the biggest piece of land art in arizona
Award-winning director Owen Brown presents his latest short film, unveiling the narrative behind Arizona’s largest temporary land art installation, second only to James Turrell’s Roden Crater. Completed by Jim Denevan in collaboration with over 30 Navajo people, the colossal piece adorns the rugged Arizona desert landscape, serving as a mesmerizing backdrop for the latest music video by electro rock band A R I Z O N A, titled Moving On.
Crafted to emanate a sense of hope, the film commences in a dry riverbed, surrounded by the expansive 300-foot-wide art installation, concluding with a striking light art show. The unique project not only marks the first-ever music video featuring a major land art piece but also pioneers the construction of a football field-sized lighting rig above land art, producing a towering 300-foot-tall light show. In a conversation with designboom, Owen Brown sheds light on the project, delving into the creative process, the individuals involved, and the meaning behind this ambitious undertaking. Read the interview in full, below.
all images courtesy of Owen Brown
interview with Owen Brown
designboom (DB): Can you describe the creative process behind the creation of this project?
Owen Brown (OB): Sure, let me start at the beginning. I started my creative agency CTRL5 to help artists create powerful visual worlds across their album rollout campaigns. We use one central design foundation to connect all of their visuals as they’re releasing a record, from album art to music videos. The first thing I do when I’m working with an artist is establish what their world will look like. And that’s exactly what I did with A R I Z O N A for this project. Working with the band, we decided on a visual identity that combines iconic Arizona landscapes with modern art and design principles. Picture a James Turrell light installation inside of the Grand Canyon.
Working with a band named A R I Z O N A, my hope was to make the people of Arizona proud by creating a design foundation inspired by the state, but unlike anything the world’s ever seen. In this project, I was A R I Z O N A’s creative director across their album release campaign, and I also directed their land art music video – all of which was produced by CTRL5.
DB: How did the collaboration with Jim Denevan come about, and what do you think his distinctive style added to the visual storytelling of the music video?
OB: After I established our design foundation, I started thinking about what kind of art to build in an Arizona landscape and discovered the field of land art. I started researching artists in the space and one immediately jumped out as the person I most wanted to work with: Jim Denevan. He’s a big-fucking-deal artist who’s had his work featured in MoMA and is considered one of the world’s best land artists. He creates art with sand, using nature as a canvas to make vast land art that can span hundreds of feet. Or sometimes, even miles. I found his email address online, wrote him a message, and hoped for the best. I thought there was a next-to-zero percent chance he’d respond. But the next day, he wrote back. The email had just one sentence in it: Let’s make something huge.
One reason I wanted to work with Jim is because he often uses simple shapes to create massive art installations. Before my conversations with him had begun, the band and I had picked one shape to be a recurring design motif across the campaign: triangles. So when I got on a call with Jim, my first question was if he could develop a land art design that would feature hundreds of triangles cascading outward. He said yes.
OB (continued): My idea was to create one of the biggest pieces of art in Arizona history and build a stage in the center of it to shoot an A R I Z O N A performance of epic proportions. It took months of work to pull off, but with Jim’s help, we did. And through it, we created a first-of-its-kind design. The land art we made is the second-biggest piece of land art in Arizona history. The only land art that’s bigger in the state is James Turrell’s Roden Crater. It’s also the biggest piece of temporary land art ever made in Arizona history.
It’s the first time land art by a major artist like Jim has been created for a music video. We built the 300-foot-wide art to function as production design. It’s fine art as a film set. On top of that, I also wanted part of the film to feature a design that’s unlike anything the world’s ever seen. So for the grand finale, we built a lighting rig the size of a football field to pair our 300 foot wide land art with a 300 foot tall light show. I know it sounds crazy, but the result really is a spectacle unlike anything captured on film before. Let me explain. Jim often builds breathtaking land art, but he’s never layered a light show – where the lights sync perfectly with live music – on top of that art. We’re the very first to do that. We had to carry hundreds of lights into a dry riverbed to bring it to life. Cars couldn’t make it through the sand.
DB: How did you find that location?
OB: That was by far the hardest part. I sent out hundreds of emails to government agencies, like the National Park Service, who grant permission to film at Arizona locations. We were rejected by almost everyone.
After finding a few possible options, I flew to Arizona to scout locations with Jim’s son Brighton, who’s also a land artist. After a week, we couldn’t find anything that would work. The land was either not flat enough, not wide enough or too hard. We also couldn’t find anywhere with sand and red rocks, which was what I wanted. Not to mention, no one would let us fly drones. On the last day – after 100+ locations pitched and 20+ locations visited – we still hadn’t found anything. At that point, a location scout from the Navajo Nation government was taking us to different Navajo Nation sites. But at the end of the day, we had no possible options.
Heading home defeated, we drove over a bridge and our perfect location appeared on the horizon, just like a movie. The site was a spectacle to behold – a dry riverbed with sand as pristine as a beach in the Caribbean, in front of red rock formations taller than skyscrapers. That wasn’t just my first day working with Navajo Nation – it was my first time ever being in Navajo Nation. Shortly after, we partnered with them to create the project. It’s become one of the most emotionally resonant relationships I’ve had as a filmmaker. They helped make the impossible possible, and I was truly moved by the experience.
