15 Jan Peephole Cinema hosted by Automata
The peephole will be open and available to the public 24/7 for the next year
504 Chung King Court in the Chinatown District of Los Angeles
(Peephole is located in the alley behind the gallery)
Single Vision:
Nearly two hundred years before the invention of cinema, the peepshow, raree show, or boîte optique—a closed box with at least one peephole revealing a hidden “view”—was a form of both visual entertainment and optical experimentation. Peephole Cinema revives this unique viewing apparatus, along with the attendant tensions it produces between public and private, authorized viewing and voyeurism, and seeing and being seen, for those strolling Chung King Road. The films featured, Oculus Solus by Allison de Fren and One Eye by Laurie O’Brien, are reflexive meditations on the singular vision produced by the act of seeing with one eye.
About the project:
Peephole Cinema is a “miniature cinema” collective with satellite projects in three cities: San Francisco, Brooklyn, and Los Angeles. In each city, silent film shorts are screened 24/7 through a dime-sized peephole installed in a public location. Peephole Cinema LA is run by Allison de Fren, Brian Cantrell and Laurie O’Brien and is installed behind and hosted by Automata. This is an “exquisite corpse” curatorial project; the current curator will choose his or her replacement every two months for an entire year.
About Automata:
Automata is an artist-run Los Angeles non-profit, located in the Chinatown District of Los Angeles. Founded in 2004 by artists Susan Simpson and Janie Geiser, Automata is dedicated to the creation, incubation, and presentation of experimental puppet theater, experimental film, and other contemporary art practices centered on ideas of artifice and performing objects. Automata seeks to radically redefine and re-contextualize the notion of object performance, locating it at the intersection of contemporary performance, media, visual art, sound art and experimental writing. Automata is dedicated to creating and nurturing new work that is engaged in cutting edge art practices, and in deep conversation with our contemporary culture of simulation and mimicry while embracing the aura of the handmade and hand-operated.
Automata
504 Chung King Court Los Angeles, CA 90012
(213) 819-6855
Map It
Visit Peephole Cinema Website
Visit Automata Website
