ADAM PAUL MASON

On the day of December 2, 2011 a chartered yellow school bus is driven to the very edge of Los Angeles County to the location of Claremont Graduate University. A group of art participants wait outside the university to board the bus. Upon entry onto the bus each participant is handed a set of noise-blocking earmuffs.

The bus and its passengers proceed to travel to the 210 Freeway following constructed markers that have been placed upon city streets. Each marker designates a visual cue for a necessary right turn that the bus follows. The sound of chatter begins to fill the bus. The bus continues to travel upon the 210 Freeway following markers that have likewise also been installed upon the freeway. The bus exits the 210 Freeway at Sunland Boulevard, Sun Valley and travels west through a mix of residential properties and equestrian areas. At Tuxford Street the bus promptly turns right into an industrial area and then makes another right onto Glenoaks Boulevard. The bus continues traveling down Glenoaks Boulevard for several minutes and finally comes to a stop at the corner of Glenoaks & Peoria Street where a fabricated bus stop has been installed and bolted onto the sidewalk. One by one, the participants exit the bus. They are instructed to place the noise-blocking hearing protectors over their ears for what will be a one-mile walk.

The participants proceed to walk north on foot up Glenoaks Boulevard with hearing protectors in place. They walk along the stretch of sidewalk primarily in single-file formation. Within a very brief amount of time the group travels through an environment with a varying landscape of sites. This includes a hedge-lined dump, a multitude of machine shops, auto repair and dismantling yards, a city reservoir and irrigation zone, a porn shop, a pet cemetery, a block and brick yard, a graphic design firm, an urban tree farm, and a liquor store. Along the one-mile stretch the group will also pass a multitude of crafted objects that have been inserted into the landscape. These inserted objects accentuate spatial/conceptual concerns that pertain to a specific zone of the walk. The participants casually walk in silence observing the surroundings. While the noise-blocking earmuffs block out exterior noise oddly the hearing protectors amplify the sound of their own footsteps.

Upon reaching the edge of Sun Valley the participants promptly turn right onto dead-end Branford Street. They proceed to walk on the sidewalk past a Metro-bus docking terminal to the end of the street. The group passes the bus terminal and five RV’s parked at the end of the street cul-de-sac. The sidewalk seamlessly loops around and the group accordingly turns back around following the sidewalk path. They are now walking back in the opposite direction.

The group arrives back onto Glenoaks Boulevard, crosses the street to the opposing side of the road and come to a halt at another fabricated bus stop. The participants still wearing the noise blocking earmuffs wait at the bus stop in continued silence. Cars, trucks, and other buses speed past the waiting group. After some minutes elapse several similar yellow school buses pass the waiting group. These buses neither slow nor stop. More time elapses. The group continues to wait. Cars and trucks continue to whiz past. Finally, the waiting comes to an end as the group’s original chartered school bus reemerges and abruptly comes to a screeching stop. The group boards the bus. Once inside the participants promptly remove their earmuffs. The bus proceeds back following the same route from which it came. Without the earmuffs, dialog again begins to fill the bus. The bus returns to Claremont and the participants once again exit the bus.