NEW EXHIBITION AT LAX EXAMINES PUBLIC, PRIVATE, AND COLLECTIVE SPACES
(Los Angeles, California – April 28, 2017) Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA), in partnership with the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, debut a new art exhibition titled Gate Pass by Los Angeles artist Nicole Rademacher at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) Terminal 3 Ticketing Level through mid-September 2017.
Gate Pass explores correlations between private and public acts of personal protection as interpreted through the fixture of home gates. Rademacher documents these imposing physical boundaries through a three-channel, color, high-definition video and six photo dioramas, observing the daily occurrences both inside and outside the gates, while revealing connections of intimacy and formality, alienation and belonging, security and vulnerability.
Gate Pass hopes to create a dialogue with air travelers about security measures, a collective component of the air travel experience, encouraging reflection on issues of trust and protection.Rademacher’s video and photographs were created during her artist-in-residence in the Central Province of Kenya. She was drawn to Kenya to explore culture, cross-cultural communication, and the creative function of difference. After her arrival, she noticed the prevalence and grand physicality of gates installed at the entrance of homes and apartment complexes in both urban and rural areas.
“While front gates are common in many countries around the world,” says Rademacher, “these caught my attention as excessive monuments to protection.” She began to examine ideas of privacy and protection through interviews and observations of the people who lived behind or passed through the gates; her research revealed a shared need for security and the lengths we go to achieve a sense of safety and stability.
The three-channel video with three stereo sound mixes, making its public debut at LAX, prominently features a striking mint green, fortress-like gate in front of a middle-class apartment complex on the outskirts of Nairobi. The individual videos are separated by times of day (morning, afternoon, evening) and composed to be viewed simultaneously. The videos show the comings and goings of the apartment residents, children playing out front with homemade toys, and the apartment complex superintendent methodically sweeping the front entrance. The dioramas feature layers of photographs of gates, entrances, and doorways, the entries of each delicately cut to reveal the next image, creating an illusion where the monumental structures are staggered like miniature theater backdrops on a stage. By presenting quotidian activities and domestic settings she encountered in Kenya, Rademacher hopes viewers will contemplate the universal gestures and artifacts, and ultimately recognize what we have in common.
Note: This exhibition was originally installed in March 2016, but was placed on hold due to unforeseen renovations at LAX. The Department of Cultural Affairs and Los Angeles World Airports have graciously honored the original agreement to exhibit Gate Pass for six months without interruption.
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 fourth busiest airport in the world, second in the United States, and was named Skytrax’ 2017 Top 10 Most Improved Airports. LAX served more than 80.9 million passengers in 2016. LAX offers 742 daily nonstop flights to 101 cities in the U.S. and 1,280 weekly nonstop flights to 77 cities in 42 countries on 64 commercial air carriers. LAX ranks 14th in the world and fifth in the U.S. in air cargo tonnage processed, with more than 2.2 million tons of air cargo valued at over $101.4 billion. LAX handled 697,138 operations (landings and takeoffs) in 2016.
An economic study based on 2014 operations reported LAX generated 620,610 jobs in Southern California with labor income of $37.3 billion and economic output (business revenues) of more than $126.6 billion. This activity added $6.2 billion to local and state revenues and $8.7 billion in federal tax revenues. The study also reported that LAX’s ongoing capital-improvement program creates an additional 121,640 annual jobs with labor income of $7.6 billion and economic output of $20.3 billion, $966 million in state and local taxes, and $1.6 billion in federal tax revenues.
LAX is part of a system of two Southern California airports – along with 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.
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Nicole Rademacher, "Gate Pass" LAX, Terminal 3, Ticketing Installation view #2. On view to the public through mid-September 2017. Photo credit: Panic Studio LA
Nicole Rademacher, "Gate Pass" LAX, Terminal 3, Ticketing Installation view #1. On view to the public through mid-September 2017. Photo credit: Panic Studio LA
