones and then once it seemed like there might be a good relationship building, my colleague, Hannah, and I came down to the Valley to scout the site for Marguerite.
The Jones Farms Organics has such a reverence for the soil that they’re working with such a deep history of understanding the Valley. They’re fourth-generation farmers in the Valley. The partnership really hit off from there.
SEE ORISONS
Reserve a slot to view the artwork at orisons.art/visit. It’s free and open to the public, but reservations are required. The art will be on view through June 2025.
AC: How do you as a curator, and as an organization, choose your artists?
CS: I look for artists that are at a point where they’ve done enough ambitious things in their career – like big museum exhibitions – that I know I can take them into the wild and they’ll have that rigor in their practice. They’ll have that perseverance that I can put them in a big stretch point.
This organization always drops artists in that growth point. I think the first artist that I worked with, I wasn’t really assessing personality type as much as their practice. And boy, have I learned to do that because you have to be willing to work with communities. You have to be willing to be humble. There’s a lot of ego in art making. And I think this kind of art making is very different. So, that really touches on a core aspect of my curatorial practice as a curator, but also the different structure that we have in working with artists.
AC: Can you tell more on Marguerite, the artist on the Orisons project?
CS: Marguerite is a French artist that’s been living in London for over a decade now. She grew up in a rural community in France and went to school for design and then ended up moving into the fine arts field. Research is a very deep part of her practice, whereas she loves to build worlds. I’ve seen a few museum exhibitions of hers, namely at the New Museum in New York City. She created this entire world that you stepped into that was looking at ancient and modern-day female figurines that were deities. So, this idea of the sacred female body.
It was through looking at these museum exhibitions that I thought, oh, this artist understands space really differently. She is relatively young. She’s in her mid-30s, but she’s been able to take on some of the biggest institutions in the world.
I met with her and we had all those conversations and I was deeply impressed with her rigor, like I said earlier. For example, I was just in London. She had an exhibition opening at a gallery called White Cube, which I also thought was funny. But she was working with that exhibition, with some beekeepers to sculpt wax that was made from their beehives.
She worked with an experimental saxophone player to put microphones throughout the saxophone in different places and create new kinds of sounds. She worked with this amazing wood carver that made these seated sleds out of burled wood. I can keep going on.
She was able to rope in, I don’t know, dozens of experts to create this, like a conductor, creating an ensemble out of all these instruments. She’s been able to find these amazing craftspeople and assemble it into this exhibition that had scent, that had sound, that had beautiful sights that was all about these spiritual relationships for insects. The exhibition was about termites and bees and what they think is sacred and important.
I think it’s this ability to develop these really ambitious, huge concepts, but then to execute them with the material sensibility that’s detailed and sensual and is poetry.
“Orisons is, it’s the land in its entirety and the vision is to basically connect the land’s histories and presence and futures all together so that people that visit the land understand how we are interconnected. That’s the goal.”
Courtney Lane Stell, executive director and chief curator of Black Cube Nomadic Art Museum
AC: Can you give us a more in depth look into Orisons itself? What will this project be like?
CS: Orisons is, it’s the land in its entirety and the vision is to basically connect the land’s histories and presence and futures all together so that people that visit the land understand how we are interconnected. That’s the goal. We have extensively mapped the site. We’ve met with all kinds of experts, from soil scientists to ornithologists or bird studiers, to local farmers, to psychics, to geomancers. The list goes on and on and on.
Through all of this information, she decided that the best thing for the land was to touch it as minimally as possible, but to have maximal impact. What we’re doing is, we’ve created 84 sculptures that will go on the land. There’s two different sets of them.
These 84 sculptures are placed in very specific locations. They’re meant to be acupuncture needles that go into the ground, that release or channel histories or energies from what we’ve learned from all this research.
And so, hopefully, the land, these energies are released or improved because it’s a fallow farm field. There’s the remnants of the circles there and there are cattle that were there as well. But from speaking to all the soil scientists, the soil is so depleted here. There’s only these weeds and plants that are surviving.
The 84 sculptures have this energetic footprint and they’re dotted throughout the land. Seven of these sculptures are enormous sculptures that are very abstract versions of sandhill cranes. They’re about 30 feet long. They have net-shaped wings and people are invited to come and climb on and lay down in the wings, like they’re hovering above the ground like a flock of birds. Then there are 77 sculptures that are what we call kinetic, which means they’re moving.
The wind is such a huge character in the Valley. It’s a big force. It created the Dunes. So, these moving sculptures, there’s four different kinds of them. They are inspired by the plant life that are weeds that are the superheroes. Because they’re holding this topsoil down on this depleted land.
There are these abstracted plant-like sculptures that are small. They’re the same size as the plants and they are golden in hue. They were finished with this process called zinc passivation. So, it looks like this iridescent golden color. They have wooden, ceramic, and stone pieces hanging from them. When they move, they also create sounds.
