Attempting Ziggurats is based on the biblical story of the Tower of Babel, and, in particular, its continuing reverberations in American culture. The breaking of tongues at the Tower of Babel and the subsequent scattering of the Babylonian people was the third great punishment to be sent down upon humans in the Old Testament (following the expulsion from the Garden of Eden and the Great Flood). Each of these punishments is more elaborate than the one preceding it; they mirror in complexity the growth of human society, culture, science, arts, and economics. The events at the Tower of Babel can be viewed as both the end of a common understanding and the origin of cultural difference. It can also be seen as a parable of warning of the consequences of ambition run amok. Many of these themes surface repeatedly in American culture and history. The installation itself consists of children's wagons which carry gears, wheels, and audio speakers. The speakers broadcast the voices of immigrants and foreign visitors to the United States. They speak of their earliest memories, their experiences in the United States, and the things they would do if given the chance. They also speak about ideas of heaven. Occasionally audible are sounds of social and economic exchange, and radio transmissions from the Apollo missions to the moon.