About Mandy

My life has been shaped by constant movement—growing up with multiple relocations across the U.S., from the East Coast to the Midwest to the West. Each place was a new beginning, where I had to navigate the feeling of being "new" all over again. Art became a kind of refuge and a language I could carry with me from one place to the next. It was always there as a default home, and it allowed me to process the world I was experiencing. For me, every place I've lived in or visited holds its own… more

Arcosanti

2012-2016
TRT: 11:00
4-channel Video Installation with Sound
9'x 23'

A reflective performative work, filmed at the sustainable community of the same name located in Arizona. In it I use physical (bodily) aural and textual expression as a conduit for exploration of the architect’s creative and personal attempt to integrate natural systems with intentional communal living.
In considering an alternative to the frenetic/wired pace of urban existence, I ventured to this community attracted by its premise, unique building structures, immersion in nature, and isolation from other communities.
The site is something of a relic of the ‘60’s and early 70’s, in which counter-cultural experiments in agriculture and urban living had gained currency. Embedded in counter- cultural idealism, the reality –as well as resistance– to seeing such ideas made manifest in the Western world is continually evolving. Yet it is emergent, and as all structures are built on thoughts, such concepts are continually being re-imagined.
While historically iconic and architecturally influential, Arcosanti’s initial premise –to be a self-sustaining community for up to five thousand people– remains largely theoretical. 
In my time there, a bodily reverence for the site and its playful architecture, coupled with poetic observations about the community experience set against the scenic natural backdrop, inform the textual overlays in the piece.

Made with support from the Wexner Center’s Artist Video Program, Columbus, OH

  • Arcosanti
    2016, 4:00 excerpt, TRT 11:00, 4-channel Video Installation, Dimensions variable Arcosanti is a projected experimental town with a molten bronze bell casting business in Yavapai County, central Arizona, 70 mi (110 km) north of Phoenix, at an elevation of 3,732 feet (1,130 meters). Its "arcology" concept was posited by the Italian-American architect, Paolo Soleri (1919–2013). He began construction in 1970, to demonstrate how urban conditions could be improved while minimizing the destructive impact on the earth. He taught and influenced generations of architects and urban designers who studied and worked with him there to build the proposed 'town.' In considering an alternative to the frenetic/wired pace of urban existence, I ventured to this intentional community attracted by its premise, unique building structures, immersion in nature, and isolation from other communities.
  • Arcosanti (4-channel Video Still)
    Arcosanti (4-channel Video Still)
    Still of 4-channel sequence focusing on aspects of the architectural environment
  • Arcosanti (4-channel Video Still)
    Arcosanti (4-channel Video Still)
    4-channel sequence with performative actions taking place in the community theater
  • Arcosanti (Video Still)
    Arcosanti (Video Still)
    Performative action taking place on the site's steps.
  • Arcosanti (Video Still)
    Arcosanti (Video Still)
    Performative action taking place on steps that form a portion of the roof for the theater (on the other side of the structure)
  • Arcosanti (Video Still)
    Arcosanti (Video Still)
    I found myself feeling awe at the sense of possibility present in this environment. It both inspires and suggests varying types of ideas about physicality.
  • Arcosanti (Video Still)
    Arcosanti (Video Still)
    Crouching