ARTIST SCULPTS MEMORY INTO MYTHIC CITY IN NEW EXHIBIT AT LOS ANGELES INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT
(Los Angeles, California – January 25, 2016) Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA), in partnership with the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, announces a new art installation by Los Angeles artist Deborah Aschheim in the new Tom Bradley International Terminal at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) that focuses on how memory and place are experienced during travel.
Aschheim’s site-specific installation titled Camelot contains large-scale, glowing white sculptures inspired by personal memory, architecture, and the constantly changing nature of cities. Featuring a mash-up of urban architecture from around the world, Aschheim created a “dreamscape” of intentionally modified, out-of-scale, hybridized, torn-down, or never-built buildings that give form to the imagined mental state of a disoriented international traveler. The artwork attempts to respond to the state of mind of passengers who are arriving after a long flight, possibly processing the sensations of multiple cities visited. The traveler is in a kind of limbo, a state of mind that the artist considers dreamlike and poetic. The installation is on view in the Customs Hallway, Arrivals Level for ticketed passengers through May 2016.
Camelot references how people remember or misremember places and buildings. Groupings of translucent white architectural structures lit with white LEDs form a luminous landscape to resonate with travelers’ memories of different international cities. Material similar to what an architect may use to create a model of a building are used, in this instance, Coroplast corrugated plastic, but instead of creating a slick, perfect model, she prefers that her buildings have a handmade quality, thereby connecting with her memory of the building versus creating a perfect carbon copy of the building. To further lend a dreamlike quality to the sculptures, she coats them with Golden Open Acrylic (Matte) Medium, a liquid material that gives them a ghostly finish, and illuminates them from within using varying shades of white LED light. The resulting sculptures appear mysterious and hazy, a visual representation of a liminal space, bridging the actual world and a mythical universe. As Aschheim states, “The world we see is a personal experience. This installation offers a visual metaphor for how we record, process, retrieve, and share memories and experiences that exist inside our minds.”
About Los Angeles World Airports Art Program
The mission of the LAWA Art Program is to enhance and humanize the travel experience by providing diverse and memorable art experiences throughout the airport. The Art Program includes temporary exhibitions, permanent installations, and cultural performances. With an emphasis on local and regional artists, the Art Program provides access to an array of contemporary artworks that reflect and celebrate the region’s creative caliber. For additional information, please visit lawa.org.
About Los Angeles International Airport (LAX)
LAX is the fifth busiest airport in the world and second in the United States. LAX served nearly 70.7 million passengers in 2014. LAX offers 692 daily nonstop flights to 85 cities in the U.S. and 928 weekly nonstop flights to 67 cities in 34 countries on 59 commercial air carriers. LAX ranks 14th in the world and fifth in the U.S. in air cargo tonnage processed, with over two million tons of air cargo valued at nearly $96.3 billion. An economic study in 2011 reported that operations at LAX generated 294,400 jobs in Los Angeles County with labor income of $13.6 billion and economic output of more than $39.7 billion. This activity added $2.5 billion to local and state revenues. LAX is part of a system of three Southern California airports – along with LA/Ontario International and Van Nuys general aviation – that are owned and operated by Los Angeles World Airports, a proprietary department of the City of Los Angeles that receives no funding from the City’s general fund.
As a covered entity under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the City of Los Angeles does not discriminate on the basis of disability and, upon request, will provide reasonable accommodation to ensure equal access to its programs, services, and activities. Alternative formats in large print, braille, audio, and other forms (if possible) will be provided upon request.
High-resolution images available upon request.
