THE PROJECT
Designed as a roadside attraction, shiny aluminum letters endlessly repeating the phrase WE WANT THE NEXT HERO TO ARRIVE ON TIME wrap around a roadside gravel pile to the tune of John Philip Sousa's Stars and Stripes Forever. The artwork as a whole is a tribute to the great American myths and their heroes: the industrial materials, the road, the great landscape. The music is part of our individual memory and collective mythology. The viewer pushes the button, starting, Stars and Stripes Forever, the horns blare, drums beat, symbols crash and in under a minute the music slows then abruptly stops, surprising the viewers, jarring them out of their revelry to think only in the present, without fanfare, about their heroes.
A COLLABORATIVE WORK
As with all my previous projects, Hero's Hill required that I surround myself with collaborators who could help me turn my ideas into reality:
I enlisted the help of my longtime architect friend, Ted Porter, and his team to create models of my designs and draw the letters that are currently being fabricated.
At Ted's recommendation, I entrusted NY Metal Design, a company based in Queens, with cutting the letters from large sheets of steel.
For the design and manufacture of the podium speaker, an integral part of the work, I enlisted The Specialists Ltd., an incredible collective of designers and makers who bring the wildest ideas to life.
