Site/Nonsite: REconfigured

REconfigured Desert Sites/Nonsites are a series of installations that re-construct, de-construct, and glitch the stagings of military training and surveillance in the Southwestern desertscapes of the United States. Maps reveal segments of aerial images showing a military site in the Mojave Desert. Red and orange dots mark the positions and coordinates where Yoland stood to film and photograph military rehearsals of conflict.

Images shared (above ↑) include examples of:
i) Offsite installation works
ii) Activated installations featuring the body of the camera operator
iii) Documentation of video works projected inside the installations during performances, in which Yoland presents a series of cards to a live feed camera
iv) Examples of the images (military simulation sets and villages) that Yoland shows on printed cards to the installation’s implanted live camera 

Yoland’s focus on US desertscapes explores themes of fear and fantasy, war and science fiction, and freedom and colonization in the region. This series includes installations ([I have my] Eye on You), photographic works (Rescaled Control), videos (Billboard Premonition, Rehearsal, Sliding Walls, Wormhole, and Desert Invasion Saga), autofiction, and live performances (Desert Diaries (undocumented)).

Each installation consists of various items arranged in unique configurations and incorporates elements from another work, On the Map, alongside mirrors, live feedback monitors, video projections, semi-transparent mylar, and found images, such as those of the Apollo 11 moon landing, Hollywood films, and satellite maps of Mars. Inside the installations, Yoland activates the space, wearing mirrored visors or items that partially obscure their face, creating an immersive exploration of the boundaries between visibility, surveillance, and space.

More related work continues to be added to this website. The project is connected to Yoland’s PhD, Desert-Mapping: Site-specific Modes of Resistance to Territoriality and Future Forms of Colonization.

︎ More images and videos coming soon.