Artist Elena Kovylina explored the potency of the Hollywood dream in her project, Love After the Cold War. She wrote a screenplay, announced a new Russian-American co-production and conducted casting sessions for movie-star hopefuls. In the exhibition, she used the resulting material to highlight the discrepancy between the image Hollywood projects and the reality encountered in pursuit of the idealized dream.
Grupposenza, represented in L.A. by Benjamin Haupt, Robert Huebser and David Emmer, presented (Re-) Constructing Babylon. In the first phase of their project, they conducted field research into Los Angeles strip clubs, brothels, casinos, bars and cults, investigating their architectural manifestations. In the second phase, they collaborated with Heidi Fleiss to design the first brothel for women, to be located in Crystal, Nevada. In the exhibition, they presented day-to-day documentation of the research, design development and collaborative process with Ms. Fleiss.
In Custom Culture, artist David Moises presented his study of custom car culture through a series of sculptures made from manipulated vehicles and household appliances. All were available for use in the Mackey Apartments garage and driveway, with the artist intending the use of this locale to mimic both do-it-yourself ingenuity à la Popular Mechanics and a classic, American pattern for success. As noted, Hewlett- Packard, Ford Motors, Walt Disney and Barbie all began in backyard garages.
Sonia Leimer enacted a fictional sale of the Schindler House. For this, she worked with a local real estate company, planning to generate advertisements, stage the Schindler House and give a Sunday afternoon of tours. Her project, Open House, referred to the concept of the Kings Road House, which was planned to be a venue for open discussion, and to the operations of the real estate business. At the Mackey exhibition, she displayed her research via photos, video, drawings and found materials.
In appreciation for the hospitality they felt from art and architecture professionals, the residents also presented works by Los Angeles colleagues in the Mackey Penthouse. Exhibition artists included Jonathan Ballak, Mika Cho, Zoe Crosher, Skylar Haskard, Nicholas Kersulis, Mayumi Date, Arthur Ou, Nicola Staglich, Melissa Tolar, Sergio Torres and Richard Wearn. Rob Faucette performed the Heartsink Sound of Amy Radio, which was broadcast with an FM-sender throughout the apartments.