"When I drive down the street in my neighborhood, every
single person's yard is landscaped to represent some fantasy
of where they live, whether it be an alpine fantasy or a
tropical fantasy or a desert fantasy."
"...In the beginning, my art was always very experience
based. In some projects there's not even a tangible product,
no object that comes out in the end."
"I think that, like all of my ideas, they're sort of
humorous, but they're also a little dark at the same time."
How did you come up with the
idea of the "Pocket Property?"
ZITTEL:
I guess when I was working in
New York I found that I was mostly drawn to these very small,
contained capsules that would go inside of preexisting architecture.
Moving to L.A. completely changed the scale
of my thinking, and I started to become much more interested
in creating environments, and much more sensitized to exterior
spaces. So although it's kind of a leap, this piece really
came out of the entire experience of moving back into suburbia.
I started to think about how important it is, when you're
living in that kind of an area, or when you live outside of
the city - your land is so important to you. When I was looking
for a house, it was much more important - the plot of land,
and how big it was, and how it was situated - than the actual
house itself. And I've also been really interested in how
we create these little private universes.
When I drive down the street in my neighborhood, every single
person's yard is landscaped to represent some fantasy of where
they live, whether it be an alpine fantasy or a tropical fantasy
or a desert fantasy. And they're all these totally separate
little universes or environments that are completely honed
in. So I've been thinking about that a lot, and how I could
actually create a design for a feasible living environment
that reflects the most important things that people look for.
I guess the other thing, too, that I've been thinking about
a lot is this whole sort of capsule living, and how especially
out there it's more and more about creating your own bubble,
your own capsule. You're in your house, on your property,
and then you get in your car and you drive. And I go for the
drive-through; I don't even want to get out of my car to eat
or to go to the bank. Everything's drive-through, and it makes
me feel very, very safe. But I also think that there's a certain
sort of sadness to that too, a certain loss of civic life.
It's a prototype for a particular type of lifestyle. But if
I were to extend that vision I would say that it's possible
that some day something like this might exist, and that people
would live in these community spreads. I've been doing drawings
of these, all lined up, almost like cars in parking lots.
Almost like a suburbia floating out in the ocean, so you're
completely alone, you're completely autonomous, but you have
also this sense of community within that.
Obviously no one knows how to make something like this, so
we've just been trying to figure it out. I've been reading
a lot of books on houseboat construction. With the first one
that we made, I actually insisted that it should be made out
of concrete, which was probably a mistake. But I had this
idea that concrete was extremely literal. Concrete's like
rock or earth. A lot of times when they do road cuts, and
they start to erode, they spray it with concrete. So I wanted
it specifically to be sprayed concrete or gunnite.
ART:21:
How will this island be used?
ZITTEL:
It's actually a three-year project.
And ultimately it's funded by the Danish government. There's
three phases. Last summer was the first phase. We basically
built the entire island. It opened in conjunction with an
architectural
exhibition called "H-99." This summer, actually in about three
or four days, I'm going to go to Denmark and live on it for
a month. And for one part of that, for one week of that month,
some friends are going to come out, and we're going to make
a film about the experience of living on the island. The final
phase of the whole project, which I'm not entirely sure if
it's going to work or not, is I've proposed that we would
make a slightly smaller version. This model is for the smaller
version, and we would make at least five or six of them, and
invite people to come live on them, off of Malmö, which
is actually in Sweden. That's in conjunction with another
architectural
expo.
ART:21:
So living on it is part of the
artwork?
ZITTEL:
I'm actually really excited
about this project because, in the beginning, my art was always
very experience based. In some projects there's not even a
tangible product, no object that comes out in the end. I feel
that by 1997 I was doing a lot of international exhibitions,
and doing that I felt like I was getting more and more towards
the fabrication end of things, which was great, but I was
also losing having these really wonderful experiences which
are completely unpredictable, like setting up a scenario where
I test some living situation, partially because I'm terrified
of doing it, partially because I'm really enchanted by the
idea of doing it, but not really knowing beforehand if it's
going to be a great experience or a horrible one. So, in a
way, this is probably of the most extreme scenarios I've ever
put myself into. I'm nervous about living in it next summer
because there's a lot of structural problems, too. But in
some ways, instead of those actually being flaws with the
artwork, I think they make it a lot more exciting. We've even
(LAUGHS) been laughing about the potential that it could sink,
which could be really great, because I've never been on an
island while it sinks.
ART:21:
What are you doing about the
more practical things, like food, etc.?
ZITTEL:
I've been working on this idea
for such a long time that it's evolved a lot. My original
proposal was that I would live on this island alone, out in
the ocean, and that they would drop me off in some current
of water that was going some place that I wanted to end up,
with a life raft, of course, and with some communication.
I think I have this love-hate thing about being completely
passive; I've been so busy and had to be so responsible for
the last few years that I really wanted to spend a period
of my life being completely passive. Unfortunately, nobody
will accept that proposal. So our compromise is that it's
going to be anchored in this body of land in-between Denmark
and Sweden, as far out as I can convince them to put me. And
the weather's a lot worse there than I originally anticipated,
so I think I've reduced the living time to a month.
ART:21:
How does this work relate to
some of your other project, like the "Living Unit?"
ZITTEL:
Some of the other experimental
living situations I've come up with have been extremely practical,
and this one has a lot more to do with my own total fantasy.
I think this is a situation that I've fantasized about for
years, even wanting just to stay at home all the time and
never have to go out. So it's an experimental living situation,
but it's not utopian,
or quite as idealistic as other ones that it might relate
to historically. I think that, like all of my ideas, they're
sort of humorous, but they're also a little dark at the same
time. It's like I have this fantasy of being completely autonomous
and independent and at peace, not having any of the day to
day problems, but then there's also this sense of isolation
that comes along with it.
