Installation view of Garage Exchange: Bend a Bow. Photography by Mark Escribano, 2012.
The MAK Center’s programming is guided by the imperative to promote dialogue and question boundaries, be they geographic or disciplinary. Key to this mission is the Artists and Architects-in-Residence program, which embodies these ideas by bringing international, early career practitioners to Los Angeles. In order to expand the cultural exchange at the core of the residency program, the Austrian Federal Ministry for Education, Arts and Culture and the MAK Center initiated a new, biannual exhibition series, Garage Exchange Vienna – Los Angeles, which invites Austrian and Vienna-based alumni residents to collaborate with L.A. artists and architects of their choosing at the Garage Top at the Mackey Apartments.
The first exhibition, Bend a Bow, was created by former resident Sonia Leimer in collaboration with artist Stephanie Taylor with the goal of investigating the layered dynamics of narrative and its construction. Because they felt her work resonated with theirs, the artists invited acclaimed avant-garde filmmaker Barbara Hammer to include her film Bent Time as part of the installation.
This exhibition was made possible by the Austrian Federal Ministry for Education, Arts and Culture.