Blindspot Initiative Group Exhibition

BLINDSPOT INITIATIVE GROUP EXHIBITION February 7-17, 2014 Opening Reception Friday, February 7, 6-10 pm Keystone Gallery 2558 North San Fernando Road Los Angeles, CA 90065 keystoneartspace.com Blindspot Initiative is a group of 10 artists, designers, and architects redefining the blurry landscapes of their disciplines and sharing the value of collaboration and open access to design ideation. Grown tired of the winner takes all mentality of competitions, they have come together to display work at Keystone Gallery in Los Angeles, a neutral ground to encourage conversations and installations which live outside the conventions of typical design outputs and practices. The Group Exhibition installations investigate large scale robotic 3D printing, complex data visualization, buildings and sound, interactive environments—both built and virtual, and design via collective gaming. Through built objects, video projections, and responsive systems, the Blindspot Initiative show explores relationships between sensation, computation & technology, and social engagement. EXHIBITORS Behnaz Farahi Nicholas Hanna Isohale/Catherine Griffiths Plethora Project/Jose Sanchez Michael Kontopoulos Luis Quinones Zach Schoch Myles Sciotto Somewhere Something Satoru Sugihara HOURS Free and open to the public Friday, February 7, 6-10 pm, Opening Reception Saturday, February 8, noon-9 pm, NELA Art Walk Sunday - Saturday, February 9-15, noon-5 pm Sunday - Monday, February 16-17 and all other times, by appointment WORKSHOPS In conjunction with the Exhibition, Blindspot exhibitors are conducting 3 weekends of Workshops (February 22-23, March 1-2, and March 8-9) covering a wide range architecturally driven topics: game design, visualizing data, Processing, robotics, inflatables, Maya, inventing landscapes, designing and building 3D printers, and visualizing sound. The exhibitors will share techniques and practices as well as collaborate with participants. All workshops are held at Keystone Art Space. FROM GAMING TO MAKING // Plethora Project/Jose Sanchez MAKING MACHINES THAT MAKE // Botlab/Zach Scoch iGEO // Satoru Sugihara INFLATABLES // Nicholas Hanna SHAPE MEMORY // Behnaz Farahi GEO DATA VIZ // Isohale/Catherine Griffith ARCHITECTURE & SOUND // Myles Sciotto TWILIGHT ZONE // Luis Quinones DESIGN FICTION // Michael Kontopoulos with Mike Manos ARMED FORCES // Somewhere Something/Jason King and Biayna Bogosian STATEMENT We chose Blindspot as our moniker because it implies radicality on the one hand, suggesting work that escapes conventions, but on the other hand implies skepticism and caution. We recognize that our scope is always partial and incomplete, and yet there is daring, even in its unacknowledged embryonic stages. Blindsopt Initiative emerges from this tension, inviting cross-discipline collaboration between practices at their various stages of development, inviting the emergence of a clearer vision. Our group of artists, designers, and architects have found that experimenting outside the conventions of traditional practice or those modes recognized by potential clients/developers makes it difficult to get work relevant to the research we conduct. Many turn to competitions, an unsustainable model that promotes secrecy and produces only one "winner." Instead of this exclusivity, we come together as equals in the Blindspot Initiative Group Exhibition. We have open-source ethos, drawing inspiration from cross- disciplinary collaboration. We want to include the audience in the discussion and exploration—our preference is for propagated, not proprietary knowledge. We see the opportunity to create a virtuous cycle between the exhibitors and our audience. We are committed to spreading the knowledge behind the work by providing clear video documentation and exhibition catalogs as well as through a series of workshops. Please join us: Nicholas Hanna, Luis Quinones, Behnaz Farahi, Zach Schoch, Jose Sanchez of Plethora Project, Jason King and Biayna Bogosian who with Sacha Baumann (not pictured) are Somewhere Something, Michael Kontopoulos, Satoru Sugihara, Catherine Griffiths of Isohale, and Myles Sciotto. (Clockwise from top left. Image stills from the successfully funded Blindspot Initiative Kickstarter campaign video. View the video here.) SPECIAL THANKS The Blindspot Initiative Group Exhibition, Workshops, and all of its archives are in part funded by the generous support of our Kickstarter campaign, thank you. We are also grateful for USC School of Architecture and Keystone Art Space for their support. MORE INFORMATION For further details, high resolution images, posters, postcards, and/or to set up a private viewing, contact: Sacha Baumann Managing Partner, SOMEWHERESOMETHING | SOMEFAB sacha@somewheresomething.com 323 382 8939