Alan Michelson: Wolf Nation
Oct 25, 2019–Jan 12, 2020
Town Destroyer
3
Town Destroyer is an augmented reality installation addressing the Sullivan Expedition, George Washington’s scorched-earth campaign against the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois Confederacy of Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca, and Tuscarora Nations). When activated through the downloadable app, a bust of Washington—represented on a frieze of scenic wallpaper in his Virginia estate, Mount Vernon—becomes a screen onto which a challenging history unfolds.
Pressured to choose sides in the Revolutionary War, the Haudenosaunee fought alongside both British and American forces. Washington, known as Hanödaga:yas or Town Destroyer to them, dispatched armies who burned and plundered sixty of their villages, including hundreds of houses, farms, and orchards, forcing thousands to flee as refugees. In the aftermath of the war, the Haudenosaunee were dispossessed of millions of acres of their homelands, which were seized and incorporated into the bulk of what is now New York State.
This artwork was produced with artist Steven Fragale.
Town Destroyer, 2019
Alan Michelson with Steven Fragale, Town Destroyer, 2019. Wallpaper and augmented reality, with video, color, sound; 5:57 min. Soundtrack by members of Six Nations of the Grand River Territory. Collection of the artist. Courtesy the artist