Downtown Los Angeles-based experimental performance venue Automata presents Ray Chang’s (Film/Video MFA 20) kinetic sculpture installation Automated. The three-day exhibition opens with a reception on Friday, April 21 and runs through Sunday, April 23.
The “singular, uncanny” work was originally developed as Chang’s Experimental Animation MFA thesis at CalArts. More about the work from the official press release:
AUTOMATED experiments with the juxtaposition of optical phenomena and urban experience by presenting the cyclical nature of daily life through the lens of mechanical processes and cinematic principles. Constructed with wood, 3D printed elements and motorized with DC motors, the sculptural elements depict the interplay of shifting lights and shadows in relationship to the analog animated cycles existing within the installation landscape. Viewers are invited to spend time and move around the space to experience this kinetic arrangement of devices as a holistic, metaphorical, pre-cinematic panorama.
Though originally slated for exhibition in late spring 2020, pandemic restrictions postponed its premiere. The exhibition at Automata allows Chang’s work to be experienced as originally intended: “as a time-based installation in a darkened space.”
Automated was created with support by a 2019 grant Chang received from The Princess Grace Foundation, as well as from the Hillenburg family.
Chang is a Taiwanese American artist whose work investigates automation, visual phenomena and feelings of alienation. In 2020, he was awarded an Automata artist residency, and was selected for the Association for Independent Colleges of Art and Design’s (AICAD) post-graduate teaching fellowship the following year.
