This past weekend I visited the Nevada Museum of Art in Reno, NV. One of the galleries was sculptures by a guy named Cannupa Hanska Luger. I was surprised at the subject matter of this piece called The Keep, so I took a photo and copied the text to share. It's three stories tall.
The Keep 2023
Lodgepole pine, California pine, abaca paper, and mixed media
Luger made this large scale sculpture from lodgepole pine trunks and a Western white pine tree that was previously growing on the museum's property, but which was removed during the museum's current expansion. The approximaetly twenty-five foot sculpture emulates a radio tower used to emit and receive faraway signals. As an instrument of communication, within a cargo cult context, it is built in the hopes of transmitting messages to the gods or ancestors to send more goods. Within, the context of the exhibition, however, the tower is intended to provoke critical questions about the nature of communication itself, and ask important questions about who is empowered to speak and whose messages remain silent.
The Keep 2023
Lodgepole pine, California pine, abaca paper, and mixed media
Luger made this large scale sculpture from lodgepole pine trunks and a Western white pine tree that was previously growing on the museum's property, but which was removed during the museum's current expansion. The approximaetly twenty-five foot sculpture emulates a radio tower used to emit and receive faraway signals. As an instrument of communication, within a cargo cult context, it is built in the hopes of transmitting messages to the gods or ancestors to send more goods. Within, the context of the exhibition, however, the tower is intended to provoke critical questions about the nature of communication itself, and ask important questions about who is empowered to speak and whose messages remain silent.
Last edited:
