2002-2004
The year long project consisted of 5 steps.
On September 5th, 2002 we purchased 1.1 acres land on ebay. The "photo of the area", which the ebay seller had posted, shows a wide, flat area, covered with grass and sage bushes, in the background one sees the blue silhouette of mountains. The description said: "The lot is very flat and buildable. This is the perfect place to build the Ranch of your Dreams."
2.
Finding the land
To build a ranch you have to know where your property is located and how to get there. In November 2002 we went to Utah to search for our land. With the help of downloaded satellite images and topographical maps, premeasured strings, a compass and a tape measure we were able to locate the lot in the desert.
3. Temporary use
Owning a piece of the earth creates the desire for improvements. As a start for infrastructural enhancements, which - due to the illusionary character of the desert often appear as temporary mirages – we established an international artist studio program.
4. Improvements
In order to use local resources, and the with the decision not to build anything on the property, we decided to create a train stop in order to provide access to the land and increase its attraction and value. A train stop used to be one of the major reasons for settlements in the old west. After we had tested a variety of train stop scenarios virtually we tested "Train Stop Inn" in reality.
After our attempts to gentrify the area and create easy access to the land we auctioned off the land in a public auction at eyebeam in 2003. The public auction was conducted by an auctioneer specialized in liquidations. He sold the lot as "a piece of dirt" for a 10% profit.
watch the video here
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