Julia Wieger / Group XXXVI, Apr 2013 - Sep 2013

SMILE

9/13/13 to 9/15/13

Mackey Apartments and Garages 1137 S. Cochran Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90019

Architect Julia Wieger researched Llano del Rio, the socialist colony that existed in the Mojave Desert from 1914-18. Her publication and poster project, REHEARSALS MOVEMENTS ARCHIVES WAVES REGIONS HELL GARDENS OWNERSHIP CITIES PERMACULTURE COSMIC RETROFIT DESIGNS AGGREGATION AGENCY LOUD ORGANIZING PUBLIC MAPS BICYCLES, reported on her research and was produced in the low-cost methods of the Llano del Rio print shop. Working with archival materials, Wieger researched the social and political structures of Llano del Rio, as well as its pre-modernist built environment. In conversation with historians, activists, and architects, she discussed the relationship between this historical example of a "failed" utopian experiment and contemporary urban issues in Los Angeles, with a special focus on the role of planning, design and building in this early attempt at alternative living. Her interview partners were Lois Arkin, founder of the Los Angeles Eco-Village; architect and researcher Liz Falletta; media and urban theorist Norman Klein; filmmaker and writer Mady Schutzman; architecture critic Mimi Zeiger; and artist and activist Robby Herbst.