Re-arranging chairs in the L.A. river

The Los Angeles River has made cameo appearances in movies such as "Terminator 2: Judgment Day," "L.A. Story," "Grease," "Transformers 2" and "Point Break." Last weekend, the river took a lead role for a change, in a public art project created by the Outpost for Contemporary Art.

On Saturday, the collective mounted a project titled "This Here and That There," in which artist Vlatka Horvat continuously rearranged a series of 50 chairs in the river over the course of eight hours. The performance took place near Silver Lake, below the Fletcher Bridge in Elysian Valley.

According to the Outpost for Contemporary Art, each chair arrangement "implies a set of possible relations between their imagined occupants, evoking a range of possibilities related to human interaction: dialogue, encounter, communication and conflict."

Horvat, who was born in Croatia and is based in New York, realized a similar project in Germany in 2008 at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt in Berlin.

The L.A. version of the project comes at a time of renewed national attention on the mostly concrete L.A. River. The Environment Protection Agency recently declared that the river is "traditionally navigable," which may strike local residents as laughable but in fact will facilitate the river's restoration since it now falls under the Clean Water Act.

In case you missed Saturday's event, you can view more photos after the jump...

 

 ----

 
 

-- David Ng

Photo credit: Outpost for Contemporary Art / via Flickr

RECENT AND RELATED

Kayaking down the Los Angeles River

Massive graffiti scrawl finally being removed from L.A. River

Art and the L.A. River

Comments

[Sam]

Can't wait until a homeless guy takes those chairs and sells them at the junk yard. Lol she is walking in that dirty water with no rainboots or waders. Paracite city here she comes.

[Donald Frazell]

She obviously share something with the homeless guy, she doesnt have a job. Or any discernable skills, though homelss often have had some, just cant handle life anymore. something else artistes have in common with them. How about actually DOING something, rather than drawing attention to oneself, with obvious and adolescent illustrative "concepts"?

What is with all the "performance" artistes from the former Yugoslavia? After the silly old broad who was at MoMA, when she is obviously not Modern art, should have been in the art ghetto of PS1, there are shallow males doing this also, but damn, get a job. then come back with somethig real. Damn art schools, literally.

art collegia delenda est

[RS]

So this artist asks nothing of you and works outside in the public with the support of a non-profit. You as the viewer have the option to either
A. consider and possibly enjoy this work
B. ignore it

but instead it somehow makes you angry?

I love what Outpost does. I have a job. and I am pretty sure most artists do as well. But, I want to live in a world where I can see people who are doing some things for reasons OTHER than commerce. Definitely, keep it up. DON'T GET A JOB.

[Megan]

It is a beautiful gesture, those crisp white chairs against the muddy water of the LA "river". Bringing man made materials used for relaxation to a river that no one uses for recreation is a powerful conceptual statement about Los Angeles.

The stark white chairs are beautiful and definitely command the space - which against a large natural background - is difficult at any scale.

As for the comments below, the idea of artists being job less and wasting anything is just ignorant. Most artists use their own money to finance projects, apply for extremely competitive grants (which are more scarce than ever in this economy), and live a frugal lifestyle. Look at this piece, aside from documentation (photo, video) what is there to sell?

On that subject, I am always happy to see someone get off their ass to make something that people might find interesting or thought provoking instead of hurling insults from behind a computer screen.

Yeah, I said it.

[John S]

The project looks amazing! So wish i could have seen the performance live.

[Robey]

Hey Sam, the chairs were actually collected after the performance. And it's spelled 'parasite', with an 's', although the water seemed pretty nice actually.

Hey Donald, 'drawing attention to oneself' by way of 'adolescent' behavior seems to be something of an area of expertise for you, based on the other comments you've left strewn about. I believe your particular genre of choice is called 'trolling', with splashes of 'self-righteousness' and 'poor grammar'.

Also, you can't damn anything literally. It's a figure of speech... unless you're god. And you aren't god.

Oh hey, by the way, that's a fancy little latin quote you've made for yourself.

[Sally Jones]

Maybe Donald needs a job and that's why he's spending his time angrily writing mean things on the internet.

[Carolyn]

It was amazing to see the river activated in this way by art. Vlatka Horvat's piece was a thoughtful commentary on human relationships, how we engage, disengage, and negotiate in society. if anything, it brought people to the LA River, which is a treasure we all fail to experience enough of.

[Donald Frazell]

It is not a river, it is a runoff ditch of gutter water from people who water too much with misaligned sprinkers and automobile waste, and horses if near Atwater Village. rats and possum stuff too.

busy yesterday, late files as usual from skechers making me late for an engagment party my wife is bridesmaid in Malibu, damn those some white peopple. Thought i was in San Diego. Too many swirl couples for those folks. Yes, some of us have jobs, and make art, things that are of our comon cultur, not an inbred arscenet of childish self expression and exhibitionism. like anyone cares what this child thinks, except other kids. And why 99.9% of us stay away from contempt "art' as it is obviously adolescent, and irrelevant. It is not cultural, that is us. not you.

And contempt art is damned, it took God out long ago, the only concept of a common humanity truly worth evolving and working towards, for that is purpose, commitment and yes kids, sacrifice. No responsiblity in playtime in the big ditch. And yes, i have beenin its waste before modeling when dumb and young, some people jsut never grow up. Only bike riding hundreds of times down the San Gabriel since.

sorry about the "bad grammar', do have work to do, this is a blog kids, not a term paper. As artistes, thats all you ever do, illustrate absurdly irrelevant and simplistic concepts for Masters thesis. And you wonder why no one cares. YOU drove humanity away from art, and made it meaningless. Got better things to do, like raise our kids, pay our bills and taxes you want for art scenes, and look after one another, had many kids live with me. Mentoring and giving back means something to those of us who do, but only help those who help themselves, not irresponsbile furniture rearrangers.

art collegia delenda est! (means)
fine art collegs must be destroyed

Save the Watts Towers, tear down the rotten Ivories.

