TRACYFISH

Expendition examines the land usage and impacts of the Tahoe-Reno Industrial Center (TRIC) in Storey County, Nevada. 107,000 acres of arid Great Basin, this property originally occupied by the indigenous Pauite, was taken, rebuilt, and transformed following the mining boom of the American West, and funded in part by a history of exploitation of women at the World Famous Mustang Ranch. From its former agricultural lands, brothels, and drilling, to its new uncertain urban future, it is now the site of this global technopole to more than 150 factories, warehouses, fulfillment, and data centers such as Google, Tesla Motors, Walmart, Blockchains, and Switch. This tangled history has led to today’s largest industrial park in the world.

With limited housing nearby in an already over consumed infrastructure, environmental issues remain a concern due to this regional corporate and technological growth. These centers use large amounts of water for heating and cooling in a high desert landscape that continues to be physically altered and reshaped to support the future vision of this industrial center. With little governing mandates and streamlined permits that exist, expansion happens fast. As we begin a new era of justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion, the call to action shall not go unheard at home in northern Nevada. Ongoing research at TRIC acknowledges the past, examines capacity at present, and questions a future for Painted Rock Smart City (population 36,000 by 2085) whether evolving as a radical blockchain utopia or as nondescript exurb.

Photographers Tracy Fish and Scott Hinton are engaged in interdisciplinary field research with urban geographer Dr. Kerry Rohrmeier from San Jose State University Urban & Regional Planning to document this paradoxical landscape. As Truckee Meadows residents we are co-creating new topographic artworks and narratives that express experience with environmental, social, and economic expendability at Tahoe-Reno Industrial Center.

Reno is on the ancestral land of the Numu (Northern Paiute), Wašiw (Washoe), Newe (Western Shoshone), Nuwu (Southern Paiute) peoples. These lands continue to be a gathering place for indigenous peoples and we recognize their deep connections to this geography. We extend our appreciation for the opportunity to live and learn on their territory.