In a visionary display, NYC artist Peter Fend has made a bold challenge to both the Bush Administration and oilopoly by redrawing the world maps not by nation states but by trans-boarder Salt-water basin regions.

His maps insist upon a global vision that put survival before nationstate and insist by their very vision on a sustainable-non fossil-fuel based global culture.

For the show "flow-lines" he presents two maps, a map of the colorado river/sea of cortez basin and the persian gulf basin. "The ... builds on a practice at the US department of State now, of matching up river basins for comparative development. Under the Sate Department, scientists and engineers are encouraged to match up and compare proects for the Yangtze basin on the one hand and the Missippi/Misouri basin on the other."

Peter Fend argues that for a healthy planet, we must start thinking in terms of water basins, not countries. we must understand that a regions most natural allie is a region that it can learn most from- that is- a region with similiar ecosystems and environmental indicators.

In comparing and demanding parity between Southern California and its natural ally- the persian gulf- he calls on intense criticism of US government policy. He applauds the water and environmental management that the USSR and Iraq had historically done until their riparian repairs were blown up as a result of American Intervention in the region. Yet, ever the artist- Peter claims that the riparian repair systems were based on a model provided by early american conceptual artists.

Critique the Bush administration further still. Peter Fend states that yes, Iraq has weapons of mass destruction. Those weapons are buried under ground in Iraq- it is known as oil. He states that If that oil were to be burned off in accordance with Bush/big oil plans- it would do greater harm to the planet than any weapons of mass destruction that Iraq may have.

Peter Fends well thought out bio-centric plans are astounding. He has for the last 20-odd years tried to get his plans instituted on policy level. Yet, despite meetings with the UN, Hugo Chavez, and other political officials, the world seems yet unable to switch from a petroleum based world of Nation States to a sustainable world of River Basins.


contact Peter Fend at

The first image is that of a map with redrawn territories. Each land mass is a seperate water basin. You will note that the map centers around Antarctica- the life pump of the earth's waterways and ecosystems.

The post states:

He applauds the water and environmental management that the USSR and Iraq had historically done until their riparian repairs were blown up as a result of American Intervention in the region.

Here we have two of the most oppressive regimes the world has ever known, the USSR collectively responsible for 10s of millions of deaths and the oppression of millions more.

Not to mention that these are two of the most environmentally irresponsible nations the world has ever known. Even without Chernobyl, the Soviet Union's environmental record was a catastrophe. And remember the oil fields Saddam's soldiers torched back in 1991.

But the Left is smitten by these dictatorial regimes, it actually ignores all of this and instead praises their riparian water management!

You dont get it.

Bad people do good things and good people do bad things.

As Peter Fend and his for profit corporation Ocean-Earth says, "People don't ussually know when they are sinning, that's why they wrote the ten commandments"

Ow, surprise, a lefty having a corporation. I know that you probably cant handle such a simple complexity.

In times of war which lead to massive cassualties it is important to look at ways in which to recontextualize the scenario and de-escalate tension.

In stead of thinking about old fixed boundaries and tired condlicts (the wars of the last 100 years have all been about oil including ww1) we need to look for alternative feuls and consensus .

what I have wrote about Peter Fend's project here is much abridged, but is very much not about supporting facist dictators of any brand, capitalist, socialist or nationalist.

The world is not that simple.

If you actually read the original post instead of looking for ideological points to touch on you would have noticed that the riparian restoration models were created by American Artists.

Doesn't this odd but standard coincidence of nationalities t do anything to your clear ability to devide the world into black and whites?

Duh.

Imagine this, the air that we breath may have been at one time in iraq. Does that mean that the air we breath is not moral because it supported a dictator that has killed people.

I think this work by Fend is a stroke of genius in concept, and is a progressive step towards where culture needs to think, past nationalism. I wish I could see the art itself. The images look quite beautiful. Will this show travel around? Give Fend an NEA grant, pronto. He deserves support. Better than alot of stuff going around. Definitely not the type of art that is a weapon of mass distraction.

During the final weekends of October a collective of artists, researchers,
and alternative energy aficionados will meet in the Mojave Desert to
experiment with structures, concepts, and strategies used in the effort of
collecting water within our arid regions. Locating themselves within the
town of Hinkley, most known for its connection to Erin Brockovich and its
contaminated groundwater, the participants will build simple
water-harvesting works in the hopes of realizing projects that have taken
months to conceptualize and develop.

