Naval Compression: A Prelude is a distillation of light, sound, and time originally projected as a 20-foot-high video onto the ruins of the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard in San Francisco, encircled by echoes of historical and contemporaneous human activities associated with its dramatic setting and history.

The Shipyard was established in 1869 as the first dry dock on the Pacific Coast where the Navy operated it until 1976 and closed it down in 1991. It is currently the site of a major toxic clean up effort poised between decay and development.

Naval Compression: A Prelude premiered at Sink or Swim, an outdoor film event in July 2001 where the video was repeatedly projected for 4 hours onto the exterior wall of an abandoned Power Sub-station, the same building where it was filmed.

The work was commissioned by the San Francisco Cinematheque in honor of the organization's 40-year anniversary. The video has ben exhibited in other outdoor venues including the Storefront Film Festival in Chicago where it was projected onto a Division Street storefront as part of the Around The Coyote Arts Festival.

Music by Samuel Barber, Duke Ellington, George Antheil

Production format: SD Video