Double Down: Two Visions of Vegas

Las Vegas has reinvented itself many times — from desert outpost to Sin City to mega-resort — yet still retains iconic status in our collective imagination. Half dream, half nightmare, the city captures a distinctively American mix of gumption and excess. Double Down presents a portrait of this spectacular environment through two recent video works, Olivo Barbieri's site specific_LAS VEGAS 05 and Stephen Dean’s No More Bets. Barbieri films Las Vegas from a helicopter, using a tiltfocus lens to render objects out of scale, transforming massive landmarks into souvenir-size miniatures. Dean's film draws us into the city's luminous signs, screens, and surfaces, abstracting the visual excess of Las Vegas and revealing beautiful, unexpected patterns of color and light. Exhibition Spotlight Double Down: Two Visions of Vegas Olivo Barbieri and Stephen Dean, artists Henry Urbach, Helen Hilton Raiser Curator of Architecture and Design, SFMOMA September 18, 2008 6:30 p.m. Phyllis Wattis Theater Barbieri and Dean explore the unique nature of Las Vegas through their video pieces, site specific_LAS VEGAS 05 and No More Bets, featured in the exhibition Double Down: Two Visions of Vegas. This program joins the artists with Urbach to discuss their work and the complexities of one of America's most dynamic urban playgrounds. SFMOMA