Laila Voss (b.1952 )

Laila Voss was the only artist whose installation appeared at all of the exhibit sites. She collected refuse from natural and consumer materials found as she followed the Cuyahoga River through Cleveland . Gathered in huge nets the discard provides a portrait of the city. At each site, a different view is presented—weeds from vacant lots hanging above barrels of river and lake water at the Cleveland Museum of Art; the raw materials of manufacturing at the Center for Contemporary Art, and manufactured items like rusty car doors, a rocking horse, grocery cart, television set that are part of the ecological cycle. Speakers and small video monitors were captured in the nets reflecting snippets of urban experiences. This set of installations emphasized a theme of the entire exhibition which was that history is not a prepared set of facts, rather fabric woven from available elements.