We left all the evidence of its previous use from the concrete pad to the previous center pivot irrigation system to some farming refuse to the cattle guards. And this is all mapped. The artist is working right now on a map that looks like a palm reading map.
AC: Do you still have to come and install those sculpture pieces? Are they built elsewhere and brought on to the property or how does that work?
CS: The fabrication part has been complicated. We looked at first fabbing everything in the Denver metro area, but it was for some reason with the supply chain stuff from the pandemic, it was still really affecting cost. We were also thinking about the carbon footprint with the artists having to travel from London to Denver to view the test.
The steelwork for the large hammock sculptures were fabricated by a large art fabrication company outside of London. Then the 77 kinetic sculptures were made by a small studio workshop inside of London. Then the nets were made in Connecticut. And then the base plates for all of the hammock sculptures that will go underground, those are all fabricated in Denver.
I am coming down with the entire install crew from June 18-30 to do the physical install. I was on the land with my colleague the other day and the Demiurge team flagging sites for excavations for the base plates. So, we’re very hands-on.
Before we do the install, which we’ll start on Monday, June 19, we have an indigenous community blessing. We’re not publicizing that event because it’s not for the public, but we’ve also been working with some Mountain Ute elders, and they wanted an opportunity to put their feet back on the land and reconnect with it.
AC: When it is all ready to go, how will members of the public be able to see the exhibit?
CS: We are trying to respect the community as much as possible. The way that we’re managing this is that people will have to go onto the Orisons website and reserve a slot to view the artwork. It’s free and open to the public as with all of our projects. So, there’s no cost, but they reserve a two-hour window.
When they do that, they’ll also be given guidelines for proper footwear. We’ll have a liability waiver because there’s all kinds of animal holes and things you could step in. And then, we’ll release the address at that point.
AC: What will the exhibit opening look like?
CS: We’re doing an opening reception. The headquarters will be at the Frontier Drive Inn in Center. We have shuttles that will be looping back and forth to the artwork in Hooper. That way, we’ll have bathrooms at the Frontier Drive Inn, and water.
We’re also going to have a panel discussion that features a local farmer, the indigenous elder we’ve been working with, a psychic and other folks. I’m going to do an artist talk with the artist. We’re going to have a band play and then we’ll have a film.
AC: In the San Luis Valley, we are seeing more contemporary art. We’re seeing artists and different projects emerge. Will we accept that here in the San Luis Valley? How do we embrace that or how will we receive that? I find it really interesting to experience that here.
CS: I think it’s great. I think it’s really important. I know a lot of artists that have been moving out there as well. I also know artists that have moved from there because they felt like it was too hard to be an artist in a small town. I know a couple filmmakers from Del Norte and some other folks.
I think the amazing thing about art in small communities is you really get to meet and know the artists and interact with people. For me, what’s most important about contemporary art is that it helps people be curious and more connected and understand other perspectives they might not agree with. So, I think especially in a time when we have such divided political views and social views that art can help bridge that gap.
We’ve been working really hard to try to invite some of the people, like folks that might not be as interested in art in the Valley to the opening. I think it’s going to take some effort. I understand that it’s not for everyone, but it’s certainly my effort to try, it’s important to make an effort to try.
AC: One last question I had for you because you talked about the psychic and I found that interesting. What is the future of the land? What is Orisons telling us about the future of the land?
CS: So, Orisons, on one hand, tells a story about humans and on the other hand tells a story without humans. I think it’s open in that way. Really strong art doesn’t tell you what to think, but it opens spaces for new directions to help you think about your relation to the land. I think the apocalyptic view of the land from the human perspective is that Marguerite is celebrating these weeds and plants, the solar, the tumbleweed, all these plants that come in on land that’s been really disturbed.
She sees them as heroes because they’re holding the topsoil down and they’re more resilient than humans are. They can survive without water. They can survive in the harshest climate. So, I think in one way, she’s saying these strong plants will survive any kind of drought or climate change or effects on the land.
I think in the optimistic sense, Marguerite is offering a future for us to be more interconnected with our land, to understand what it means to produce food for us, what it means to have a reciprocal relationship to our environment, what it means to respect that this is the home of sandhill cranes. They’ve been traveling back and forth from the Valley before humans existed. I think from her optimistic perspective, it’s about making us all realize our interconnection.
TOP PHOTO: Artist Marguerite Humeau superimposed on the site of her installation. “I wanted to collaborate with all the living beings who were living there or passing through. The land is the artwork, and I wanted to celebrate it and every being on it, as well as reconnect it and its inhabitants with their presents, pasts, and futures.
PHOTOS: Courtesy the artist and Black Cube