Guerilla installation

The Dides' first show was inspired by a mysterious phenomenon they witnessed during the historic inaugural flight of the Space Shuttle Columbia. It was well after midnight at CalArts, and they were watching the telecast. In the bright light of day in some other part of the world, two American newscasters were alone in the middle of a field of grass, sitting on folding chairs, facing each other, blithely passing an inflated shuttle toy back and forth between them like a football while they bantered irreverently. Suddenly, a small, shaggy dog ran into the room, between the Brothers and the TV, and began chasing its tail in a frenzied blur, while the men in the background continued to pass the shuttle back and forth. The show went up in the CalArts mezzanine gallery the following night. Unfortunately, some of the drawings have suffered water damage as federal agents repeatedly attacked the Didactyls' high-security compound.

The Didactyl Brothers were an art team composed of Dartaigne (Max) and Daryl (Mark Norris, MFA CalArts). They made impromptu installations and music recordings over more than a fifteen year period, in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and the Mojave Desert. Their work was rapidly executed but often monumental in scale.