The ROAM | Really Small Museum | Featuring Suzanne Wyss

Welcome to | Bienvenidos al The ROAM | Really Small Museum | Museo Pequeñito

LISTEN TO: Suzanne Wyss What Are You Made of

Use Soundcloud link below or CLICK HERE to listen to Suzanne's description

Suzanne Wyss
What Are You Made Of, 2026
Cast Concrete, Repurposed Plastic, Wire, Staples, Cardboard, Grit

Temporary Art Installation
APRIL & MAY EXHIBITION 2026, Located in Zilker Preserve, Zilker Lookout Point (30.271290, -97.778030) Austin, TX

Driving: Park at Vale St & Bettis Blvd. It's a .1 mile journey along a smooth trail to the Zilker Lookout Point entrance on Arnulfo Alonso Way.
Hiking: Many trails in Zilker Nature Preserve culminate at the Zilker Lookout Point!
Choose your own adventure from (uphill) by plugging the coordinates or Zilker Lookout Point into your map app.

DESCRIPTION: This piece imagines what a tiny piece of our Austin landscape could look like underground. As a geologically rich place, two of our unique landscape typologies are the Edwards aquifer limestone, called Karst (aka holey rocks/lucky rocks/hag stones), and the Blackland Prairie, with its long magical fibrous roots underground. How do we humans also make an appearance underground? Questioning material integrity through the lens of an underground world, Suzanne explores limestone's ability to be shaped by fluid, in return, the limestone cleans the water, sending it downstream refreshed. She explores prairie grass roots branching endlessly and fibrously, busy with microbes in the soil transforming atmospheric carbon into stable inorganic carbon, reaching deep below the surface to deliver nutrients and find water. Humans above ground send miniscule particles into the soils that will become their own geologic wonder one day, but what are we leaving behind in our wake?. What happens when these environments mingle? Each is a filter for something, a route to be traveled through, an interaction. What are you made of?

The ROAM Museum is a traveling exhibition set within Austin’s park preserves, celebrating these protected landscapes through site-responsive art. From February 2026 through January 2027, six Austin-based artists will showcase work that fosters reflection, dialogue, and deeper public connection to these natural spaces.
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Esta pieza imagina cómo podría verse un diminuto fragmento de nuestro paisaje de Austin bajo tierra. En un lugar geológicamente rico, dos de nuestras tipologías de paisaje más singulares son la caliza del acuífero Edwards, llamada karst (también conocida como rocas agujereadas/rocas de la suerte/piedras de bruja), y la Blackland Prairie, con sus largas y mágicas raíces fibrosas que se extienden bajo la superficie. ¿Cómo aparecemos también los humanos en ese mundo subterráneo? Al cuestionar la integridad de los materiales a través del lente de un mundo bajo tierra, Suzanne explora la capacidad de la caliza para ser moldeada por el agua; a cambio, la caliza limpia esa agua y la envía corriente abajo renovada. También explora las raíces de los pastos de la pradera, que se ramifican sin fin y de manera fibrosa, ocupadas con microbios del suelo que transforman el carbono atmosférico en carbono inorgánico estable, extendiéndose profundamente para entregar nutrientes y encontrar agua. Desde la superficie, los humanos enviamos partículas minúsculas al suelo que algún día se convertirán en su propia maravilla geológica. Pero ¿qué estamos dejando atrás en nuestro paso? ¿Qué ocurre cuando estos entornos se mezclan? Cada uno es un filtro para algo, una ruta por la cual viajar, una interacción. ¿Tú, de qué estás hecho?

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The Really Small Museum ROAM is a @Juliet_Whitsett_Art Production and was funded by Austin Parks and Recreation Land Management