Día 16

These crates have been on our radar since we arrived to Santa Cruz. On our walks, we come upon these tomato crates that have been discarded on the side of the street or piled up against buildings along side trash bags. Yesterday, Raquel finally revealed to us the tomato crate jackpot. While Jon and Richard worked at the site, I went on another material search with our ever so smiley Julio. We took the bumpy scenic drive out to the 7th Ring, reaching the countryside, with hopes of meeting the owner of these crates. The owner had been running a bonfire, and was covered in charcoal dust. We arranged to purchase 150 crates at 5 bolivianos a piece for Richard's installation. I am hoping to rehire a man named Chicha, who is delivering 35 more bags of hay to the site tomorrow, to go pick up the load of crates as soon as possible.

I feel that I am getting to know a different side of Santa Cruz through these material "búsquedas.¨ With our trusty taxi driver, Sergio -Buenos Aires Radio Móvil #18- we also went on a search for heavy duty staples and to buy 33 meters of canvas clothe. Then we hit up calle Ballivian, walking into about 20 different colorful costume shops asking for "un traje de robot, o halgo parecido platiado" (a robot costume, or something similar, silver). The closest I found was a shiny mouse outfit. I am going back to the shops with robot pictures that Richard has prepared to see if someone wouldn't mind tailoring a couple robot outfits for the exhibition next Thursday. I have to say I never thought I'd be walking the streets of Santa Cruz in search of a Robot Costume (oh the life of an artist!)

Meanwhile, back at the ranch... Andrea and her friend Andy came to help with the installation again. Together, the four of them made as much progress possible before the hay and crates arrive. We are nearing the one week count down till the exhibition on June 25th and the patio is certainly transforming. There is much more building and material collection to be done so the pressure is on! Nonetheless, I think we are all happy and thriving off of this experience.