Haller created a “field station” in a gutted home in Plaquemines Parish, enlisting the help of local geologists and sedimentologists, in order to learn more about the transitory eroding spaces that face Southern Louisiana’s coast. She gathered together experiments, photos, videos, and even river silt – materials she has been amassing over the past several years with her collaborator, Albertine Kimble. She then invited community members of the Lower Coast to explore the house and engage with her cultural, personal, and artistic readings of the transitory spaces she explored.

Monica Haller (born Minneapolis, MN) is a media artist, working across a variety of mediums.  She has a B.A. in Peace and Conflict Studies and a M.F.A. in Visual Studies. Her work has been exhibited internationally and she has received numerous awards, including a Guggenheim Fellowship and support from the National Endowments for the Arts. She has given talks at venues ranging from Centre Pompidou to the Hennepin County Juvenile Justice Center.

“[Sedimentologist Chris Esposito] showed me what’s below us, how this specific marshland is formed, what builds it, and what industries erode it. I went with him to take a geologic core sample, quite literally coring down into the earth of in the Lower 9th Ward with a hydraulic machine… I am learning about the land under our feet, America beneath the ground.” – Monica Haller