Ruth Dusseault

Background

Ruth Dusseault - Personal Website

RUTH DUSSEAULTs numerous projects examine utopian expressions in the built environment. Her work reveals the paradoxical relationship between utopian and dystopian realities in our immediate histories. In her Atlantic Steel Redevelopment Project (High Museum 2006), she tracked the six-year transformation of Atlanta's last large-scale industrial site from a century-old steel mill to a new urbanism city within the city, the largest urban redevelopment in the U.S. In an ongoing photographic study, Play War, (Emory 2010) she documents the growing trend of homemade recreational battlefields. With Modern Nature, she conducted an architectural survey of early 20th century tourist attractions that interpret the landscape. Artist in Residence at Georgia Tech's College of Architecture for 11 years, she also teaches summer continuing studies at Stanford University. She has curated touring exhibitions that merge art and architecture, including Terrain Vague: Photography and Architecture in the Post-Industrial Landscape (Atlanta Contemporary Art Center 2002, Carnegie Museum of Art 2003). For her work, she has received over a dozen artist awards, including one from New York's Artadia Foundation (2009), the Emerging Artist Award from the Forward Arts Foundation (2003) and an NEA Design grant (2006). Her work is exhibited and collected internationally.

Questions

How long would you be on site?

What accommodations would you need?

Do you agree to release your video to the creative commons?

How much of Marcin's time would you need?

Would you be willing to work with us on technical documentation?

A: If awarded the Guggenheim, I will be traveling next summer between you and Joplin. My schedule would depend on yours. I would try to be present for some important events, but would also like to be present during intermittent periods so I can obtain a few interviews. I would probably request one formal interview with Marcin, with the goal of recording his vision and reflections. The rest of my shooting would be ambient with casual conversation on the sidelines. I understand your concerns about interference, and I hear that clearly. I like to work with light equipment so that I can maintain maneuverability and speed. I will spend time studying your work patterns before shooting, so I can better "embed" myself. I will not require lodging, I know you need rooms for OSE participants. My budget will include housing in Cameron. Yes, I would indeed be willing to film technical documentation footage and release it to the creative commons.

Aaron, as I mentioned in our conversation earlier, I find that wherever someone is articulating a utopian expression, they are somehow reflecting the historic reality in which we live. There is always self knowledge to gain in capturing that expression on film. And the most vivid moment is the threshold where that vision enters the real world. That is my reason for wanting to film Joplin as it re-imagines itself, and for wanting to film OSE.

There is also a smaller grant pending that might allow me to make a trip a little sooner. I will let you know as soon as I do.

Questions:

• What is your overall work product for the Guggenheim and how does that benefit the OSE mission?
• What video production experience do you have?
• How many hours of interviews do you need from Marcin?
• How many days are you going to be on site at Factor e Farm?
• What technical documentation experience do you have?
• Please send a resume.
• Link to portfolio.