Nicholas Emery & Emilie Upczak

The Controlled Wild

Located in North Denver Globeville and Commerce City districts. More specifically, Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge (RMANWR), Suncor Oil Refinery in Commerce City, Denver Scrap Metal Recycling in Globeville, and established, constructed animal corridors in and around north Denver.

The proposed video installation will be based on places and events transpiring today in north Denver that are analogous to other parts of the region, country, and globe. 

 ‘The Controlled Wild’ is a moving image exploration of human industry, expansion, movement, and boundaries, as well as public and private land, wildlife, and wildlife crossing corridors in north Denver and in Colorado. 

 The video installation is meant as a contemporary reflection on the tension between the wild, and wildness, and the control and boundaries exerted by humans and human development. 

 The inherent tension of human development and preservation implicit in the term, the controlled wild is further exacerbated by climate change and human population advances that encroach on wildlife habitats and corridors.The animal corridors will also provide an essential visual language that will act to allow the viewer to move from the industrial landscapes into the nature-scapes seamlessly.