Why does the becoming of a Christmas tree involve such a degree of pomp and circumstance, while its ending is treated with the irreverence of a chore like taking out the trash?

In an effort to confront this question, Kim Ye cruised the streets of Los Angeles, picking up curbside Christmas trees in her minivan. The trees were reorganized and modified in several stages. The final stage of the project is a site-specific installation located on the land behind The Palms in Wonder Valley, CA
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As part of the Homestead Act, Wonder Valley has a history as a site for new beginnings, redefinitions, and unavoidable endings. Within this uncanny setting that is at once magical and unforgiving, hopeful and terrifying, is it possible for these glowing tree parts to embody the affective motivators that pattern human behavior?

To realize the final stage of The Life of Objects in this landscape is to postulate a new function for the material byproducts of networked human relationships. Perhaps these discarded symbols can act as a beacon that encapsulates the resonant activity inherent in all endings.

The Life of Objects is accessible 24/7—to see it glow, please come after dark.

MAP # S 7
Location: 83131 Amboy Road, Wonder Valley, CA 92277