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2022-05-28 14:38:52

Information, Programs, A-Z West,StoreHDTS About Mission Who We Are Support Visit ✕ MissionHigh Desert Test Sites is a nonprofit arts institution that supports and stewards experimental artwork in the Joshua Tree region. We support programs that intersect contemporary art with everyday life, creating intimate exchanges between individuals, artworks, landscape, and community, challenging art to be relevant both to a region and beyond.Since 2002, High Desert Test Sites—cofounded by Andrea Zittel, Andy Stillpass, John Connelly, Shaun Regen and Lisa Anne Auerbach—has hosted the work of more than 450 artists, 11 expansive site-specific programs, and 25 solo projects. Long directed by Andrea Zittel, HDTS leadership was recently handed over to Vanesa Zendejas, Zittel’s longtime administrator and program manager. Who We [email protected](760) 507-4190PO Box 1058Joshua Tree, CA 92252Office hours: Tuesday-Thursday, 10am-5pm PSTSTAFFVanesa Zendejas - Executive Director, [email protected] Yu - Assistant Director of Programming and Communications, [email protected] Schwab - Facilities and Grounds Manager, [email protected] Foreman - Director’s Assistant and Visitor Services, [email protected] FOUNDERSAndrea ZittelAndy StillpassJohn ConnellyLisa Anne AuerbachShaun Caley Regen
HDTS HQElena Yu, Emily Endo, Emma Palm, Sydney Foreman and rotating A-Z West Work Trade Residents. Thanks to Elizabeth Carr and Zena Carr at the Sky Village Swap Meet! RIP Bob Carr.WEBSITE AND DESIGNNeil DoshiBOARD OF DIRECTORSDavid Knaus - ChairAndrea Zittel - Director Emeritus/TreasurerBrooke Hodge - SecretaryMarilyn Loesberg - MemberSusan Lubeznik - MemberAram Moshayedi - MemberSUPPORTHigh Desert Test Sites is grateful to The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Tides Foundation, The James Irvine Foundation - Arts Regranting Program/Inland Empire at The Community Foundation, Strengthening Inland Southern California through Philanthropy, The Foundation for Contemporary Arts, The Ranch Projects, California Arts Council, Sky Village Swap Meet, Copper Mountain Mesa Community Association and our generous donors for their support over the years. supportWhen HDTS was founded in 2002, part of the original mission was to run on a zero budget. The idea was to support artistic visions in practical terms—provide help, guidance, tools, a cot, and infinite space. For many years this worked and it produced self-driven projects that were ambitious and independently spirited. Over the past ten years, HDTS has been working towards building a more substantial funding structure for artists’ projects. This has included hosting recurring fundraising projects such as our Artist Painted Rock Auction, Gem/Mineral Expo, pop-ups at art fairs and art museums, and producing limited edition artworks for sale. But these endeavors never quite add up to what we need—to pay our artists fairly, for venue rentals, for staff, liability insurance, the bookkeeper, to feed our volunteers, pay for all-terrain forklift rentals, and so much more. As our programs grow every year, so does our budget. And although we make every effort to raise the money that we need with Andrea’s self-sufficient spirit in tow, we still rely on support from donors to make it all happen.HDTS has been a registered 501c3 since 2013. Please consider a gift in any amount to help us in providing access to engaging, experimental, contemporary art in the high desert region.Donate via PayPal, via Venmo (@hdts_azwest), or via check:PO Box 1058 Joshua Tree CA 92252Sign up for our mailing list! VisitMany past HDTS projects have only been temporarily sited, but some are permanent and scattered throughout the Morongo Basin. The best way to find these works is to follow the directions on our current HDTS driving map. This map also includes sites we’ve partnered with in the past and admire as independent projects. Most HDTS works are located at sites that we regularly activate and operate out of. Those sites include:A-Z WestOur new base of operations, A-Z West is Andrea’s lifelong project, where she lived and worked