Matt Sargent and Chris Kallmyer are returning from the desert with manmade mountains and underground rivers, a sound installation created during their experiences living and working as artists-in-residence at the remote Goldwell Open Air Museum in Rhyolite, NV in June 2010.
Their work at Goldwell is based entirely on materials gathered from Rhyolite and the Amargosa Desert, both physical constructions (set of chimes constructed from mining materials, contact mics placed on local fences and shrubs, a large bottle fence installed at the site), to conceptual (computer analyses of wind patterns in the Amargosa Desert, and improvisation recorded at strip mining sites surrounding Rhyolite). Beyond all else, Chris and Matt are creating music with an intense awe for the resilience and severity of the desert climate – as the title suggests, the ability for the desert reclaim the remnants of strip mining operations back into mountains and canyons.