site-specific installation (The Icehouse, Phoenix, AZ),
carved local stone, thread, skin from official NBA game ball,
basketball court
variable dimensions
2007
"The Rock" was a response to a visit to Phoenix's Pueblo Grande
Museum which sits on the ruins of the Hohokam Indians. On the
ruins was a ball court the Hohokam are believed to have used
for various games. The court was oval in shape with
two insets at each end presumed to have been used for goals.
In prehistoric Mexico, the ball bouncing between the players on
opposing teams represented the sun struggling to rise out of the
night sky and then falling again at the end of the day. Less than
five miles from these ruins is the U.S. Airways Arena where the
Phoenix Suns basketball team plays a strikingly similar game.
A hybrid ball and ball court were created for this exhibition. The ball
took a found local rock & dimensions of a Hohokam ball (slightly
smaller than a baseball) and combined it with the skin from an
official NBA game ball. A contemporary full basketball court was
constructed in The Icehouse's Cathedral Room where visitors were
invited to shoot the rock.
Pueblo Grande Museum
:http://www.ci.phoenix.az.us/PARKS/pueblo.html