2008
SIMPARCH & Deborah Stratman
public sonic sculptures and accompanying brochure
Fake dead horse listening posts, installed in a horse pasture across the street from the US Border Patrol sector headquarters in Marfa, TX.
The horses are an homage to a very peculiar sort of surveillance that occurred during World War I. At that time, many horses died on the battlefield. At night, special troupes of camouflage artists would dig a trench to a dead horse, remove it, and then replace it with a fake, hollow dead horse. This dummy horse was then used as a listening station from which the Allies monitored and reported back about enemy maneuvers. Horses were not the only hollow dummies used on the battlefields. Fake trees, fake dead German soldiers, fake craters and fake tanks were also employed as outposts for enemy surveillance.
Caballos de Vigilanica was originally installed as part of The Marfa Sessions, a group show that was held from September - February 2008. Curated by Lucy Raven, Regine Basha and Rebecca Gates.
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