Andrea Zittel: A–Z Travel Trailer Unit Customized by Miriam and Gordon Zittel, 1995; steel, wood, glass, carpet, aluminum, and various items; 93 x 93 x 192 in.; gift of the artist.
BERKELEY, CA.- This summer the University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAM/PFA) presents Andrea Zittel: A-Z Travel Trailer Unit, an installation in the museum's sculpture garden that brings to mind the all-American family vacation. Through her mock-company A-Z Administrative Services, artist Andrea Zittel creates projects that blur the distinction between the conceptual and the utilitarian. One these projects, A-Z Travel Trailer Unit Customized for Miriam and Gordon Zittel (1995) is a fully functional camping trailer, customized for the artist's parents, who used it to recreate their 1960 honeymoon drive up the California coast on Highway 1.
Zittel created three A-Z Travel Trailer Units for an exhibition at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in 1995. Each vehicle, assigned to a different pair of individuals, set out from San Diego in October of that year, then drove north for a week along separate routes to San Francisco. Evoking the look of a vintage family station wagon with its green paint and wood trim, the trailers were uniformly fabricated by a Southern California recreational vehicle company according to Zittel's specifications. Though manufactured in mass-production fashion, the trailers were conceived to be infinitely customizable, reflecting the personal needs and tastes of their inhabitants.
Bev
