A souvenir stand dispensing hand-painted souvenirs and guides to the ruins of Washington D.C. for future extra-terrestrial visitors to Earth when the planet has become an uninhabited waterless desert. The alien visitors become the last in a long line of civilizations to fall for the charms of the classical and neoclassical ruins that punctuate the landscape, leading them to speculate about the lost pillar-builders of Earth, who they decide were probably a race of telepathic ocean-dwellers who swam upstream annually to flirt and build pillars.

The stand is modeled on the ubiquitous hand-painted hot dog stands of Washington D.C. and was originally exhibited as part of Ellen Harvey: The Alien’s Guide to the Ruins of Washington D.C. at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. To see the exhibition, click here.