invisible-5 is an art project created by Amy Balkin

Amy Balkin

Amy Balkin is an American artist who studied at Stanford University and is now located in San Francisco. Her work 'combines cross-disciplinary research and social critique to generate ambitious, bold, and innovative ways of conceiving the public domain outside current legal and discursive systems.'...

 and Kim Stringfellow

Kim Stringfellow

Kim Stringfellow is an American artist, educator, and photographer based out of Joshua Tree, California. She is an associate professor at the San Diego State School of Art, Design, and Art History and received her MFA in Art and Technology from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago...

 which uses the methods employed by a self-guided art gallery tour to provide a self-guided tour of the portion of Interstate 5

Interstate 5

Interstate 5 is the main Interstate Highway on the West Coast of the United States, running largely parallel to the Pacific Ocean coastline from Canada to Mexico . It serves some of the largest cities on the U.S...

 between San Francisco and Los Angeles

Los Ángeles

Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

. It was initially distributed on two compact discs, but is now available for download. It has been featured in Metropolis Magazine

Metropolis Magazine

Metropolis is an 80-page free weekly city guide, news and classified ads glossy magazine published by Crisscross KK targeting English-speaking foreigners in Tokyo, Japan. As of April 2011, its circulation was about 30,000.-History:...

 and the Southern Exposure

Southern Exposure

Southern Exposure may refer to:*Southern Exposure - a San Francisco non-profit art space.*Southern Exposure - a 2007 album released by FireHouse guitarist Bill Leverty...

 gallery.

History

Balkin and Stringfellow launched invisible-5 in 2006. On October 13th of that year, NPR

NPR

NPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...

's Bay Area affiliate KQED

KQED-FM

KQED-FM is an NPR-member radio station owned by Northern California Public Broadcasting in San Francisco, California.KQED-FM was founded by James Day in 1969 as the radio arm of KQED Television. The founding manager was Bernard Mayes who later went on to be Executive Vice-President of KQED TV and...

 featured invisible-5 on its show The California Report.

The next year, invisible-5 was featured as part of Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions

Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions

Located in Hollywood, Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions is a nonprofit exhibition space and archive of the visual arts for the city of Los Angeles, California, USA...

' Just Space(s).

Goal

The goal of invisible5 is make people who "create a romantic California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

" by "mentally blotting out" the parts which don't conform to that ideal take the time to see the places they usually ignore. Specifically, it is supposed to call attention to the pollution found along the highway and tell the stories of communities along the interstate such as Kettleman City. It focuses primarily on their fight for what the artists refer to as 'environmental justice.'