MAK Center Welcomes 23rd Group of Residents
December 21, 2006 | Levent OZLER
Twice yearly, the MAK Center for Art & Architecture welcomes international artists and architects to Los Angeles for six-month live/work residencies. Based at the R.M. Schindler designed Mackey Apartments, MAK Center Residents create projects that engage Los Angeles as material for their work. The residencies culminate with a Final Projects exhibition, which will be presented at the Schindler House March 9-11, 2007. Group XXIII includes artist Nine Budde, architects Alexander Dworschak and Anke Freimund, artist Julien Diehn and architects Matias del Campo and Sandra Manninger.
Artist Julien Diehn was born in Berlin, Germany and now lives and works in Vienna, Austria. Inspired by a quote from Frank Stella that compares the effect art can have on a viewer to that of a home-run hit out of the park, Diehn intends to research these rare baseball moments. He plans to visit baseball parks and clubs in the L.A. region, interview players, staff and amateurs, and utilize local libraries and archives. He will develop his findings into a final installation project.
Referencing Schindler's quest to develop an architecture that both embodies and incorporates nature, Berlin-based artist Nine Budde plans to build a clay miniature of the Mackey Apartments. Continuing a theme in her work that contemplates destruction and its positive results, Budde will collaborate with a special effects studio and submit the model to the force of a strong earthquake. The "ruined" structure will first be the subject of a large-scale photograph, and then become the nurturing "soil" for Japanese seeds. Much as Schindler explored and expanded the meanings of interior and exterior, the model will alternate functions. The model in bloom will be the subject of a second large photograph.
"Los Angeles Without a Car," the project of Anke Freimund and Alex Dworschak, is inspired by Thom Andersen's documentary, "Los Angeles Plays Itself" (2003). The architects intend to scrutinize the urban myth that a car is unavoidable in L.A. Their experiment involves "transplanting" two inhabitants of Vienna (themselves), accustomed to mostly walking through their city, to investigate what life is like in Los Angeles without a private vehicle. They intend to use only public transportation, network existing systems to explore the possibilities of a new transportation system, even possibly invent new forms of locomotion. They expect their work will have numerous social as well as technological implications.
SPAN, the partnership of Vienna-based architects Matias del Campo and Sandra Manninger, explores spatial, formal and technological innovation through digital production. With its history as a fertile ground for developments in the aeronautic and automotive prototyping industries, as well as filmmaking, Los Angeles provides a fertile arena for continuing their research. They plan to convene a panel of Los Angeles architects to discuss the use of applications from the medical field - translating biological processes into the digital realm - in architecture. They also plan to create an architectonic environment in the Schindler House which will address topics such as the transition between inside and outside space, as well as issues of design such as seating, leaning, apertures, drapery, translucency, etc.
The Artists and Architects in Residence program is sponsored by the MAK Center for Art & Architecture. The MAK Center is based at the Schindler House, 835 N. Kings Road in West Hollywood. Public hours are Wednesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. General admission is $7. Parking is available at the West Hollywood structure at the northeast corner of Kings Road and Santa Monica Boulevard.
The MAK Center: http://www.makcenter.org
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