One year ago, Congress defunded public media. Now that we're 100% community funded, please become a sustaining member or increase your existing membership today.
This archival content was originally written for and published on KPCC.org. Keep in mind that links and images may no longer work — and references may be outdated.
LA artist building structure inspired by the Tower of Babel
Listen
1:47
LA artist building structure inspired by the Tower of Babel
LA artist building structure inspired by the Tower of Babel
California’s building boom may have slowed to a trickle – but not all builders have surrendered their hammers. In Claremont, an artist is building a two-story structure – inside the confines of an art gallery. KPCC’s Steven Cuevas has details.
Steven Cuevas: Kyungmi Shin stands near the top of an orange 12-ft ladder drilling a sheet of green Plexiglas into place.
Cuevas: She’s building “Babel: the Chaos of Melancholy” – a temporary installation at Pitzer College’s Nichols Gallery. Right now, it’s just a skeleton: long rails of scavenged wood, corrugated aluminum and Plexiglas that bend toward the gallery’s second story mezzanine.
Shin: Basically what I wanted to do was create this massive structure based on the Tower of Babel, but using really “shantytown” material.
Shin: It’s like this dream, ambitious reaching for the sky kind of an idea, but with material that is really available to the majority of people in the world as their only choice.
Cuevas: The tower’s “skin” will include pages torn from magazines – and colorful rice bags from Africa since Shin lives part time in Ghana. The tower will also cast a hand-painted shadow across the gallery floor.
Shin: The visual playfulness is a homage to the creativity I see so much everywhere, like people have to improvise to create a living environment and they create beautiful wallpapers from torn newspaper or magazine pages.
Cuevas: Kyungmi Shin’s “Babel: The Chaos of Melancholy” goes on public display later this month at Pitzer College in Claremont.
Sponsored message
One year ago, Congress voted to defund public media, eliminating a critical $1.7 million from our budget every year going forward. But they couldn’t silence us, and we’re not going anywhere. LAist is now 100% community funded and that means we’re taking our future into our own hands and turning to you to keep local reporting strong.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
Senior Vice President News, Editor in Chief
