Eric Lavallee: Name me three of your favorite “2017 discoveries”
Elan Bogarín: 1. North Dome Hike, Yosemite National Park, with a view of Half Dome.
2. Dying: A Memoir by Cory Taylor
3. Nostalgia for the Light by Patricio Guzmán
Lavallee: With the creation of The Wassaic Project you re-appropriated a space meant to serve another purpose, and here, with 306 Hollywood, your grandmother’s home became a real life set and processing lab. Could you discuss the practical nature of having a quasi archaeological site and creative space rolled into one, and perhaps sum up the very moment where family collectively made the decision to not simply pack up and close shop but to use home for artistic purposes.
Bogarín: I’m interested in finding ways of transforming ordinary spaces into extraordinary and surreal environments. By definition, the ordinary is something we take for granted, something we overlook, and therefore full of opportunity to “make strange.” Transforming grandma’s house was a decision made by me and my brother in the first week after the funeral when we realized we couldn’t throw anything away, even the trivial: the receipts, toiletries, and letters.
Lavallee: How much a pendulum creative shift occurred when Annette passed away? Did you insert a Five Obstructions type of rules of engagement set beforehand, or were you constantly exploring, revisiting the creative form?
Bogarín: Our means of constructing the story unfolded like a real archaeological dig. We started at the top and dug down, through her drawers, her closets, and every possible space. As we came across objects and unearthed lost histories, we found a hundred years worth of time and our narrative took shape.
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