Serral | Steel Plates in the Desert: Four Walls One Kilometer Apart

In a completely empty desert canyon, four weathering steel plates, each 14 to 17 meters high, stand along a line over one kilometer long, separated by several hundred meters. Due to the undulating terrain, the plates are buried at different depths, but their top edges all lie on the same horizontal plane—thus, the steel plates become instruments for measuring the terrain. The plates are extremely thin, appearing almost as a line from the front and a wall from the side. The steel rusts to an orange-brown, contrasting with the white limestone ground. There are no roads, no signs; one must find them independently. Shot at sunrise with low-angle light along the axis, the four plates are arranged sequentially in perspective, casting extremely long shadows. Avoid: thickened steel plates, top edges following terrain undulations, added walkways and explanatory signs, vegetation or buildings in the surroundings.

Translated from Chinese by AI.

在完全空曠的沙漠峽谷中,四片各高十四至十七公尺的耐候鋼板沿著一條長逾一公里的直線豎立,彼此相隔數百公尺。因為地形起伏,四片的埋深不同,但頂緣全部落在同一個水平面上——鋼板因此成為丈量地形的儀器。板身極薄,從正面看幾乎是一條線,從側面看則是一道牆。鋼鏽成橘褐,與白色的石灰岩地面對比。沒有道路、沒有標示,必須自己找到它們。日出低角度光線下沿軸線拍攝,四片在透視中依序排開,影子拉得極長。避免:鋼板加厚、頂緣隨地形起伏、加設步道與說明牌、周圍出現植栽或建物。