Manifest Destiny! is an artwork installation created by Mark Reigelman in collaboration with artist/architect Jenny Chapman and structural engineer Paul Endres.

The work, a rustic cabin shell fabricated from reclaimed Ohio barn wood and aluminum supports, is temporarily installed on the exterior wall of the Hotel des Arts in San Francisco through October 2012.  Suspended 40 feet above the street, it invades unclaimed space like a parasite or aberration imposed on the urban landscape; at night, it is lit from within, a haunting, incongruous beacon in the contemporary streetscape. In this context, the artists seek to simultaneously engage the romanticized Western Myth of American individualism and the inherent arrogance of Westward expansion. Manifest Destiny! is indeed a work that is at once plaintive and comforting, immutable and ephemeral.

From Reigelman:

Manifest Destiny! was commissioned by Southern Exposure and funded by the Graue Family Foundation.

Watch it happening:

See a gallery of more installation images here.