Annja Krautgasser / Group XIX, Jan 05 - May 05

OPEN HOUSE / OPEN STUDIO

5/13/05 to 5/13/05

MAK Center at the Mackey Apartments, 1137 - 1141 South Cochran Avenue, Los Angeles, CA

Group XIX offered a program of Final Projects multi-media presentations on Friday, May 13, 2005 from 7:00 to 10:00 p.m. Presented in the courtyard of the 90% renovated Mackey Apartments, the multi-media installation transformed the building’s rear windows into a screening facility. Newly re-stuccoed and with all new windows, the R.M. Schindler-designed apartment complex lent a fresh, clean-edged ambiance to the evening. The multi-media presentations presented image research gathered throughout the residency and related work-in-progress.

In “Remember Me," Annja Krautgasser and Dariusz Krzeczek explored the phenomenon of spatial memory and the problem of orientation in the monolithic urban landscape of Los Angeles. Generally, a person utilizes memories of landmarks to orient him/herself in a city, but L.A. presents special challenges with its elaborate system of street numbers as the only means for navigating apparently endless, undifferentiated roads. “Remember Me” analyzed the structure of L.A. street numbers in comparison to the real street and block raster of the city—which were obviously not identical—to point out the situation of using a street system as a grid or tool of orientation in a seemingly abstract urban landscape.