For INSITE97, San Diego-based filmmaker, video artist, and artist Louis Hock constructed International Waters/Aguas internacionales at the Border Field State Park/Playas de Tijuana section of the border fence. Using water pumped from a well several miles northeast of the site, Hock built a double-sided drinking fountain with one head on each side of the border. People bending to drink from the heads could see each other through a hole cut in the metal fence. During the exhibition, US government authorities suddenly decided to replace the opaque metal fence with a chain link fence. International Waters/Aguas internacionales used the valuable resource, potable water, as an example of the flow and exchange that occurs along the border, despite the barriers and questions of ownership that try to hinder it.
Curators: Jessica Bradley, Olivier Debroise, Ivo Mesquita, and Sally Yard
Venues: Border Field State Park, San Diego, and Playas de Tijuana
Delegación de Playas de Tijuana; International Boundary and Water Commission, United States and Mexico; Nina Karavasiles; Art Letter, Tia Juana Valley County Water District; Ramón Enrique Luque F., Comisión de Servicios Públicos de Tijuana (CESPT); Eiji Matsumoto, Janelle Miller, California State Parks; Peter Quinlan; Scott Richards.