The second iteration of Abstraction at Work was conceived for “Collective Show LA,” an exhibition of contemporary art groups recently established in Los Angeles. It was performed as part of the Los Angeles Road Concerts collective organized by Stephen van Dyck.
As an urban intervention/performance, I conceptualized Abstraction at Work as a way to make visible the relationship between the inconspicuous language of lines found on the street for the purpose of signaling and demarcating, and lines used as compositional elements in the language of abstraction. The visibility of this relationship also worked as a way to challenge and expand the common sense of abstraction. Literally and metaphorically connecting the inside and outside of the gallery, spilling displaced “street lines” into the sidewalk and parts of the facade of the building became a way to deterritorialize abstraction’s areas of operation. The renewed visibility of lines underscored once more an aesthetic experience of the city while activating their communicative potential.
![Collective Show location [ Chinatown in Los Angeles ]](https://abstractionatwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/MapChinatown-150x150.jpg)
COLLECTIVE SHOW LOS ANGELES
Collective Show organized “Collective Show Los Angeles 2011,” an exhibition of contemporary art groups recently established in Los Angeles. This collaboratively curated “group show of group shows” featured artist-run spaces and projects formed in the past five years. Groups exhibited artwork, publications and posters during the show at a newly renovated space in Chinatown. Screenings, performances and talks took place during the exhibition. A catalogue accompanied the exhibition.
LOCATION 995 and 997 North Hill Street Los Angeles CA 90012
RECEPTION Thursday, January 20, 2011, 6-9pm
EXHIBITION Friday through Sunday, January 21-23, 2011, 12-6 pm & Thursday through Sunday, January 27-30, 2011, 12-6 pm
SCHEDULE www.collectiveshow.org/LA/la-events.php/#performance
SATELLITE EVENTS www.collectiveshow.org/LA/la-events.php/la-events.php/#satellite
PRESS RELEASE www.collectiveshow.org/LA/docs/PRESSRELEASE_LA_2011.pdf
ABOUT COLLECTIVE SHOW http://www.collectiveshow.org/faq.php
COLLECTIVE SHOW LOS ANGELES PARTICIPATING GROUPS 323 Projects, Actual Size Los Angeles, Adrian Piper Gallery, ART2102 of Los Angeles, ACP (Artist Curated Projects), CANAL, Commonwealth and Council, CUBO, Dan Graham, Darin Klein & Friends, Eighteen Thirty Collaborations (ETC), Electronic Disturbance Theater 2.0 *particle group* b.a.n.g. lab, Elephant, The Elysian Park Museum of Art, Eternal Telethon, Human Resources, JMOCA (Justin’s Museum of Contemporary Art), LA Pedestrians, Los Angeles Road Concerts, MATERIAL, Monte Vista, [name], NIGHT GALLERY, Open Arms, Public Address, Public Fiction, The Public School, Silvershed, Statler Waldorf Gallery, Summercamp’s Projectproject, Workspace, WPA, and upcoming Collective Show hosts: Ditch Projects (Oregon) GIBSMIR-Family (Zurich) and Secondhome Projects (Berlin)