Christina Linortner / Group XXIV, Apr 07 - Sep 07

THE MYSTERY OF LIFE

9/7/07 to 9/9/07

MAK Center for Art and Architecture L.A at the Schindler House, 835 North Kings Road, West Hollywood, CA

Christina Linortner investigated the public aspects of what Reyner Banham called the foothill ecology of Los Angeles — the homogenous private residential areas from the Pacific Palisades to Silverlake where the “fat life” takes place behind “laurel shrubs” (Banham). Although these appear to be private, segregated enclaves, the traditional distinction between the public and private realms has long been disrupted, in great part due to their reproduction in glossy magazines and movies and television shows. Using the format of interior design magazines, the project tracked the more or less invisible traces of domestic workers, such as housekeepers and gardeners, a population that forms an almost parallel society to the wealthy hillside residents. Linortner created a magazine that utilized published articles about the houses of celebrities and star architects as the basis for new pieces that incorporated story lines derived from interviews with domestic workers.