For the first Conversation associated with “Erratic Fields,” a group of ten artists, scientists, and curators from San Diego, CA, Mexicali, and Ensenada, BC were invited to a five-day expedition in Punta Mazo, San Quintín, BC, a natural reserve area where groups of the first hunter-gatherers lived, and the site of extinct volcanoes, coastal dunes, native flora and fauna, and artisanal fishing farms, all in the Pacific Ocean. The group convened after a year of curatorial research and studio visits with practitioners from the region whose interests were rooted in the physical, ecological, historical, and social dimensions of landscape, natural phenomena, geography, and the environment.

Participants in the Conversations included: Alex Bazán (Ensenada), Isabel Casso (San Diego), Johnnie Chatman (San Diego), Lael Corbin (San Diego), Carmen Cuenca (San Diego-Tijuana), Rosela del Bosque (Mexicali), Periférica Educativa Experimental (César Noyola and Teresa Tavera) (Ensenada), Liz Stringer (San Diego), Terra Peninsular (Claudia Guzmán and Mirna Borrego) (San Quintín), Andrea Torreblanca (Ensenada), and Pastizal Zamudio (Mexicali).

The landscape of Punta Mazo was carefully selected as a starting point for The Sedimentary Effect and its focus on tracing historical, geological, and spiritual microhistories and themes from this geographical context. During the expedition, specialists from Terra Peninsular guided nature walks that delved into the history and evolution of the site formed by extinct volcanoes, wetlands, sand dunes, the Pacific Ocean, and the archeological sites of the first hunter-gatherers of the region.

Throughout these peripatetic experiences and informal gatherings, the group took part in sustained discussions prompted by questions, readings, and points of departure that varied from how geography, both physical and human, shapes our approximation to a territory, to what occurs, rests, moves, and lives invisibly beneath and beyond the surface that influences the physical realm we inhabit. The expedition resulted in an intersection of dialogues around proximity and scale, language, slowness, ethics, storytelling, ecologies, and microscopic particles.

Erratic Fields Expedition
Punta Mazo, San Quintin, BC
August 22–26, 2022

Participants
Terra Peninsular _ Periférica Educativa Experimental _ Johnnie Chatman _ Isabel Casso _ Lael Corbin _ Rosela Del Bosque _ Alex Bazán _ Pastizal Zamudio

In collaboration with Terra Peninsular

INTERVIEWS