The exhibition of Andrea Zittel's A-Z Travel Trailer Unit has been delayed while it undergoes extensive conservation treatment. We apologize for any inconvenience. The BAMPFA sculpture garden turns trailer camp this summer, when Andrea Zittel's A–Z Travel Trailer Unit Customized by Miriam and Gordon Zittel (1995) will be parked near the museum's Durant entrance. Under the aegis of A–Z Administrative Services, a pseudo-corporation currently headquartered at her home in Joshua Tree, Zittel has developed a broad array of projects-portable habitats, handmade uniforms, high-efficiency food systems-that disregard distinctions between the conceptual and the utilitarian. She regards the entire A–Z enterprise as an “institute of investigative living”; as part of this investigation, she has said, “I am always looking for the gray area between freedom (which can sometimes feel too open-ended and vast) and security (which may easily turn into confinement).” What better emblem of the interplay between freedom and confinement than the travel trailer, a tiny enclosure for exploring the vast outdoors? Evoking the look of a vintage station wagon with its green paint and wood trim, the boxy A–Z Travel Trailer Unit brings to mind the all-American family vacation, an adventure in both travel and interpersonal relations. In fact, the museum's version of this work-one of three fabricated to Zittel's specifications at a Southern California RV company-has its own family values: it was outfitted for Zittel's parents, who used it to re-create their 1960s honeymoon drive up the California coast. The Zittels usually live on a sailboat, and the interior of their trailer includes nautical touches like a porthole bathroom mirror; the other two trailers are also customized to reflect the individual needs and preferences of their inhabitants. A–Z Travel Trailer Unit diverts what would normally be a mass-produced industrial product into the territory of the personal and handmade-a detour typical of Zittel's designs for living.
