Monday, November 17, 2008

The Machine Project at LACMA

(There's art in this post but none of it is mine.)

I went to LACMA to see the Machine Project last Saturday (http://machineproject.com/). In a nutshell, it was a day filled with installations and performance art scattered throughout the museum.
By ten, my feet were sore and my camera was full. Here's just some of the cool stuff that was there:

Greeting you in the grand entrance was a huge cardboard model of the museum:



This was really cool to watch. I only wish I kept recording through Smoke On the Water and Hungarian Rhapsody. They're totally different songs when played on precision glass.


I couldn't watch this pair descend the stairs backward. I guess if you're going to die, it's best to have company.


Every hour on the hour, a speed metal guitarist emerged from this arch and played. At night, he wore a hooded cloak and red lights illuminated the smoke.


Here's the outside of one of Richard Serra's sculptures:


And here's the inside:


This telephone would randomly ring in the Ahmanson Building. But there was a catch...



The humble readers hid beneath a stairway below:


An early Iron Man prototype:


But it's best to see him in action:


There was a birdhouse workshop on the 3rd floor of the Art of the Americas Building. Any birdhouses made that day were attached to existing structures and branched out as the numbers increased. It was avian sprawl at its finest.



The houses were species-specific. I chose the chimney swift, whose house featured an oval door, mood lighting, and a hardwood floor.

But there was a bonus feature: a recessed area in the back for (I kid you not) a bat roost. (Those scratch marks are for the bats to cling to.) After the event, they bring the birdhouses to you and install them. So now I have to come up with a cool name for my pending pet bat.


This guy almost made it the whole day:


There were multiple video presentations at 8, but inbetween them were performances by Lasagna Cat (www.lasagnacat.com). I REALLY hope someone serves up Family Circus like this.








Anyway, cheers!