Suburbigation: Suburban Navigation and Cultural Computation Racetrack Playa

Photo Documentation

Suburbigation utilizes the cultural representations of suburbia to recreate and renegotiate the space of the playa into a sunbathing spot for suburban vacationers. The physical and ideological space of the playa is thus transformed into luxury and recreation. This particular form of space negotiation reflects the ways in which suburban culture is underlined by values of recreational time and architecture typified by televisions, pools, and station wagons. The sunbathers reflect a sort of imperialistic encroachment upon the desert landscape, appropriating the space of the playa for their own forms of consumption. Even the layout of the sunbathing suburbanites reflects the reoccurring patterns of standardization in tract housing.