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Commuting: Ditch was part of a lecture series at Conflux Festival 2006, Glow Lab, Brooklyn, New York

ABSTRACT

I employ a variety of tactics to apprehend my surroundings. I enjoy feeling and examining the tangible manifestations of networks in my project, commuting:ditch where I kayaked agricultural drainage ditches as well as overlooked waterways in Central Illinois. As part of my process I co-mingle visual, textual, and media information from a variety of sources to engineer hybrids that reveal previously unknown or unnoticed relationships. commuting: ditch is an exploration of the landscape that I regularly drove from my home in Springfield, IL to school in Champaign-Urbana, IL 100 miles away by traveling to and from school in a variety of ways—paddling, biking, walking, flying, etc. commuting:ditch is my experience of paddling in the Kaskaskia Drainage Ditch. The time I spent in the ditch is one part of a larger trip starting in Champaign, IL where I kayaked through creeks, ditches, lakes and rivers with a minimum of portage to reach my home in Springfield. I documented the ditch segment of the journey using installation, video, and spoken narrative.