Tex Hex 2009
pontoon boat, aluminum, plywood,
solar system, electric motor
The Center for Land Use Interpretation, Los Angeles, CA
The Tex Hex was a floating solar-powered field unit for use as a work/research barge on the bayous of Texas and Louisiana. Done in collaboration with the Center for Land Use Interpretation's Houston Field Office, the project includes a refurbished pontoon boat and a modular dock system. The name TEX HEX links the physical and conceptual elements of the project; the hexagonal molecular form of Benzene, a compound of crude oil, and an industrial precursor for many plastics made in the area around Houston, to the hexagonal shape of the barge’s wheelhouse, to Texas – our nation's petrochemical Mecca. It journeyed from the edge of the great Houston shipping channel to the interstitial bayous and dredged corridors of the gulf region. The project addressed some of the fundamental issues facing our times, such as the rising waters along our shores, the importance of canals, and the relationship between energy production and environment, as well as creative interpretation into a region that is public space, but that is normally occupied only by industrial commerce.
TheTex Hex was deployed in the Houston bayous several times from 2009 to 2011, and later in Louisiana on the bayous around Morgan City and in Lake Ponchartrain for the Dredgefest conference in 2014.
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