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PAST
Chris
Burden Organized by Irene Tsatsos
with Julie Deamer Opening reception Exhibition runs 1 May through 27 July 2003 Discussion between Chris
Burden and Alan Koch This discussion is part
of a lecture series organized by Cara Mullio This project is part of Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions' special 25th Anniversary Series PRESS CONTACT: Julie Deamer
"It’s
kind of like a modern day log cabin." Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions presented a solo exhibition by Chris Burden called "Small Skyscraper" that ran from 1 May through 27 July 2003. An opening reception took place on Thursday 1 May 2003, 6 to 8 pm. This exhibition was organized by Irene Tsatsos with Julie Deamer of Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions in collaboration with architects Linda Taalman and Alan Koch of TK Architecture, founders of OpenOffice. This project was part of Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions' special 25th Anniversary Series. In 1991, while building a studio on his property, and frustrated by Los Angeles County building codes, artist Chris Burden sketched the first drawings of Small Skyscraper. Eight years later, he was approached by Linda Taalman and Alan Koch of TK Architecture (formerly of OpenOffice) to collaborate on developing actual building plans based on these provocative and contentious drawings. The horizontal presentation of "Small Skyscraper" at Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions from 1 May through 27 July 2003 marked the first of three public components of this project’s collaborative realization. "Small Skyscraper" is a quasi legal structure that exploits a loop hole Chris Burden discovered in the Los Angeles County building codes. This loop hole allows small out buildings, like green houses and sheds, to be built without a building permit if they stay within 400 square feet and under 35 feet high. "Small Skyscraper" uses these legal size restrictions as a point of departure. The total structure, four rooms stacked one on top of the other, measures 400 square feet and rises 35 feet in height. Even though "Small Skyscraper" strictly adheres to the County’s spatial requirements, it continues to push the legal and physical parameters of architectural construction because of added design features, such as a low roof parapet, and because it functions as a domestic dwelling.
"Small Skyscraper" is a sculpture disguised as a house disguised as a skyscraper. It is built with advanced lightweight technology and designed to be erected by untrained builders with a minimum of tools and equipment at a fraction of the cost of a more traditional domestic dwelling. This structure was built by students from Southern California Institute of Architecture during a workshop led by TK Architecture and by students from Art Center College of Design. As installed here, inside and sideways, the structure emphasizes the work’s minimal efficiency, blurs the boundaries between conceptual sculpture and architecture, and shakes up architectural assumptions about form and function. At the close of this exhibition, "Small Skyscraper" was disassembled and moved to an outdoor site in Topanga Canyon where the structure will be erected vertically. A publication will document this project's organic development from its drawing and planning stages to its material realization. The mission of Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions emphasizes the production as well as the presentation of new art work by providing significant opportunities to artists for large-scale, ambitious projects where ideas developed in studio practice are pushed and cultivated beyond conventional expectations. This project by Chris Burden with TK Architecture provided this organization with an ideal opportunity to put into practice these institutional goals. "Small Skyscraper" informs today's fertile conversation between art and architecture. It demonstrates a minimalist approach to material efficiency and aesthetic form, provides a fresh and humorous way to revisit recurring architectural issues, and as a portable architectural structure it directly opposes traditional notions of stability and permanence. Corresponding
Public Programs
The presentation of "Small Skyscraper" at Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions corresponded to The MAK Center for Art and Architecture's presentation of the TRESPASSING: Houses X Artists exhibition, of which "Small Skyscraper" is a part. TRESPASSING: Houses X Artists, curated by Cara Mullio, was initiated by Linda Taalman and Alan Koch who worked collaboratively with internationally renowned visual artists to design architectural proposals for domestic dwellings. The MAK exhibition, which was presented in two phases, included drawings and models of the entire TRESPASSING: Houses X Artists project. For more information about TRESPASSING: Houses X Artists and The MAK Center for Art and Architecture please visit www.makcenter.org. Friday, May 16 at 8 pm, on the grounds of the Schindler House, The MAK Center for Art and Architecture presented, in partnership with Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions, an outdoor screening of early Chris Burden performances from 1971-74 and a documentary on the making of Burden’s seminal 1980 project, Big Wheel. General admission to the screening was $10; $5 for students, Friends of the Schindler House and Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions members. About Los Angeles
Contemporary Exhibitions Support for Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions and its programs comes from the LEF Foundation, the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, California Arts Council, California Community Foundation Arts Funding Initiative, City of Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department, Getty Grant Program, Thornton S. Glide, Jr. and Katrina D. Glide Foundation, Los Angeles County Arts Commission, the Peter Norton Family Foundation, and the members of Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions.
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