Recreating the Domain (2009)

Recreating the Domain is a set of artist-created recorded walking tours of the Domain, the controversial shopping center/residence/office park in north Austin.

Rather than having a traditional gallery presence, visitors are able to download the walking tours and attend the exhibition on their own time, making Recreating the Domain a permanent exhibition.

From the original announcement:

The Church of the Friendly Ghost, with curator Alex Keller, would like to announce the media art exhibition Recreating the Domain, opening April 17, 2009.

Recreating the Domain is a set of artist-created recorded walking tours of the Domain, the controversial north Austin shopping center/residence/office park. Rather than having a traditional gallery presence, visitors will be able to download the walking tours and attend the exhibition on their own time, making Recreating the Domain a permanent exhibition.

The artists are

Bill Bridges, with a piece that deals with corporate speech and (mis)translation.

Brent Fariss, with a piece designed to challenge the listener to re-contextualize his environment through increasingly challenging instructions.

Christopher Petkus, with an audio tour that maps the steady psychological disintegration of the tour guide.

James Patrick Robinson, with a sound collage of life and work in the Domain that dissects where corporate culture meets our daily lives.

Vanessa Rossetto, with an audible analysis of the historical use of the land currently known as the Domain.

Curator Alex Keller: “Walking around the Domain brings up so many fascinating questions, it's difficult to imagine answering them all.
What would it be like to live in a neighborhood with music piped in on the sidewalks?
Are neighborhoods always the product of terraforming?
What would happen if the Domain became a walled city?
What will the Domain look like if the Great Depression mark 2 happens?
What would the Domain look like if it were invaded by zombies?
Are there underground tunnels for cast members like in Disneyworld?
Could I afford to live there if I worked in a store there?”

“The artists have made some incredible pieces that provide a bit more insight into the Domain and what makes it tick. I can't wait to see sound art aficionados waltzing around the Domain with headphones on, mixing with the crowd of shoppers with headphones on. Will there be a clear division between the listeners and the shoppers? Are they already the same group? Will the listeners be drawn in to the Domain's type of new urban lifestyle?”

Recreating the Domain will open on April 17, 2009, at which point the audio tours will be downloadable from recreatingthedomain.org.

The show is the subject of a presentation in the Church of the Friendly Ghost's first New Media Art and Sound Summit, a two day event exploring modern creative music in Texas and other southern states, Mexico, and the rest of the world including guest speakers and performers from other places in the states and abroad. churchofthefriendlyghost.org/archives/200. Recreating the Domain's presentation will occur on Saturday, April 25 at 12:00 PM at the Acton School of Business in Austin.