STANDBY SNOW: CHRONICLES OF A HEATWAVE, CHAPTER ONE
August 2019
STANDBY SNOW: CHRONICLES OF A HEATWAVE, CHAPTER ONE, a place-based project premiered at Story Mill Grain Terminal in Bozeman, Montana on August 28 & 29, 2019. The Story Mill grain terminal is located in a fertile valley with rich soil and a historic bounty of wildlife. This location also holds the history of violent displacement and genocide of Indigenous peoples, rapid industrial and agricultural development, population growth, and the finitude of what was formerly believed to be an infinite supply of natural resources. By interrogating the site, the project STANDBY SNOW chronicles a history of European colonial domination that resulted in a cultural and ecological crisis in the region.
Co-Directed by Mary Ellen Strom and Laine Rettmer, this intertextual work brings together video, architecture, music and live performance to activate this rich and complex location rife with historical narratives and environmental lessons. STANDBY SNOW: CHRONICLES OF A HEATWAVE, CHAPTER ONE was researched and created by a collaborative team of artists, designers, and scholars including Shane Doyle (Apsáalooke/Crow), Ben Lloyd, Jim Madden, Kelly Olinger, Alayna Rasile, Laine Rettmer, Stephen St. Francis Decky, Mary Ellen Strom, and MJ Williams. STANDBY SNOW’s narrative and libretto was created with Brian King (Amskapi Pikuni/Blackfeet), Dr. Steve Running, Dr. Cathy Whitlock, Jill Falcon Mackin (Ojibwe), Erik Rodriguez, and Shane Weeks (Shinnecock). STANDBY SNOW was made through a series of “studies,” dialogues, workshops, barbecues, and residencies in Bozeman; at the Montana Artist Refuge (Basin, MT); the Center for Arts, Design, and Social Research; and the Watermill Center for the Arts (Watermill, NY).
STANDBY SNOW was supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, the MAP Fund, the Montana Arts Council, the Poss Family Foundation, the Watermill Center for the Arts in Watermill, NY, and the Montana Artist Refuge in Basin, MT.