Stop and Go (2012) is an installation shown in multiple iterations. The first version included jack stands and relief drawings of footprints and tire tracks. The current documentation is part of Elective Affinities at the University of California San Diego.

The work is part of a series of sculptures that recontextualize everyday utility objects and trace their histories in relation to violence. This iteration is made of handmade caltrops, spiked devices historically used to slow the advance of horses, war elephants, and troops. Caltrops have appeared in Greek, Roman, and Mongolian armies, were deployed by German forces to defend beaches during the Normandy invasion, were used in the mid-1990s during the Caterpillar labor strike, and are currently used along the U.S.-Mexico border by traffickers to puncture vehicle tires and evade capture. In 2011, Texas passed PENAL CODE CHAPTER 46, prohibiting the possession, manufacture, transportation, repair, or sale of caltrops, with exemptions for museum curiosities and tire-puncture strips designed for specific applications.

The floor installation resembles one long tire tack, a continuous line of violence, one that human life can never leave. It also extends the minimalist conversation initiated by Walter de Maria's Mile Long Drawing (Two Chalk Lines) (1968), pushing linearity and repetition into histories of conflict.

More Info:
Date: 2012-Present
Medium: Installation | Performative | Sculpture
Metal nails, dimension variable