Off-Roader was exhibited in a sculpture court occupying the shell of an industrial building, flanked on two sides by standing structures. The concrete floor retains a grid of dirt squares marking the locations of the building’s absent wooden support beams. This grid determined both the number and placement of the boxes used in the work: 31 in total. Each box contains a motorized two-wheeled vehicle, tethered by a power cable to horizontal cables strung between the two flanking buildings, 210 inches above the court floor. These horizontal cables are connected to power and controlled by a single on/off switch. When a viewer activates the switch, all 31 vehicles start simultaneously.

Exhibition History: Installed in the sculpture court of the Genereux Gallery (Toronto, Canada)

Publication: Eden, Xandra, Barbara Fischer and Nancy Campbell. Marla Hlady. The Power Plant, 2001.

Off-Roader, 1993-94

galvanized metal boxes with rubber flooring and spring loaded legs, two-wheeled motorized vehicles, ON/OFF switch, steel and copper cable, miscellaneous hardware, miscellaneous electrical and electronic parts

62 x 17.5 feet (Sculpture Court)
12 x 12 x 15 inches (metal boxes)
2.5 x 6 x 2.5 inches (motorized vehicles)

Electronics design: Duane Mulder