Monday, April 24, 2017

"Slightly Flexible" (Group Show) at GAIT LA, Los Angeles, California


SLIGHTLY FLEXIBLE
APRIL 23, 2017 – MAY 14, 2017
OPENING RECEPTION: SUNDAY, APRIL 23, 7–9 PM

GAIT presents Slightly Flexible with artists Daniel Klaas Beckwith, Mickey Everett, Sydney Kinzie, Daniel Schubert, Theresa Sterner, and Pamela Valfer. The exhibition will be on view from April 23, 2017 through May 14, 2017 with an opening reception on Sunday, April 23 from 7 to 9 pm. Following the reception, please contact gaitprojectsla@gmail.com to view by appointment.

Designed by architects Leonard Schultze and S. Fullerton Weaver, the Biltmore Hotel and connecting Biltmore Theater opened off Pershing Square in downtown Los Angeles in the 1920’s. The theater was demolished in 1964, and in the 1980’s a 24 story skyscraper named the Biltmore Tower was constructed on the site; while the neighboring Biltmore Hotel remains intact as a protected historical building. The Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties dictates that a contemporary addition to any historical building must be compatible but distinct in aesthetic, so the average viewer understands that the buildings are different. In addition, the guidelines state the tower addition must be designed and built without affecting the structure of the hotel, so that it may be torn down at any time. In accordance with this guideline, a seismic joint separates the Biltmore Hotel from the Biltmore Tower.  Although the hotel and tower appear to be one continuous structure, in actuality, there are six to eight inches of negative space hidden behind the street facade connecting the two buildings. At any moment, an earthquake could force the two buildings together.

Like this seismic joint, the works in Slightly Flexible exist as quiet spectacles, offering subliminal information that draw attention to the subtle shifting forces in the greater atmosphere. The artists use video, performance, and object making as a means to examine instantaneous belief, the language of ambience, and the potential of data. While exploring this phenomena, the artists will activate the street and rooftop of the Wayside Press Building and the skyline of downtown Los Angeles.

Daniel Klaas Beckwith questions the economy of belief through object making and performance. Beckwith presents for the exhibition a fake Google Street View surveillance vehicle as it continuously searches for street parking, viewed from Gait's roof top vantage.  Examining the complicated history of water in Los Angeles, Daniel Schubert and Mickey Everett of Los Angeles Aqueducts will present video documentation of their performances on location at various water bodies around Southern California. For the opening of the exhibition, amateur kite flyer Sydney Kinzie will pilot a handmade kite from the rooftop of the building. Theresa Sterner offers a seating area to view the sunset during the opening reception; a projection of a sunset played in reverse from dark to light; and a gift shop selling souvenirs like postcards and mugs with imagery of the sunset. In Pamela Valfer’s untitled (2017), a found footage tour of Saddam Hussein’s residence from the first person perspective is displayed twice, side by side in the video frame, simulating the experience of Double Vision.
GAIT
www.gait.la
Contact: 
(T) 703-586-0795 (&/or) 407-718-3115
gaitprojectsla@gmail.com
Please email for location. 



Daniel Schubert and Mickey Everett

Daniel Schubert and Mickey Everett

Pamela Valfer, untitled (2017)

Sydney Kinzie

Theresa Sterner

Theresa Sterner

Theresa Sterner

Daniel Schubert and Mickey Everett

Daniel Klaas Beckwith

View of outdoor space



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