The ghost town of Rhyolite in Nevada’s Nye County is best known for its colorful boom and bust history in the early part of the 20th century. Less well-known is its parallel history as a trade center for rhyoleir, the rare lighter-than-air mineral, and as capital of the gwome of Rhyoleind in Kymaerica.
Los Angeles-based artist and geographer-at-large Eames Demetrios conducted a public dedication ceremony for the first plaque commemorating the Kymaerican alternate history in Nevada at the Goldwell Open Air Museum on Sunday, February 12, from noon to 2 p.m.. Demetrios also presented a slide program on his Kymaerica project in the Museum’s visitor center, dedicate the bronze marker, and lead celebrants in the singing of a "Kymaerican" anthem (curiously set to the tune of "America the Beautiful," although the last verse was in a foreign language unfamiliar to most).
The event was attended, in total, by about 40 adventurers. There was cake and champagne, to the delight of several visitors just out for the day. "They picked a good day to visit," said Goldwell president, Charles Morgan, pictured above helping install the plaque on site near the sculpture "Homage to Shorty Harris."
Demetrios has been installing plaques like the one planned for the Goldwell Open Air Museum in sites across the country over the past few years. Some people "get" the project right away and some don't, says Demetrios.
"What I've come to understand about the project in general is that it is about the landscape reinterpreted," he says, "and it's also about the way we take our visible environment as being inevitable. For practical reasons we focus on what's in front of us, but the truth is, all sorts of other things could have happened; where we're standing could have been a Chinese village or a Shinto shrine, it could have been under 1,000 feet of ice if we were born a million years earlier ... and I think when we look at things differently, it gives us an insight into our own world. ... But most of the time, it's hard to get that distance to see things in a new way.”
Kymaerica enables people to create that distance. And, he adds, "crossing that line is part of the fun."
For more information:
www.kymaerica.com
Nations of kNevada
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Kymaerica Plaque Dedication:
"Rhyolite’s District of Shadows"
February 12, 2006
All Kymaerica content © and ™ 2006 Eames Demetrios
Recently installed plaque commenmorating the Krblin Jihn Cabin site in the desert of pCalifornia.
Panel about the Jihn Wranglikan Dialect,
the native tongue of the people who lived in the nation of Notgeon in the district of pCalifornia.
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