REBECA MÉNDEZ IN NORTH X NORTH: SHELTER / REFUGE LANDFORMS
ANCHORAGE MUSEUM
SEPTEMBER–NOVEMBER 2020

North x North is a multi-modal, multi-sited, multi-month, multi-discipline creative festival examining liminal space — the time between the what was and the what’s next. It’s an exploration of transitions and of not knowing.
SHELTER / REFUGE LANDFORMS is part of the SEED Lab project Shelter/Refuge that examines ideas of shelter and refuge and our future condition through a series of temporary installations. We consider ideas of refuge within and from nature and as ways to connect to each other. Within pandemics, climate crises and a changing world, we explore the notions of permanence and mobility as we consider possible futures.

This series of shelters is viewable at various locations around Anchorage, including the Anchorage Museum lawn, SEED Lab and city parks. The structures serve as meeting places, as COVID-19-ready isolation huts, and as places from which to huddle and watch movies screened on the museum façade. They pose questions about the natural world, climate change and concepts of nature —as shelter, as threatened and as threat. Each shelter features images by artists examining the natural world. The framework of the structures was designed by artist Marek Ranis and suggest natural landforms, like mountains or ice formations. They are built from logs provided by the city's parks department - some of which are charred by forest fires.

Participating artists: Brian Adams, Katie Basile, John Hagen, Acacia Johnson, Rebeca Méndez, Ryota Kajita