Tuesday, March 3, 2009

The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA)



The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA), is pleased to announce Knifeandfork as the second participant in Engagement Party, the dynamic initiative developed by MOCA to engage innovative Los Angeles–based artist collectives. Knifeandfork will be the resident artist group fromMarch through May 2009, presenting a unique public intervention on the first Thursday evening of each month.

For their three-month residency at MOCA, Knifeandfork will present the following projects. All events are 
FREE to the public and no reservations are required. 

Emptiness Is Form (Golf and Donuts)
THURSDAY, MARCH 5, 7-10pm
MOCA Grand Avenue
Recasting the popular game of miniature golf as a community social event, Knifeandfork installs a custom course that appropriates the museum's unique architecture, utilizing both interior and exterior spaces. Multiple paths will wind through MOCA's Grand Avenue campus, as visitors are encouraged to team up and utilize balls outfitted with RFID tags to show off their skills. Other interactive surprises are also planned for the evening. Cash bar.

Trying the Hand of God
THURSDAY, APRIL 2, 7-10pm
MOCA Grand Avenue
Exploring the nature of the media-perpetuated chance moment, Knifeandfork hosts a carefully choreographed continuous reenactment of the infamous illegal, but not penalized, "Hand of God" soccer goal from the 1986 International Federation of Associated Football (FIFA) World Cup. Audience members will have the opportunity to play the role of Diego Maradona, the Argentine soccer legend who scored the controversial goal against England during the quarterfinals.

MOCA Grand Prix
THURSDAY, MAY 7, 7-10pm
MOCA Grand Avenue, Sculpture Plaza
For their final Engagement Party event, Knifeandfork invites participants to race remote-control cars through the galleries at MOCA Grand Avenue. For this video-gaming event, the cars' points of view will be projected on a screen installed on MOCA's Sculpture Plaza, offering an alternative perspective on the museum's permanent collection exhibition. Cash bar.

Knifeandfork
Knifeandfork, founded by Brian House and Sue Huang while on a coffee break during a figure-drawing class in Sweden, currently operates out of New York and Los Angeles. Knifeandfork projects are concerned with the critical reconfiguration of media structures and contexts. Recent work includes 
The Wrench (2008), which recasts Primo Levi's The Monkey's Wrench as an open-ended mobile phone text-message exchange between participants and an artificially intelligent character; 5 'til 12 (2006), a nonlinear interactive installation utilizing a database of video clips to create a near-infinite number of narratives based on the Akira Kurosawa film Rashomon; and Hundekopf (2005), a location-based narrative project utilizing SMS text-messaging to animate and recontextualize the experience of riding the Berlin Ringbahn. Knifeandfork's past exhibition hosts include Rhizome at the New Museum for Contemporary Art, New York; Beall Center for Art + Technology , University of California, Irvine; Loving Berlin Festival, Berlin; and Kulturhuset, Stockholm.

Engagement Party
Launched in October 2008, MOCA's Engagement Party offers emerging Los Angeles–based artist collectives three-month residencies during which they present public programs at MOCA Grand Avenue on the first Thursday of each month from 7 to 10pm. Collectives may employ any medium, discipline, or strategy during their residency, resulting in programs that may include performances, workshops, screenings, lectures, or any other activity emerging from the group's particular focus. By providing a platform for artist collectives who operate through multi-disciplinary, non-object based practices, MOCA intends to address the significant role of these practices in the contemporary cultural landscape and challenge the conventions of a collecting institution. Engagement Party is made possible by a one-year grant from The James Irvine Foundation.

Parking for MOCA Grand Avenue
Parking is recommended at the Walt Disney Concert Hall garage; $8 flat rate after 4pm. California Plaza parking garage is also available; use the entrance nearest the Omni Hotel on Olive Street. Public lots are located on Kosciusko Way between Hope and Lower Grand Avenue, and on Olive Street between 1st Street and 2nd Street.

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