The New Dunites

© Andrés Burbano and Solen Kiratli received an Incentive to Latin American Production in VIDA 13.0 for New Dunites, an archaeological and artistic research project that is rescuing the remains of a major Hollywood production from the Guadalupe-Nipomo Dunes ; Andrés Burbano, Solen Kiratli, Danny Bazo, Angus Forbes

Andres Burbano

The New Dunites , –
Co-workers & Funding
Co-workers: Sölen Kıratlı, Danny Bazo, Angus Forbes.
Funding: UCIRA, University of California Research for the Arts, USA - VIDA, Fundación Telefónica, Spain.
<iframesrc="https://player.vimeo.com/video/39370861"width="640"height="360"frameborder="0"webkitallowfullscreenmozallowfullscreenallowfullscreen></iframe><p><ahref="https://vimeo.com/39370861">TheNewDunites</a>from<ahref="https://vimeo.com/user11019921">TheNewDunites</a>on<ahref="https://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>TheNewDunitesisasite-specificresearchprojectintheartsinvestigatingaculturallyuniqueandbiologicallydiversegeographicsitelocatedonCalifornia’sCentralCoast.Thesiteanditshistoryhavemanyinterestingcomponents,suchasauniquecoastalduneecologyandbiodiversity,andhavingbeenacommunalhometoagroupofintellectualsinthe40swhocalledthemselves“theDunites”.However,themostprominentofthesecomponentsfromapointofviewofmediaarchaeologyisthesite’sroleindirectorCecilB.Demille’s1923silentfilmTheTenCommandments.Buriedunderthesedunesarethedynamitedremainsofthesetofthisepicspectacle.Throughoutourprocessofresearchandimplementationwehaveemployedmanytoolsandmethodologiesoftheartsandsciencestoinvestigatethisland.Inanattempttoarticulateandmediatetheinteractionbetweenhumansandthisspecialenvironment,ourendproductistheconstructionofanecologyofinterfaces(frommobiledeviceappstogalleryinstallations)whichusesthedatagatheredbyourexplorationsastheirprimaryinput.Ourgoal,asmediaartistsandresearchers,hasbeentocreateanalternativenarrativeofthiswonderfullycomplexsitethroughtheusageofscientificdata,historicalfacts,andartisticpractice.
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Documents
  • Andrés Burbano, Solen Kiratli, Danny Bazo, Angus Forbes
    The New Dunites
    video/mp4
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Description
“The Ten Commandments was renowned for the massive set constructed in California's Guadalupe-Nipomo Dunes -- some pieces stood over 30 metres tall. Worried that rival film studios might use the facsimiles of an ancient palace, massive Pharaoh statues and sphinxes, DeMille ordered the crew to dynamite and bury them all in the sand after filming.

These discarded simulacra have become buried treasure and permits for excavation require lots of cash and confusing paperwork. The site doesn't look much, either: "You think you've found an amazing hidden story," says Andres Burbano, 40, a PhD student at University of California Santa Barbara, "but then people near the dunes say, 'We don't know why you pay attention to that pile of trash.'"
Along with fellow students Danny Bazo, and Solen Kiratli DiCicco, both 33, he has virtually excavated the land using non-invasive ground-penetrating radar.
Custom software that Burbano built himself processes the 3D data to create visualisations of the buried objects.
The researchers needed aerial photographs of the land to guide the exploration, so they built and launched a helium balloon-kite made of Mylar and fishing line with a digital camera attached. The high-resolution-image panoramas were then stitched together using Hugin open-source software. The UCSB team plans to explore a nearby section of the dunes that was a mystical art colony in the 1930s.”

Joanne McNeil , Wired UK, Tuesday 24 July 2012
Keywords
  • aesthetics
    • installation-based
    • three-dimensional
    • time-based
  • genres
    • installations
  • subjects
    • Art and Science
    • Nature and Environment
    • Society and Culture
  • technology
    • software
      • C++
      • Global Positioning System (GPS)
Technology & Material
Hardware
GPR, Ground Penetrating Radar
Hardware
Helium Balloons
Exhibitions & Events
Bibliography
  • Burbano, Andres. Bazo, Danny, Kiratli, Solen, Forbes, Angus. »The New Dunites.« ACM Multimedia Proceedings 1, no. 20 (November 2012): 1500-1502.
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