Report on CLUI Regional Facilities

THE CENTER MANAGES A VARIETY of regional facilities that serve as public contact stations, project support centers, and exhibition sites. Some are open with a specific program for just a few months, others for a few years, and some, it seems, perpetually.

CLUI Wendover

The CLUI has operated exhibition and production facilities on the edge of the salt flats at Wendover, Utah, since 1996. A number of university and museum groups visited CLUI Wendover over the 2022 season, hosted by the CLUI. Art and architecture groups came from the University of Utah, Arizona State University, University of Colorado, University of Southern California, and the New York-based Dia Art Foundation. The Texas Tech Land Arts of the American West field program made its annual week-long visit, camping out at the Center’s support facilities on the old flightline, across from the Enola Gay Hangar.

Individual artist and architects worked on local interpretive projects at CLUI Wendover over the past year, too, including Lukas Marxt, who filmed and conducted interviews for his ongoing project exploring atomic connections between Wendover and the Salton Sea. CLUI Wendover also hosted a gathering for educators involved in creative field programs. Building on similar events held in-person in 2018 and online in 2020, the weekend meet-up consisted of presentations, excursions, and discussions around issues unique or shared among the group, as many travel courses are starting to return after two years of the pandemic.

Renovations to the physical plant continued at Wendover over 2022, including a much needed new roof on the studio in September, and a major clean out of clutter from decades of raw material collection. New exhibits were installed in the Exhibit Hall, a building also called the Nurse’s Quarters, as it was built to house the base hospital’s nurses during World War II. Inside, along with the CLUI exhibits, are displays describing that period, installed by the Wendover Historic Airfield Museum. Access to the building is available year-round by contacting the Museum.

Desert Research Station

At the Center’s Desert Research Station, an interpretive outpost in the Mojave, near Barstow, facility work and upgrades continued, including roof repairs, maintenance, clean outs, and repainting. Meanwhile, antenna tests by the Space Song Foundation and others were conducted at the site. Though the facility is technically closed to the public at the moment, it is in the “deserted desert research station” mode of display, and still considered a compelling and visitable destination as such, and as a point of embarkation from which to explore the region, or as a stop on the way.

CLUI Swansea

The Center operates a site on the shore of the dried up Owens Lake, at Swansea, California. Some of the display facilities were open to the public during weekends in February and March of 2022, including the CLUI Owens Lake Land Observatory, as well as the Landscape Morphology Lab, operated by landscape architect and Owens Lake expert Alexander Robinson of the University of Southern California.

Curious visitors made the trek to check out the exhibits there, from nearby residents of Lone Pine, to groups from Los Angeles, San Francisco, and beyond (a guestbook entry was signed by a landscape architect from Australia). Over the rest of the year, the Swansea location supported visits by a few educational art and architecture groups, and field work by individual photographers and artists. ♦