The Quiet Zone

Artist: Andrew Phelps & Paul Kranzler

Project: The Drake Equation

Description: Andrew Phelps and Paul Kranzler’s The Drake Equation explores a unique space in West Virginia—one that overlaps with the “National Radio Quiet Zone,” a 13,000-square-mile area where radio transmissions are heavily limited to allow for the investigation of extraterrestrial life by enormous telescopes and monitoring devices. In this place, Phelps and Kranzler discover that “a bizarre mixture of people live together: the rural population of a provincial town, the highly specialized scientists of the research facility and city dwellers fleeing electromagnetic fields, electro-sensitive civilization refugees.” Phelps and Kranzler highlight such a mixture—displaying the formidable and often eerie presence of the technology as well as the Southern normalcy of the town’s inhabitants.

Eyes on the South is curated by Jeff Rich. The weekly series features selections of current work from Southern artists, or artists whose photography concerns the South. To submit your work to the series, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..