[us]

If DF represents the "99.9%", then we are very happy to be in the other 0.1% of humanity, which means that there are about 7 million of us - not a bad number.

[Donald Frazell]

No, in the USA it would be about 350k, thats about right. Art school grads and those dependant on the gallery/academic/museo complex. Thats so low a number it guarantees inbreeding, with all the repercussions, like rickets and hemophelia, signs of general weakness of mind body and soul that brought down the Hapsburgs and now Hanoverians. Enjoy your society paid medical bills, though we are about to pull the plug,. the patient has no hope, or reason, for survival
Time for virility, masculinity, femininity, and passion. About 20% of us can handle that, our national total dwarfiing you, in so many ways, 70 mil right here in our beautiful yet leached upon nation.

Signed, the silent and busy with life, love and integrity responsible folk.

[us]

Humanity includes about two hundred other countries too, therefore limiting it to ours only is terribly narrow-minded. And besides, US population is estimated to be about 309 million, so DF's numbers are incorrect even on that level too. More important, his percentages have no basis in anything factual and exist nowhere other than in his own delusional mind which is why they lead to such ludicrously erroneous conclusions.

[Donald Frazell]

Most of the world is not poluted and corrupted by art schools, only westernized nations, with some in China and india also who are pushed to market to westerners. Most nations have only their native traditions, thank god, and still have an evolved sense of form and color, and that ignored and distained part, meaning.

Only the sons of riches go to art schools, their spoiled over sensitve, hollow brats. Contempt art, like pop music, is ignored most places, only among the jet setters who are desperate to appear "cool" and into investment care about it. Shallow and worthless as this latest economic debacle has proven, modern painters have retained their worth, contempts have collapsed, as it is all about self absorbed entertainment, not art.

art collegia delenda est

[us]

Let's see - "westernized nations" include, at the very least, all of North America, Japan and virtually entire Europe. All those plus "some" (could be most?) of China and India - that is a total of over 3 billion people. In other words, nearly half of the world's population. Not too shabby. Frankly though, we felt more comfortable in a more modest-sized minority.

[Donald Frazell]

Good, stay in your gilded ghettos, and leave truth, beauty and the real world for us. Fantasy doesnt work for those who must work and have purpose, who amke teh world go round and ARE our common human culture. China and india only have a few, pushed by their governments to try and get some of the rotten meat at the table of consumerism. A far tinier percentage than .1% 309k in the US and perhaps the same in Europe and Japan, and another form around the world. Wow, one million out of over 6 billion. You really represent US.

And by your own words and actions, have shown yourself shallow, and without meaning. Your potential clientele are your rich parents, and those evil bastards who show up at the Venice Biennale in yachts, those you love to complain about, but feed the voracious and souless beast that is the "artscene".

Save the Watts Towers, Our Cathedral, tear down the decadent and self absorbed Ivories.

[us]

We have never claimed to be representing anyone but ourselves, while df is back to his percentages that are as baseless as ever. Besides, he is really barking up a wrong tree now. But, if it doesn't bother anyone and seems to make him a little less unhappy, let him keep barking - nobody gets hurt. Some of us actually enjoy reading fiction for entertainment.

[Donald Frazell]

Then you arent creative artists, not in the line of Phidias, Michelangelo, Goya, Cezanne and his sons Gauguin and van Gogh, or any of the best Modernists, Klee, Braque, Miro those other two guys, etc. And all those nameless artists from the caves of Lascaux, Knossos, Africa, PreColumbian America, Oceania, and cultures of Asia. Those who serve to create works that trigger intensity of mind, body and soul. Of humanity, nature and God. Those who are of life, not selfishness.

Yet you rely on their achievement to make yourselves seem important. You arent. You have no purpose, no meaning, no worth. So stay off the public media, you are a small inbred club, and not for the people, by the people or certainly of the people. You are effete, decadent, and useless. Have fun with that.

The weekend is here, time to get to real work, and get the magazine going. No, its not for you. Its for women who are disgusted by the fashion/lifestyle magazines, those evil rags that claim you can never be skinny enough, never good enough to hang with the decadents, that you must constantly reinvent yourself so as to sell their stupid products.

Oh, my bad. That would be you!

Have a nice day!
art collegia delenda est
no better example needed

[us]

There is no Michelangelo among us - wow, what an amazing revelation!
So many words, so little meaningful content. As usual, no factual basis for any of the claims - just the same highly delusional verbal diarrhea.
Considering the source, this latest tirade by df may be taken as a compliment. Alas, it is completely off its intended target. Thanks for good wishes anyway.

[Andreas J.]

Love it!

[Donald Frazell]

Because no one tries. If one has low goals, thats what wone will at best achieve. If one is only about career, then one spends most of ones time working on that. If one has defined art to mean something it never has or truly is, then one will produce something else. And so ignore art, and its purpose in humanity.

Which is where we stand today. Creative art that lasts is three things, alwys has, always will, there is no more new art than new economics. Both are about fleecing the customer. Academic thinking never goes away, and is for now, triumphant. For now.

I have given you data, but as usual, the art world sticks its head in the, er, sand.
Have a nice deluded life! Now get a job. Truth is in the real world, not the isolated gilded ghetto of the 'artscene".

Save the Watts Towers, tear down the decadent Ivories.