Four Shelters is a project that depicts the construction of emergency shelters as specified in U.S. Army survival manuals. The temporary shelters are designed for four terrain types: forest, desert, beach and snow. The real-time fabrication of each shelter was enacted and recorded. Video stills narrating the process are presented as four large prints, one for each landscape. The prints are each paired with an ambient soundtrack of the recorded building process. Viewing the prints side by side, the construction of the four shelters unfolds simultaneously.
The U.S. Army survival manuals do not offer detailed instructions for the construction of the shelters, only a line drawing and a title (debris hut, snow pit, beach shade, belowground desert shelter). The builders in the video do not attempt to elaborate on the simple drawings that inspired them. The Four Shelters series is a performative portrayal of the building of an emergency shelter that borders on a daydream.