About

Pumping is a series of photos, an art installation, and a movie by Joel Tauber that imagines a future when water is scarce and oil no longer exists; while it also looks back at the forces that built the sprawling city of Los Angeles.

Pumping is a series of photos, an art installation, and a movie by Joel Tauber that imagines a future when water is scarce and oil no longer exists; while it also looks back at the forces that built the sprawling city of Los Angeles.

1873

Los Angeles

6,000 people living in a semi-desert

Dreams of trains 

Rumbling through the landscape

Ushering in “Civilization”,

Christianity, and Economic Progress

Pumping is a series of photos, an art installation, and a movie by Joel Tauber that imagines a future when water is scarce and oil no longer exists; while it also looks back at the forces that built the sprawling city of Los Angeles.

A massive government handout 

The Southern Pacific Railroad seizes it

And commandeers the City

Bribes

Propaganda

Squashing of rivals

Escalation of freight prices

Pullman Strike

Army quells strike

Pumping is a series of photos, an art installation, and a movie by Joel Tauber that imagines a future when water is scarce and oil no longer exists; while it also looks back at the forces that built the sprawling city of Los Angeles.

Trains

Tracks

Infrastructure

Proclamations of paradise

Migration

Rapid growth

Sprawl

An exciting city emerges

A powerful railroad facilitates and shapes its growth

Pumping is a series of photos, an art installation, and a movie by Joel Tauber that imagines a future when water is scarce and oil no longer exists; while it also looks back at the forces that built the sprawling city of Los Angeles.