for 20 years before handing the keys to HDTS in 2022. Located a few minutes outside downtown Joshua Tree, this 85-acre compound includes four restored homestead cabins, several experimental living structures, permanent sculptures, 4,000 square foot studio space, and pristine desert landscape. Public tours of A-Z West are offered every 2 weeks, alternating between 1-hour outdoor only tours, and 2-hour tours that include most interiors. Tickets for these tours can be purchased through the West Works store. All funds raised from tour ticket sales support HDTS programming and general operating expenses. HDTS office hours at A-Z West are Tuesday through Thursday from 10 am–5 pm. Our office is not open to the public during these hours, but by appointment only. Please email Sydney if you have an inquiry regarding A-Z West.Directions: Head east down Hwy 62 past downtown Joshua Tree. About 1 mile past Park make a right at the “Bail Bonds” sign onto Neptune. When the road hits a “T” make a left, then the next right. At the hanging wooden signs, go straight to park in the Encampment lot, or make a left to go to the house, cabins, or studio. Behind the Bail BondsSited on this 10-acre boulder strewn parcel adjacent to A-Z West are several works that may take a few hours of exploring to divulge: Morongo by Nathan Lieb, Surveillant Architectures by Julia Scher, and CA Truck Heads by Sarah Vanderlip. Feel free to visit this site sunup to sundown but make sure you park in our designated parking and do not block the road.Directions: Head east down Hwy 62 past downtown Joshua Tree. About 1 mile past Park make a right at the “Bail Bonds” sign onto Neptune. When the road hits a “T” make a left. Follow along power lines, park just before the turnaround area.Andy’s Gamma GulchCo-founder Andy Stillpass has generously allowed countless HDTS projects to take place on this wildly beautiful 100-acre parcel north of Pioneertown off of Pipes Canyon Rd. Several works are sited here, includingGradually/We Become Aware/Of a Hum in the Room by Halsey Rodman, Trail Registry by Scout Regalia and Tapwater Pavilion by Tao Urban. Andy’s is also available to visit from sunup to sundown but make sure you park in our designated parking or if you do need to park off the side of the road, be careful not to end up in soft sand.Directions: From Hwy 62 turn right at Pioneertown Rd. Drive about 7.5 miles. Turn right on Pipes Canyon Rd. Drive 2.2 miles to Gamma Gulch Rd, turn left (respect our neighbors – do not drive above 20 mph on this road!) Drive 1.6 miles to God’s Way Love (if the sign has blown off look for Dave & Jeannie’s sign), turn right. Drive 0.4 miles.Ironage RdPurchased from a tax sale back in the early aughts, this 40-acre site is surrounded by BLM land. Located at the most eastern edge of Wonder Valley, in the Sheephole Valley Wilderness area, this site is a commitment to get out to, and feels like the end of the California high desert before being clearly on the way to Arizona. This flat, sandy, washy land is home to several permanently sited works, including Dineo Seshee Bopape’s HDTS 2022 work, and a mostly “invisible” project: Bob Dornberger and Jim Piatt’s Secret Restaurant. On the opposite side of Ironage Rd and slightly to the north is a work by Kiersten Puusemp (Untitled) that you will probably need to get out of your car and explore a little in order to find. Also accessible from sunup to sundown, be very careful when parking off the side of the road as the sand is very soft here.Directions: From 29 Palms continue east on Hwy 62. Drive forever (23 miles) and turn left at Iron Age Rd. Drive a mile or so until you see something. (Iron Age Road connects both Amboy Road and Hwy 62, so you can reach it using either access road.)HQ at Sky Village Swap MeetThe HDTS HQ is a visitor’s center and creative hub where artists, craftsmen, visionaries, and friends engage with the high desert community through creative projects and performances. You can pick up a copy of our driving map to HDTS projects and other local sites of interest at the HQ every Saturday from 9 am–12 pm (closed July-August)—and please check our