Pie of Trouble. Stays Trouble. Belly on Belly. Let’s Hang. Breathe you infinite. Oxygenenergizer. Animal Creature Plant Breath Soul. The Energy Plan. Amorphous Hypersensibility. Do Ants Breathe? Nova. The Multiple Amorphous Us. Air For Free.
Gas at LAMAG
The Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery (LAMAG) was pleased to partner with Gas for a series of public programs in celebration of the galleries’ concurrent exhibitions titled Offal and Pie of Trouble. Stays Trouble. Belly on Belly. Let’s Hang. Breathe you infinite. Oxygenergizer. Animal Creature Plant Breath Soul. The Energy Plan. Amorphous Hypersensibility. Do Ants Breathe? Nova. The Multiple Amorphous Us. Air For Free.
The exhibition in Gas featured the work of Sonja Gerdes. Gerdes’s practice investigated the relationship and interactions between the body, energy, and air and what it means to be human. Her starting point was a conceptual science fiction project called Oxygenenergizer (OE), which explored a future in which machines create energy from oxygen and “breathing” is recognized as the connecting force between all life and spirits on the planet. It spoke poetically about the contemporary human condition as an ongoing, infinite, fluid, adaptive movement despite the stark reality of climate change. Taking the form of a custom site-specific installation including textiles, sculpture, sound, and prints, the Gas truck gallery was reconceived as a hub for the Oxygenenergizer. Visitors were invited to listen and mindfully breathe together within its structure, encouraging a sense of collectivity. This dimension was furthered by performances and interactive workshops that created meaningful dialogue around air and energy’s boundless potential. The exhibition created a gathering place centered on the breath as a vital aspect of the human experience, while giving concrete shape to urgent conversations regarding the environment.
Taken together, the exhibitions at LAMAG and Gas invited visitors to consider how food and breath intersect to shape the lived and living human experiences involving identity and community.
To celebrate both exhibitions, LAMAG was open for special extended hours on Saturdays from 11 – 7 PM.
Gas was parked by LAMAG on the following days:
Sunday, August 11 from 2 – 5 PM
Saturday, August 17 from 4 – 7 PM
Saturday, August 24 from 4 – 7 PM
Saturday, August 31 from 4 – 7 PM
Saturday, September 7 from 4 – 7 PM
Saturday, September 14 from 4 – 7 PM
Saturday, September 28 from 4 – 7 PM
About Gas:
Gas is a mobile, autonomous, experimental and networked platform for contemporary art. Located in a truck gallery parked around Los Angeles and online, Gas collaborates closely with artists to create experiences that foster community and connection while imagining alternative forms of cultural and critical production. The space’s inherently itinerant format reflects the fluidity of twenty-first century culture and art practice, while also allowing considerable independence and creative freedom in terms of concept, site, format, audience, and engagement. Gas offers an opportunity to rethink why, where and how we view art, whether the encounter happens while surfing the web or driving around Los Angeles, a city defined by its sprawl and car culture. Each season, Gas presents one thematic exhibition that includes works in the gallery and online. All shows include a fundraiser edition and a zine publication.
-LAMAG
3/25/2021
