The Changes You Made May Not Be Saved
THE CHANGES YOU MADE MAY NOT BE SAVED is an interactive installation for imagining and igniting collectivities in maps, augmented reality, 1:24 scale models, pirate radio, chalkboards and show flyers.
- A single photograph.
- A hand-drawn map.
- A collage on the front of a missing notebook.
- A pyramid.
- A space program.
- A raid.
From 1991 to 1994, a small group in Memphis, Tennessee, joined together under the name OMSA (Orange Mound Space Agency) to establish an anarcho-collectivist counterpoint to the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
A single photograph seems to be the only physical evidence of OMSA's (One More Sexy Anarchist) mission control center located on the top levels of The Pyramid, a neglected sports and entertainment arena on the bank of the Mississippi River. The photo depicts a collage pasted onto the cover of a composition notebook with the sentence"I think the changes worked!" handwritten in black marker. A small hand-drawn map illustrates the back of the photograph, perhaps describing the notebook's hiding place inside The Pyramid.
The Memphis Police Department raided the group in 1994, demolishing their living quarters, cultural center, and communications infrastructure inside the Pyramid. After the raid, members scattered across the U.S. Mid-South and Midwest. There is no evidence of OMSA's (Our Memphian Stubbornness and Assiduity) scientific endeavors or accomplishments. The notebook captured in the photograph has not been found.
What information can be salvaged about OMSA (Okay. Meanwhile, Stop Asking.) from Rob Ray's interactive installation imagining the long-ago-dissolved group's creative and scientific endeavors inside the Memphis Pyramid? How might OMSA's (Our Maybe Secret Advantage) vision for space exploration shine through in Ray's scale model of the collective's Pyramid facility? Ray extracts what is known and postulates full-scale displays of their communications systems using augmented reality overlays, speculative promotional materials, and pirate radio listening stations. Ray's world-building and interviews with activists, artists, and engineers create pyramidal histories whose pixels and atoms converge, heat, crystalize, collapse, explode and scatter.
These photos are from my exhibition at the RAFFMA from September to December, 2022.
Overview of pyramidal diorama, collective ideation system, and KDZU broadcasting station. The diorama is a 1:24 scale model of the top section of the Memphis Pyramid with meeting space, computer center, entry/exit porthole, and kitchen.
KDZU broadcasting station with transmitter, reciever, early CDJ compact disc player, cassette tapes, DJ log book, and Memphis Pyramid souvineer coffee cup. This collection of items is meant to recreate the KDZU system that broadcast from the pyramid from around 1987 to 1991. In this installation, KDZU broadcast on 88.5 in San Bernardino, California. Museum visitors could DJ the radio station while visiting the exhibit.
A 1:24 scale dioramic depiction of the computer lab the organization used while squatting the top of the Memphis Pyramid. Based on the flyers and other ephemera the group was known for creating, this lab was likely used for political, creative and engineering-related projects.
A 1:24 scale dioramic depiction of the entry/exit "porthole" feature of the squatted Memphis Pyramid. The group built two floors at the top of the pyramid to avoid discovery by building management. This porthole allowed access to their lower floor.
This "grid of chalkboards" system was used by the organization to ideate and make decisions collectively. The chalkboards were reclaimed from a Shelby County School System dumpster. This drawing of a gravitational slingshot trajectory seems to be one of the many ideation projects the organzation worked on. The context for this drawing and its importance to the group is unknown. A gravitational slingshot maneuver commonly used to adjust the trajectory and speed of a spacecraft.
Map of Memphis neighborhoods including Uptown, Winchester Park, Speedway Terrace, Snowden, Crosstown, and Medical District.
Floor view showing the map of Memphis, pyramidal diorama, and collective ideation station.
1:24 scale model of the top section of the Memphis Pyramid. This photo shows a makeshift skate park created in the middle of the floor from various pieces of furniture and equipment.
A single photograph seems to be the only physical evidence of OMSA's (One More Sexy Anarchist) mission control center located on the top levels of The Pyramid. The photo depicts a collage pasted onto the cover of a composition notebook with the sentence "I think the changes worked!" handwritten in black marker.
Reproductions of 39 flyers created by the group and distributed across the neighborhood. Engineering diagrams likely reviewed by the group are projected on top.
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mapping radio diorama 3D printing