Abroad: Beijing and Pyongyang

This is the first part of an eight part post covering Brian's travels to Beijing, China and Pyongyang, North Korea. Brian was part of a six person group that accompanied Eungie Joo, New Museum's Head of Education and Public Programming, through Beijing to Pyongyang. The group spent five days in Pyongyang, one day in Kosong, and one day in Mount Paektu (the birth place of Kim Jong-Il) with Eungie and her mother, Dr. Pilju Kim Joo, founder and president of Agglobe Services International Inc. These experiences foster curiosity as well as criticism, not only of China and North Korea but also of America, all of which carry serious flaw and merits. Rather than being chronological, the posts documenting this trip will be focused on eight specific topics. Topics include: Dr. Joo's Farm, Food, Murals, Monuments, DPRK Architecture, and the Mass Games. For this first post we introduce the group:


From left to right: New Museum curator Eungie Joo, artist Byron Kim, Dr. Pilju Kim Joo, Hu Fang and Zhang Wei Wei of Vitamin Creative Space, sound artist Tarek Atoui, Brian Butler of 1301PE, & actress Kate Butler.

Archive: Page Museum at the La Brea Tar Pits

A few blocks down from 1301PE are the famous La Brea Tar Pits and George C. Page Museum. Hancock park was formed around the La Brea Tar Pits and in many ways the Tar Pits are the heart of urban Los Angeles. The first written records of the tar pits were made by Father Juan Crespi during an expedition led by Spanish explorer Gasper de Portoláin 1769. "La Brea" is spanish for 'tar' or 'asphalt.'

Image of the tar pits from 1910 with oil derricks in background.

Los Angeles: Bergman, Tarkovsky, and Film at LACMA

LACMA's film department is currently screening "Cries and Whispers: The Psychological Cinema of Ingmar Bergman." Films being exhibited include "The Silence" (1963) and "The Seventh Seal" (1956), the former about contemporary alienation and the latter about a medieval plague. Although renown as a director of dramas, Bergman's films transverse genres, moving from the austere to the comedic to the libidinous. Not surprisingly, Woody Allen described him as "probably the greatest film artist...since the invention of the motion camera."
Bergman and actress Ingrid Thulin during the production of "The Silence"

Early this year LACMA's Film Department held a retrospective of Andrei Tarkovsky, a Russian filmmaker whose film "My Name is Ivan" (1962) was central to Kirsten Everberg's 2008 exhibition at 1301PE. "My Name is Ivan" is about a 12-year old boy who works as a spy on the eastern front during WWII. Ivan's small stature allows him to cross the Soviet/German border unnoticed, traveling through marsh, barb wire, and the Dnepr River.

Title screen for "My Name is Ivan" (translates as Ivan's Childhood)

Archive: Two Notable 1301PE Group Exhibitions

In addition to the recent One Room, One Work exhibition, other notable group exhibitions at 1301PE include 'Together Again Like Never Before: The Poster Work of Michael Asher and Martin Kippenberger' from 1999 and Lincoln Tobier, Jorge Pardo, Sarah Seager, and Rirkrit Tiravanija from 1993.

In keeping with his penchant for peripheral spaces, Michael Asher presented only one poster for the exhibition which was the exhibition's invitation. All framed posters inside the gallery space were by Martin Kippenberger, ranging in date from 1978 to 1997.

Installation views

Sampling of some Kippenberger posters

Abroad: Angela Bulloch & Christian Dior in Japan

In 2005, Angela Bulloch was commissioned by Dior to create a permanent installation for the Dior flagship store in Osaka, Japan. The installation is titled 'Anroidika Descending The Staircase', referencing Marcel Duchamp's famous painting from 1912 'Nude Descending a Staircase'.

The illuminated cubes change color as the viewer walks down the stairs.

Map of Osaka

The Gallery & Los Angeles: Behind the Scenes - Diana Thater catalogue and National Wushu Training Center II

Now available at RAM Publications and 1301PE is Diana Thater's catalogue Between Science and Magic. The catalogue includes installation images of Diana Thater's "Between Science and Magic" (2010) as well as documentation of the work's production. In addition to an interview between Diana Thater and Pernilla Holmes, there is an essay by Helen Varola following the history of the illustrious trick 'pulling a rabbit out of a hat'. According to Varola's essay, this illusion began with a notorious incident surrounding "the bizarre pregnancy of Mary Toft," a woman who in the early 18th century faked giving birth to rabbits, a deception she even performed for the king of England.

Reversible book jacket for Diana Thater's Between Science and Magic

Installation of "Between Science and Magic" at the Santa Monica Museum of Art

Los Angeles: Blue Room and Love Seat

On Sunday, the last day of exhibition "Musée Los Angeles," Jason Rhoade's Blue Room and Love Seat was inflated. Inside the steel truck, which can be turned into a love seat with a blue tarp pad, is a blue tarp room attached to a leaf blower. The leaf blower turns the room into an asphyxiation chamber, complete with viewing window (a face-sized piece of clear plastic the artist sewed into the blue tarp).