The Chrysler Plant Videos, 2010-2013

In 2008 Chrysler’s Newark, Delaware assembly plant closed. After a short time the industrial landscape shifted into a vast remnant with weeds disrupting the concrete lot. In 2010 demolition started. That fall I began monthly visits to the site documenting the labor-void with video and stills. I was interested in the space as a transitional location. A site where over 8,000 workers invested their time, sweat, and heart for 57 years. From US Army tanks to Durangos, from noisy constant motion to quiet acceptance, 3.4 million square feet sits in a liminal zone, betwixt and between, a historical site where something was and is now in the process of becoming something else. Evolution and liminality.

In these videos I was interested in trying to remove myself as much as possible from the documentation. How could I use the camera to survey the site as if from a mechanical device—not a human intervention? I hooked up cameras to a golf cart, turned them on and drove through the site. Repeatedly.