Assembled by coordinator/artist Claude Willey, the team will attempt to
construct simple dry wells, artificial aquifers, qanats, simulated wadis,
mechanical dew collectors, and temporary showers. Though few involved have
any experience working in such a manner, the art/science connections within
this event should provide interesting results whether measurable or not.
Some of the participants include Kahty Chenoweth, Adam Belt, Deena
Capparelli, Bernard Perroud, Carrie Paterson, and Ocean Earth supervisor,
Peter Fend.

Projects will be on-going over the two-weekend period
and all aspects of the event will be open to the public. If you show up, you
may be asked to dig. Please bring your own shovel.

Moisture will be held on the last two weekends of October, from Friday 10/18
to Sunday 10/20 and from Friday 10/25 to Sunday 10/27, at the Center For
Land Use Interpretation’s Desert Research Station in Hinkley, California.
The site is located approximately 15 minutes off of Interstate 15 within the
Barstow region. For directions: http://www.clui.org/clui_4_1/drs/drsdir.html

For more information contact Claude Willey at claudewilley@sbcglobal.net or
by phone at 626-798-8184.

This concept of organizing society around surface water resources seems like a relatively progressive way of thinking of consuming the resources accustomed to our survival. A professor of environmental studies at University of Wisonsin, Madison, Prof. Karl Zimmerman, presented this kind of work a few years ago at an Environmental conference at the Univesity of Kansas, where I was studying Civil Engineering.

But instead of highlighting the Colorado River Basin, he used an overhead transparency to show how the entire area of the USA might appear if political lines were drawn around the reach of major acquifers--underground lakes stored in the sediment between layers of bedrock, which is water wells are used to harvest.

Using the logic of the artist's exhibit, anyone looking to drive for a living might want to plan to move to Alaska or the Middle East? This type of thinking is interesting, and to me it sounds like social engineering.

I read the post, and it didn't make any more sense than this sentence:

Doesn't this odd but standard coincidence of nationalities t do anything to your clear ability to devide the world into black and whites?

(What is a "standard coincidence"??? What is it about this "standard" coincidence that makes it "odd"?)

Anyhoo, the idea that nations are defined by arbitrary borders is balderdash. Nations are about language, culture and values; not surface water characteristics.

The Left, of course, hates Western, and especially American, culture and values and will even offer up such ridiculous notions as this. . .whatever it is. . . in an effort to destroy it.

if you look at the continent of Africa, the Americas and parts of Asia (like much of the middle east), you will learn that the boundaries that we know today were created by colonial empires. That is one of the problems today in Africa, that different languages, cultures and religions who don't get along (because of the fact that that their education system aint as good as it is here) are forced through history to be in one country.

If you read the news, you see that Siera Leone has a civil war between Religions, that the Sudan does, that Somalia does, that Eretria/Ethopia does. These were arbitrary boundaries cut up by folks in Europe deviding a map.

If you are going to make a sweeping generalization about the left, at least get your facts straight dumb ass.

If you read the story, you would read that the author agrees that water has nothing to do with boundaries.

Its called art, getting people to stretch there imagination about the posibilities of existence. Posibilities are neither left nor right, they are possible futures that occur through chance interactions. That is like saying that the possiblity of an earthquake is a right-wing agenda or the possibility of the existence of a state with healthcare is a left-wing agenda. An earthquake is a-political and facist germany had healthcare.

Its not what you have but how you got to it- the politics that gave birth to the meaning of the event that make it left or right.



Plans on reaching possi

a standard coinsidence. I bump into freinds all the time. Its a coinsidence that I bump into them, but its all quite standard that I bump into them. IT makes sense that I should bump into them, but its a coinsidence all the same.

sooooo. . . is putting people together based on surface water going to have the same effect as colonialism???

would not people who speak different languages and have different religions be forced to live together just because they share the same water shed???

sooooo. . . is putting people together based on surface water going to have the same effect as colonialism???

would not people who speak different languages and have different religions be forced to live together just because they share the same water shed???

Your right about.
Its the hairbrained fact that I think is great.

Crazy plans that appear to have legitimacy get you thinking a little about thinking about possibilities. They can help clarify what is working in the present and what isn't.

Yeah, it would create as many problems as it solves, but it would (if there weren't huge counter-reactions by vested interests- which is the likely scenario) create politities that were able to deal with resources more efficiently.

Not that I support the NAFTA, but this hairbrained scheme also messes with boarders by making pan-national legal bodies. It has riled up prevailing interests. Then again,so does the International War Crimes Tribunal, which is a good idea I think...

Anyway...

The only power excessively opposed to the International Criminal Court was the USA which won itself exemption from being prosecuted for things like war crimes, ethnic cleansing, etc.