Two exhibitions
dal 14/10/2004 al 10/12/2004
Segnalato da
Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions
Miguel Angel Rios
Justin Beal
Jedediah Caesar
Kate Costello
Shannon Ebner
Fabienne Lasserre
Christy Gast
Marie Lorenz
Matt Lorenz
Pentti Monkkonen
Jennifer Nocon
Jim Skuldt
Dick Slessig
14/10/2004
Two exhibitions
Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions, Los Angeles
'A Morir ('til Death) by Miguel Angel Rios in collaboration with Rafael Ortega will consist of a three-channel video installation shot in Tepoztlan, Mexico; the work focuses on a popular street game called 'trompos' that involves spinning tops. The videoinstallation negotiates both politics and poetics in abstracting narrative about urban sprawl, congestion, and war. 'Strange Animal' is a project organized by Giovanni Jance in conjunction with Andrea Zittel and High Desert Test Sites: a series of experimental art sites located along a stretch of desert communities. Like HDTS, and inspired by it, the exhibition provides a period of time and space that serves as a catalyst for people to gather in what amounts to an arbitrary place to discuss each other's work in the process of putting it together.
Miguel Angel Rios, "A Morir (’til Death )"
"A Morir (’til Death)" by Miguel Angel Rios
in collaboration with Rafael Ortega will consist of a three-channel
video installation shot in Tepoztlan, Mexico; the work focuses on a
popular street game called "trompos" that involves spinning tops. Viewed
from multiple perspectives, the video begins with one spinning top and
culminates in a cacophonous profusion of numerous tops in a single game
that includes thirty of the most skilled players in town, aged 14 to 50.
Through the documentation of this simple scenario, dynamics of
competition, invasion and territorialism are signaled both visually and
aurally. The lyrical movement of the tops is accompanied by their
intense, sycopating sound. Confined within a white grid painted on
asphalt, the masses speak to both space and subjectivity. The relative
violence is complicated by the game’s high formality and beauty. "A
Morir (’til Death)" negotiates both politics and poetics in abstracting
narrative about urban sprawl, congestion, and war. This exhibition,
organized by curator Lauri Firstenberg, Assistant Director/Curator of
the MAK Center for Art and Architecture, marks the debut of Rios's work
to Los Angeles audiences.
Spanning close to three decades, Rios’s international art career
recently includes one-person exhibitions at Media Gallery at the Apeejay
Techno Park, South of New Delhi, India (2004); Artspace, Sidney,
Australia (2004); White Box, New York (2004); and group exhibitions at
Gallery Noire, Basel Art Unlimited, Basel (2004); Artists Space, New
York (2003); Sydney Biennale, Sydney, Australia (2002); P.S.1
Contemporary Art Center, New York (2001); among many others, and a John
Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship (1998). Born in 1953 in
Catamarca, Argentina, Rios lives and works in New York City.
Exhibition opens Friday 15 October 7 - 9 pm
Artist Lecture Friday 15 October 6 - 7 pm
Exhibition runs 15 October - 10 December 2004
Related Events:
>> 15 October
Lecture by artist Miguel Angel Rios
>> 5 November
Lecture by Bill Kelley Jr., independent writer, critic and Director of
LatinArt.com,
on the exhibitions "A Morir (’til Death)" and "Strange Animal"
_______
"Strange Animal"
Organized by Giovanni Jance
in conjunction with Andrea Zittel and High Desert Test Sites
In the experimental and social spirit of
High Desert Test Sites - a series of experimental art sites located
along a stretch of desert communities - past and present participants
(not known for their collaborative efforts) of the HDTS have been
provided a space in the city wherein a single parameter is set; that is,
each participant must somehow interact or intervene in the making or
presentation of another participant.
Like HDTS, and inspired by it, the exhibition "Strange Animal" provides
a period of time and space that serves as a catalyst for people to
gather in what amounts to an arbitrary place to discuss each other’s
work in the process of putting it together.
Because participants are responsible for the fabrication and
installation of their works, they inevitably end up helping each other,
discussing and sometimes altering their projects. What is proposed
versus what is manifest may not always equate. Strange Animal, like
HDTS, is not as much place specific as much as it is social event
specific.
HDTS may be thought of as a kind of computer with a variety of
interfaces into which one can plug, play media, unplug, and depart.
Sometimes the media are interactive, sometimes not. Sometimes it works,
sometimes it does not. With this in mind, we have invited twelve people
to participate in the Los Angeles satellite of HDTS: Justin Beal,
Jedediah Caesar, the cake society, Kate Costello, Shannon Ebner,
Fabienne Lasserre and Christy Gast, Marie Lorenz, Matt Lorenz, Pentti
Monkkonen, Jennifer Nocon, Jim Skuldt and Dick Slessig. This like
generation of recent MFA graduates from across the country will together
(and also separately) embark on an unscripted melding of performative
installation and sculpture. All artifacts from the contributors’
participation become part of the event.
Exhibition opens Friday 15 October 7 - 9 pm
Exhibition runs 15 October - 10 December 2004
Related Events:
>> 23 & 24 October
High Desert Test Sites, organized by Andrea Zittel, provides alternative
sites for experimental art in the Southern California desert. For
information please see http://www.highdeserttestsites.com
>> 5 November
Lecture by Bill Kelley Jr., independent writer, critic and Director of
LatinArt.com,
on the exhibitions "Strange Animal" and "A Morir (’til Death)"
>> 20 November
Dick Slessig performance presented in conjunction with "Strange Animal"
>> 10 December
Jennifer Nocon hosts the "Strange Animal" closing party
About Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions:
Uniquely positioned among commercial galleries and major art
institutions, Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions distinguishes itself
by serving as a laboratory for artistic research and unfettered,
positive creative expression, where artists—including newly-emerging and
under-represented artists as well as more established artists—have the
freedom and the opportunity to take risks. The organization originated
in 1978 from a need for a Los Angeles venue that supports, exhibits, and
advocates innovations in art-making. Since its inception, the
organization has presented the work of over 5000 artists in over 3000
exhibitions, performances, screenings, and works of public art.
Admission to Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions is free with a
recommended donation of $3.00 ($2.00 students, members free). Gallery
hours are Wednesday - Sunday 12 - 6 pm, Friday 12 - 9 pm. Call
323.957.1777 for parking information, directions, and additional
information. For more information about Los Angeles Contemporary
Exhibitions and its programs please visit the website.
Image: Miguel Angel Rios
Project support for "Strange Animal" comes from the University of
Southern California. Support for Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions
and its programs comes from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual
Arts, California Community Foundation Arts Funding Initiative, City of
Los Angeles, Cultural Affairs Department, J.P. Morgan Chase Foundation,
LLWW Foundation, Los Angeles County Arts Commission, National Endowment
for the Arts, The Norton Family Foundation, and the members of Los
Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions.
Upcoming at Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions:
>> 12 November
Catherine Lord reads from her new book entitled Summer of Her Baldness
>> 3 December
Presentation by artist Enid Baxter Blader
Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions
6522 Hollywood Boulevard Los Angeles CA 90028