This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
Writer, actor, director and performance artists Miranda July has added museum-worthy sculptress to her resume, with a traveling installation that went on display this weekend at MOCA's Pacific Design Center location. "Eleven Heavy Things" is an interactive set of pieces that challenge the viewer to not only put themselves in the images created by the sculptures, but to also consider how we look at ourselves and others in our lives and society.
The shapes, some pedestals on which viewers can climb, some forms and panels with spaces for our heads, put us in the picture. Text on the pedestal bases work like narrative of the subconscious or the unspoken, and remind us that people we encounter--and even look up to--aren't necessarily as confident as we believe. It's also a reminder that we put pressure on people to be a certain way, when we ourselves might find those less-than-confident feelings hard to hold on to, too.
The work was first exhibited in a garden within Giardino delle Vergini for the 53rd International Art Exhibition at the Venice Biennale in 2009, and at Union Square Park in New York in 2010. "Eleven Heavy Things" is on the "rolling" lawn of MOCA at the PDC in front of the east end of the building on Melrose, and will be on display until October 23, 2011. Look, climb, explore and give it some thought.
