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Home My WebLink About1I OCRCITY COUNCIL STAFF REPORT DATE: February 25, 2021 CONSENT AGENDA SUBJECT: APPROVAL OF TEMPORARY ART PLACEMENT "THE WISHING WELL" BY SERGE ATTUKWEI CLOTTEY AT DESERT HIGHLAND PARK AS PART OF THE DESERT X 2021 EXHIBITION FROM: David H. Ready, City Manager BY: Cynthia Alvarado-Crawford, Director of Parks and Recreation SUMMARY: At the January 20, 2021 Public Arts Commission meeting, the Commission receomended that the Desert X Exhibition "The Wishing Well" be presented to the Parks and Recreation Commission for consideration as an installation at Desert Highland Park. At the January 25, 2021 Parks and Recreation Commission meeting, the "The Wishing Well" art was recommended for approval. This action will authorize the temporary placement of the Desert X Exhibition art at Desert Highland Park. There is no City financial assistance requested as part of this item. RECOMMENDATION: 1. Authorize the temporary placement of public art "The Wishing Well" by the artist Serge Attukwei Clottey at Desert Highland Park as part of the Desert X Exhibition subject to payment of any required City fees; and 2. Authorize the City Manager to execute a License Agreement with Desert X and/or Serge Attukwei Clottey, in a legal form acceptable by the City Attorney, for temporary placement of public art "The Wishing Well" at Desert Highland Park. BACKGROUND: The Desert X 2021 exhibition was originally planned throughout the Coachella Valley from February 6 through April 11, 2021, and has been rescheduled for March to May. Desert X proposes to temporarily install "The Wishing Well" at Desert Highland Park. The art is represented in the presentation included as Attachment 1. Serge Attukwei Clottey, an artist selected by Desert X, is proposing to install public art entitled "The Wishing Well" described as: j_I. rrBMNO. ___ _ 2City Council Staff Report February 25, 2021 --Page 2 Desert X Exhibit at Desert Highland Park The Wishing Well is a sculptural installation of large-scale cubes draped with sheets of woven pieces of yellow plastic jerrycans known as Kufuor gallons, used to transport water in Ghana. Transforming a vacant lot into a destination, The Wishing Well echoes the wells to which many people around the world must trek daily to access water. Europeans introduced these yellow jerrycans in Ghana to transport cooking oil. As repurposed relics of the colonial project, they serve as a constant reminder of the legacies of empire and of global movements for environmental justice connecting communities across continents. Sited in the Coachella Valley, whose future is deeply dependent on water, The Wishing Well creates a dialogue about our shared tomorrow. The public art includes two yellow cubes made out of jerrycans (also known as Kufuor gallons). A representation of the public art is shown in Figure 1. Figure 1 3City Council Staff Report February 25, 2021 --Page 3 Desert X Exhibit at Desert Highland Park The art installation is proposed to be located to the northwest of the James 0. Jessie Desert Highland Community Center, as shown in Figure 2. Figure 2 The location of the public art and the manner of its installation has been reviewed by Staff and deemed acceptable. The Public Arts Commission and Parks & Recreation Commission have reviewed the proposed art installation and recommend its approval. Approval of this item will require the City Manager to execute a License Agreement for placement of the art on public property, in a form acceptable to the City Attorney. In accordance with prior City Council direction, no City financial assistance is being provided, and the City will not be identified as a sponsor of the Desert X Exhibition. ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT: Section 21084 of the California Public Resources Code requires Guidelines for Implementation of the California Environmental Quality Act ("CEQA"). The Guidelines are required to include a list of classes of projects which have been determined not to have a significant effect on the environment and which are exempt from the provisions of CEQA. In response to that mandate, the Secretary for Resources identified classes of projects that do not have a significant effect on the environment and are declared to be categorically exempt from the requirement for the preparation of environmental 4City Council Staff Report February 25, 2021 --Page 4 Desert X Exhibit at Desert Highland Park documents. In accordance with Section 15301 "Existing Facilities," Class 1 projects consist of the operation, repair, maintenance, permitting, leasing, licensing, or minor alteration of existing public structures, facilities, mechanical equipment or topographical features involving negligible or no expansion of use beyond that existing at the time of the lead agency's determination. Therefore, in accordance with Section 15301(c), Staff determined that the temporary placement of public art at Desert Highland Park is considered categorically exempt from CEQA. FISCAL IMPACT: No fiscal impact. No City funds are being requested for this exhibit. SUBMITTED BY: David H. Ready, Esq., P City Manager Attachments: 1. Desert X 2021 Serge Exhibit Marcus L. Fuller, MPA, P.E., P.L.S. Assistant City Manager/City Engineer 5ATTACHMENT 1 6Desert X 2021 A site-specific contemporary art exhibition in the Coachella Valley 7~ree to; the: ·public and Jt·1 ·ft:Y~.1bopen air, Deser-,x is ·.tnei~m~,W.l paradi:grl) . 'fori C.Qf)~tem·p.Qrary ·~rt::eKhib,ijl&iii~:,.with the thi:F~!-ecjiti~n~ rr\,Ji11 :~:onc~ ag,.a,iq • • •-~ • ~ \' /~ ~ 'L--. P°' , ",l ~. -.·• _,." ~·:z-1• I-'""'. ,·•. ,- ta.ke 1nsp1rat1.Qr;1 1:ff<?.m: the·1 desert landscape of the.·:G.~a¢.heH·a~ VaU.ey to create. o,rig i na I s"i~e-spe.C,.iti'G ('·i·~stallat(ons, ae.tivati~~s, a~~ci com rnti "ti it¥~i·~itiatiV-es, by some qfi toda y'.S most en ~gaging_:,_~·M·gl·.q:jyerse de:ntemp.(ir:~ry artists. . •:;:., _ .... 2021 • '; ~.,., • .,.