This week, Downtown Los Angeles experimental performance space Automata celebrates the opening of Black Hole Family, an exhibition of recent work by artists and CalArts alums Jungsub Eom (Art MFA 23) and Laura Ohio (Art MFA 23).
Exploring the idea of a black hole, the two artists and friends worked separately, with Eom using fabrication to embody the thoughts triggered by the ungraspable concept and Ohio employing video and performance to contemplate the failure of vision.
Inspired by the new beginnings and fractures in their own lives, the artists were drawn to the black hole as a metaphor for family. Both are objects of infinite density. As the exhibition press release explains: “Like a black hole that sucks everything in, the family is always gestating an inevitable absence or incomprehensible loss. Black Hole Family is also about relationships with others that are mediated by pain.”
Ahead of the opening, Eom and Ohio worked in residence at Automata, reading, performing, and responding to the space.
The artist-run nonprofit Automata is “dedicated to the creation, incubation, and presentation” of experimental performance, including puppet theater, film, music, and contemporary art. It is co-directed by artists and CalArtians Janie Geiser, CalArts School of Theater faculty member, and Susan Simpson (Film/Video BFA 99), former faculty at the School of Theater.
On Friday, July 5, at 6 pm, Automata hosts an opening reception for Black Hole Family, featuring a performance by Ohio with legendary performance artist Barbara T. Smith.