Instagram page regularly to see what special events we have on the calendar. More on the HDTS HQ here.Directions: 7028 Theater Road (just off Hwy 247, right behind Barr Lumber), Yucca Valley, CA 92286; 760-365-2104Firehouse OutpostOne of our favorite community partners is Copper Mountain Mesa Community Center, where we’ve hosted many past HDTS programs and events. CMMCC is located in North Joshua Tree, about 15 minutes north of A-Z West. On the property is an old firehouse that served the neighborhood in the 80s, and now HDTS rents for community programs, public exhibitions and events. Currently HDTS is working on siting our Desert Research Library at the Firehouse Outpost and later opening this resource to the public. Stay tuned for project updates!The Firehouse Outpost is currently open to the public only during public events. Please email Elena if you have questions about the space or are interested in Firehouse Outpost programming.Directions: 65336 Winters Rd, Joshua Tree, CA 92252; Driving west on Hwy 62 into downtown Joshua Tree, pass Park and make a left on Sunburst. Right on Golden, left on Border, past Aberdeen and make a right on Winters. Take Winters past where it turns to dirt road, CMMCC is on the left. ProgramsOngoingBiennialsPast ProgramsPublicationsEditions A-Z West About Andrea's House Studio Guest Cabin Wagon Station Encampment Sculpture and Grounds Work Trade Residency West Works Experimental Living Cabins Stay at A-Z West Tours HDTS 2022 The Searchers April 9–May 29 HDTS 2022 The Searchers April 9–May 29 HDTS 2022 The Searchers April 9–May 29Driving MapParallel ProgramsIn 2018, the idea for an exhibition was inspired by a concept of “regenerative ruin”, as per Robert Smithson’s 1969–72 work, Hotel Palenque. The work describes a hotel in Mexico, one that teeters between built and unbuilt, past and present, opened or closed. Its specialness to Smithson, resonates with us here in the high desert of Joshua Tree. The strange balance of extremes is familiar. A detachment to the status quo and social norms, expectations in general even. There is much reason behind why the desert is this way. The space between places almost allows more space between thoughts, more room for individual interpretations to stand straight, and for them to fall. The community—despite the vast landscape—is small and quaint. The intimacy is felt, every site is known, and the dryness of the desert preserves it all.The works in this exhibition reflect these countless individual investigations that occur at any given moment in this landscape – deepened further so by a pandemic. As we emerge from this reset, with a different sense of future, we hope you will join us for one, slow, long, deep step into the desert. Gerald Clark Earth Memory Paloma Varga Weisz Foreign Body Erkan Özgen HARESE Dineo Seshee Bopape Lerato le le golo (… la go hloka bo kantle) Dana Sherwood Other Dessert Landscapes Kate Lee Short Respite Alice Channer Rockpool Rachel Whiteread Shack I and Shack II Jack Pierson THE END OF THE WORLD DRL Book Club One with the Creosote by Chris Tiffany June 13, 7:00pm–8:30pm Ongoing Projects Dingbats Desert Research Library DRL Book Club HDTS HQ at the Sky Village Swap Meet Support Us DRL Book Club The Art of Stillness by Pico Iyer HDTS 2022Parallel Programs Ancient Ocean Arcade HDTS 2022Parallel Programs Other Desert Radio Performance and Party DRL Book Club Nature Poem by Tommy Pico DRL Book Club Gods Without Men by Hari Kunzru (In-Person) Sometimes it is a Murmur, Sometimes it is a Pulse Sometimes it is a Murmur, Sometimes it is a Pulse: Part One Past Programs Sometimes it is a Murmur, Sometimes it is a Pulse From the Archives Desert Shadows by Bob Murphy Book Club DRL Book Club Signs Preceding the End of the World by Yuri Herrera (Virtual) DRL Book Club The Turquoise Ledge by Leslie Marmon Silko (Virtual) Past Programs Talk at the Nevada Museum of Art Book Club Desert Notebooks by Ben Ehrenreich Book Club The Other Americans by Laila Lalami (Virtual) From the Archives Juniper Blue by Susan Lang Book Club Sign up for ourNewsletter Donate DrivingMap 84° broken clouds 2018-06-27 T23:33:39-0400