ARTIST: Niku Kashef
ARTWORK/YEAR: Invisible Intervention (2010-13)
REGION: North America
RESEARCHER: Edgar Endress
These "invisible" interventions are about erasing demarcations in the land. Adding material to cause erasure, the piece allows the viewer to have a physical experience in/with a solid space but to see the possibilities of what once was untouched. Some of these interventions cause invisibility, while others show the eventual deterioration of the object/location. The mojave site was located abandoned compound in the Mojave desert. The work is meant to be ephemeral in nature and change as the environment so chooses. The photographic studies were taken over the course of three years, 2010-2013, the structure is no longer present, but the remnants of the work are saved along with images of the process.
The project “Invisible Intervention” explores in a playful and critical manner the impact of society on our environment. “Invisible Intervention” expands the possibilities of photography in relation to public space, and it does it by accessing the memory of a place, as the project reminding us of the landscape and the natural topographies that are pushed into backdrops or hidden. The project poetically criticizes the effect of urban development into the landscape by highlighting the natural features lost and remind us of the urban visual pollutions.
The project also carries a strong community involvement, by having people in the areas where the project take place play a role in the discussion and production, resulting in a project that is accessible, engaged but critical at the same time.
All copyright belongs to Shanghai Academy of Fine Arts, Shanghai University.
