the Subject of Sustainability, and the Elephant in the Room

This land beneath the concrete, buildings and infrastructure that support this institution is part of a larger geographic and ecological system that is intrinsically connected with the Hohokam people of the past, and the Akimel O'Otham and Pee Posh people of the present. It has been this way since time immemorial. Arizona State University was literally built on top of the undisclosed secrets of Indigenous knowledge and the cultural identity of countless generations of these Indigenous people. However, as the university has matured and developed aspirations of being the regional hub for the advancement the Western scientific worldview in the 21st Century, it has left in its wake an institutional narrative that has failed to appropriately acknowledge the long-standing spiritual, cultural, economic and political connection that the Indigenous people surrounding the university have with this land, historically and contemporarily. 

Now, this institution has committed itself to being at the forefront of sustainability studies -- a theoretical, interdisciplinary methodology and system of aesthetics born out of the Western imagination and the conceptual framework of supply and demand (and implosion of neoliberalism). The university has become an active participant in the academic gold rush to connect science with industry and policy development to more efficiently commodify the resources of our shared future -- Indigenous land and natural resources (particularly water). Unfortunately, the university has failed to meaningfully include Indigenous leaders and Indigenous perspectives within their sustainability discourse, even though Indigenous resources are, inevitably, at stake.  

Until this point, the university has failed to look beyond the conceptual framework of the Western scientific worldview. It has been attempting to solve a problem generated by the Western scientific worldview with solutions generated from the same conceptual framework. In the process, it is contributing to the propagation of a devastating feedback loop. Meanwhile, the Indigenous leaders who have been relegated to the sidelines of sustainability discourse offer a conceptual framework and worldview outside of this feedback loop. The Akimel O'Otham and Pee Posh have developed invaluable, holistic systems of knowledge and culture for sustainable living within this geographic and ecological system. Their meaningful inclusion within sustainability discourse offers hope for relevant outcomes that move away from the commodification of “sustainability,” itself. More important, it opens the door to the appropriate utilization of intercultural, applied knowledge -- Western and Indigenous -- to successfully address the enormous sustainability challenges that we all face.

2009 Do You Remember When?, Arizona State University Ceramics Research Center, Tempe, Arizona

Mixed-media installation (cut concrete, exposed earth, light, sound).

For this site-specific installation and intervention, Postcommodity will cut a 4’x4’ hole in the center of the gallery floor and expose the earth beneath the institution, then display the block of removed concrete, standing upright, on a pedestal. Both the hole and the block of concrete on the pedestal will be illuminated with theatrical lighting. In addition, a manipulated audio recording of a Pee Posh social dance song performed by the collective, matched with a treated closed-circuit audio broadcast, will activate the physical space of the gallery and accompany the installation.

 With Do You Remember When?, the hole and exposed earth become a spiritual, cultural and physical portal -- or point of transformation between worlds -- for the emergence of an Indigenous worldview within sustainability discourse regionally, nationally and internationally. The block of concrete -- a cross-section from the foundation of the university -- functions as a trophy celebrating an Indigenous intervention against the Western scientific worldview, while honoring Indigenous knowledge pertaining to sustainable living within this geographic and ecological system. The audio recording provides the psychosocial soundtrack of the transformation process. Collectively, the site-specific work and engages the gallery space, the adjacent university, and the region in a manner that seeks to shift sustainability discourse from a focus dominated by science, to a more balanced approach that is inclusive of issues pertaining to worldview and Indigenous knowledge systems.

Do You Remember When?, and ASU's institutional support for the work, carry an important message about the art, culture and politics that surround sustainability discourse and the spirit of Indigenous/non-Indigenous collaboration and cooperation that Postcommodity and ASU are facilitating. Our hope is that this installation and intervention, and the process and purpose in which it is being realized, will positively impact the nature of sustainability discourse regionally, nationally and internationally.