-•• i ' . :•;..t.:-;, • ....,-,,_., ~--~·: .. ;\~:f~<-· .::. ~-I --~·""" --:·.,.· ~ .. ~ . ?:.::n\ 8Artist Project Serge Attu kwei Clottey 9Serge Attukwei Clottey Born 1985 I Accra, Ghana Serge Attukwei Clottey is known for his work that examines the powerful agency of everyday objects. Working across installation, performance, photography and sculpture, Clottey explores narratives of personal, family and collective histories often relating to trade and migration. Based in Accra and working internationally, Clottey, the creator of Afrogallonism, an artistic concept that comments on consumption within modern Africa through the utilization of yellow gallon containers. Through cutting, drilling, stitching and melting found materials, Clottey's sculptural installations are bold assemblages that act as a means of inquiry into questions of form and history. As the founder of Ghana's Golokal performance collective, Clottey sees art as a way to transform society. With aspects of activism prevalent in his practice, his works challenge convention and advocate the importance of creativity. 10 11Serge Attukwei Clottey Serge Attukwei Clottey's project for Desert Xis informed by histories of water that extend from the Coachella Valley to West Africa. Access to water is more than a public policy issue-it is a cultural and social one. Water is an invaluable resource for communities and is at the center of their holistic well being. Access to water sources and control of the various civic and private entities that manage it are the heart of movements for environmental justice around the globe. Acknowledging the Coachella Valley's complex histories of water access, control, and management, and the ongoing movements to improve the environmental conditions in communities across the Valley, Attukwei's project is an act of global solidarity. Using yellow plastic from kuofur gallons that are used in Ghana to transport water, Attukwei will create two large scale stand-alone cubes that reference the distant water wells that people in his village have to travel to access potable water. Installed in a location overlooking the Coachella Valley, the structures will be the culminating point of a large road paved by the same plastic yellow material-a reference to the Yellow Brick Road of Oz. The project reminds us of a coming global water crisis that is in its early stages and of the necessity for environmental justice movements that can ensure that water won't become an unattainable resource one day. 12.ii ' I , ( llr' t I .. ( " ...... C> C "i: Cl) "t, C ~ ... -~ ... ... <( > w 5 -' 0 iii ~ ::::, I-~ w C, 0:: w Cl) 13 14 15Serge's work is deeply invested in environmental justice issues that connect diverse communities globally. His practice draws attention to the difficulties communities face when they don't have access to water. This has particularly poignant in his native Ghana. His project connects the context he lives and works in with the local realities of the Coachella Valley and in doing so will hopefully draw attention to the possibility of translational solidarity movements for social justice. -Cesar Garcfa-Alvarez Serge Attukwei Clottey and Golokal I My Mother's Wardrobe performance, 2016 16About the Cu rat ors 17Neville Wakefield Artistic Director/ Co-Curator Neville Wakefield is a modern curator interested in exploring the ways in which art behaves outside of institutional contexts. This interest led him to co-found Elevation1049, a site-specific biennial in Gstaad, Switzerland, while his role as artistic director of Desert X has been instrumental in shaping the recurring exhibition that attracted over 400,000 visitors to the Coachella Valley region of Southern California. With Saudi curators Raneem Farsi and Aya Alireza he is co-curator of Desert X AIUla 2020, a site-specific exhibition of international artists, taking place in AIUla, northwest Saudi Arabia, home to the country's first UNESCO World Heritage Site, Hegra. As senior curatorial advisor for PS1 MoMA and curator of Frieze Projects, he gained a reputation for challenging the conditions that shape art in both commercial and noncommercial contexts. He has worked extensively with international institutions, including the Schau lager Switzerland, where he curated the Matthew Barney retrospective Prayer Sheet with the Wound and the Nail. 18Cesar Garcfa-Alvarez Co-Curator Cesar Garcfa-Alvarez is the Founder and current Executive & Artistic Director of The Mistake Room (TMR)-LA's international non-profit contemporary art space. At TMR Garcfa-Alvarez has organized projects and exhibitions with Oscar Murillo, Korakrit Arunanondchai, Ed Clark, Vivian Suter, Diana Thater, Mandy el-Sayegh, Thomas Hirschhorn, Henry Taylor, Christopher Myers, Eduardo Sarabia, Tuan Andrew Nguyen, and Serge Attukwei Clottey amongst others. Prior to founding TMR Garcfa-Alvarez was Associate Director and Senior Curator of LAXART (2007-2012). He was one of the curators of Made in L.A. 2012, the first iteration of the Hammer Museum's LA Biennial, and from 2012-2013 served as the US Commissioner for the 13th International Cairo Biennial in Egypt. Garcf a-Alvarez's recent books include monographs on artists Eduardo Sarabia and Brenna Youngblood. He is currently at work on an edited volume titled The Anthology of Errors which documents the history and work of TM R's first five years. He lives and works between Los Angeles, CA and Guadalajara, Mexico. 19Land Acknowledgement We acknowledge and honor the Cahuilla people, who are the traditional custodians of the land where Desert X takes place. We respect the Cahuilla culture and identity which has been bound up for generations with the land upon which we live, learn and create. 20To learn how you can support this project, please contact Jeremy E. Steinke Director of Development ieremy@desertx.org +1 917-371-2915 desertx.org Desert Xis a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization EIN 30-0852223. Contributions are fully tax-deductible to the extent of the law. 21