Although
it has the
luminous quality of a distant Star Trek metropolis, its
message is very here and now. Louis Hock’s viridescent Pirámide
del Sol was part of an exhibit of his work shown at the California
State University Long Beach’s museum, August 29 through October
15. Inspired by the Pyramid of the Sun, the principal pyramid at
Chichen Itza in Teotihuacan, Mexico, Hock’s pellucid, plastic
pyramid consists of hundreds of polyprophylene berry baskets. Subtitled “a
monument to invisible labor,” the six-foot high installation
prompts inevitable comparisons between the labor used in the construction
of the pyramid and the field laborers gathering strawberries in California.
Hock is a professor in UCSD’s department of visual arts, and
his work over the last 20 years has included films, videotapes and
media installations, including his four-part series The Mexican Tapes: A Chronicle of Life Outside the Law (1986).
This latest exhibit included his Nightscope series—thermal images of illegal immigrants
captured by the U.S. Border Patrol’s night vision cameras.
From pyramids to peregrinations Hock continues to focus on the border
and the politics of immigration. 
Contributors to Making Waves: Mario Aguilera, '89, Marnette Federis, '06, Beverly Gallagher, '98, Raymond Hardie and Inga Kiderra.
|
