In 2000, the North Dakota Museum of Art embarked on a multiyear project to commission artists to create new works that respond to the population shifts that are forcing people of the northern plains to re-imagine their lives. The land is now occupied by agribusiness with its massive machinery and global positioning systems for precision crop management. Many independent farmers, cowboys, migrant workers and fieldhands have gradually moved on.

The Plains of Sweet Regret cascades with images that evoke the experience of moving through the landscape, across the prairies and plains, and through abandoned farms and churches. During its last six minutes, the work dramatically transforms into scenes from Cheyenne Frontier Days rodeo.

Mary Lucier is a seminal figure in the history of video art, and her installations were among the first to be acquired by institutions such as the Whitney Museum of American Art and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

Mary Lucier: The Plains of Sweet Regret was commissioned by the North Dakota Museum of Art with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts. Production has been funded by the Creative Capital and the Rockefeller Foundation. Curated by Laurel Reuter, Director, North Dakota Museum of Art.

Video