click here for updated hours of operation during the week of SFAI’s graduating MFA exhibit.
what is the ministry of approximate travel? The Ministry of Approximate Travel was formed after the completion of Travel by Approximation, a one-year virtual road trip via the Internet. Besides administering virtual memories, it serves as a point of exchange between the stories, memories, and projections of the ministry’s sole agent (me) and those of visitors.
what is approximate traveling? In order to travel approximately, I made use of any source of information I could find online, relying especially on Google Street View, photo databases (Panoramio, Picasa, Flickr), review sites (Yelp, TripAdvisor, CitySearch, Insider Pages), and virtual tours of monuments, restaurants, hotels, etc. I transported myself into one place after another, both by writing a travel narrative and by superimposing myself onto photos I found online. The people I “met” were disgruntled hotel reviewers, restaurant ravers, and anyone who took the time to upload their story in one form or another to a site like Google Maps.
what do I do at the ministry of approximate travel? You, the visitor, are invited to have a conversation with me about any on a list of places in Travel by Approximation, whether you’ve been there in real life, not been there, or never even heard of it. For my part, all my knowledge of these places is based on virtual experiences and online information. Thus, I will tell you everything I “remember” about that place, yet never experienced. This could be anything from the meth-shacks of Trona, to the one-woman opera in Death Valley Junction, to the neurotic lawns of Utah, to the postmodern anxiety of Kansas City, to a wedding reception that went horribly wrong at a Ramada in central Florida, to the color of the trees in the Blue Ridge Mountains.
which places can i ask about? The Ministry can account for the following locations:
CALIFORNIA
San Francisco
Livermore
Morro Bay
Santa Barbara
Los Angeles
Big Bear City
Joshua Tree
Blythe
Calipatria
Bombay Beach
Calexico
Julian
Adelanto
Trona
Ridgecrest
Lake Isabella
Springville
Sequoia NP
Squaw Valley
Fresno
Yosemite NP
Mammoth Lakes
Lone Pine
Tecopa
Death Valley Jct.
NEVADA
Pahrump
Las Vegas
Hoover Dam
Valley of Fire SP
Overton
Rachel
Area 51
Tonopah
Virginia City
Reno
Middlegate Jct.
Wendover
UTAH
Salt Lake City
Heber
Orem
Mona
Brian Head
Orderville
Zion NP
Hurricane
Monument Vall.
Mexican Hat
Moki Dugway
Home of Truth
ARIZONA
Yuma
Colorado City
Tuba City
Grand Canyon
Valle
Peach Springs
Havasupai
Kingman
Lake Havasu
Quartzsite
Parker
Phoenix
Arcosanti
Mormon Lake
Flagstaff
Spirit Mt. Ranch
Sunset Crater
Wupatki NP
Betatakin ruins
COLORADO
Fruita
Grand Junction
Rifle
New Castle
Denver
Boulder
NEBRASKA
Venango
North Platte
Gothenburg
Callaway
Lexington
Lincoln
Nebraska City
Faucett
Kansas City
OKLAHOMA
Oklahoma City
Ardmore
TEXAS
Gainesville
Dallas
Glenn Heights
Italy
Waco
Austin
Smithvile
Baytown
LOUISIANA
Port Arthur
Sam Houston SP
Baton Rouge
New Orleans
ALABAMA
Mobile
Bay Minette
FLORIDA
Pensacola
Gulf Breeze
Santa Rosa Isl.
Lake Jackson
Mounds SP
Monticello
GEORGIA
Quitman
Macon
High Falls SP
Atlanta
Dahlonega
Chattahoochee
National Forest
Blue Ridge Lake
TENNESSEE
Mccaysville
Ducktown
Athens
Knoxville
