Image courtesy of the artist.
The MAK Center for Art & Architecture presents Inverted Dome, an exhibition of new work by Kristin Posehn at the Mackey Apartments Garage Top. Inverted Dome is an inquiry into the dynamics of light, technology, and perception generated by public architecture.
The exhibition’s central feature is an installation that reimagines the U.S. Capitol Dome as an inverted, open, and almost unrecognizable structure made of mirror, reflecting back both the environment and itself. Images of the Capitol Dome are continuously propagated by media organizations of all kinds—reproduced on web pages, news broadcasts, and social feeds—as if the building’s image has come to represent structures of power that are otherwise too abstract to locate. The room-sized installation is a container for holding and focusing light and its refractions, becoming a site for reflection on virtual mediation and transparency.
Inverted Dome references historical works of California light and space; augmented realities; architectures of the metaverse; considerations of public and private space; presence and absence; Monument to the Third International by Vladimir Tatlin; cryptography; information theory; and the mediation of power in daily life.
The exhibition includes an installation, a sequence of digital studies released online throughout the duration of the show, and a publication, which together suggest new spatial and experiential possibilities for public architecture.
Inverted Dome, 2022
Mirrored acrylic sheet
71 x 70 x 70 in.
Digital Study #1 (Mirror Chain), 2022
Digital sculpture
Release date: February 10, 2022
Instead of the inverted U.S. Capitol Dome currently installed within the physical gallery, in this virtual world we find a length of mirrored chain that stretches from floor to ceiling. Mirror Chain references both the concept of a blockchain first advanced by Satoshi Nakamoto in Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System, and the proliferation of cryptocurrencies that have followed in its wake. One is also invited to consider the phenomena of supply chains, chains that bind, and chains that are worn in popular culture to signal wealth and status.
Digital Study #2 (Azimuth Wave)
Digital sculpture
Release date: February 17, 2022
Azimuth is a type of angular measurement. It establishes an orientation in relation to a point of interest within a spherical coordinate system. The concept is typically used in navigation, mapping, astronomy, and other disciplines.
In everyday speech, a mirror is a surface that reflects back an inverted image of its surrounding environment. Mirrors in our homes are used for self-reflection, in our cars for navigation, and throughout cities as exterior cladding for skyscrapers. More broadly, a mirror is a wave reflector—optical mirrors reflect light waves, but other types of mirrors reflect audio or even atomic waves.
Digital Study #3 (Training Phantom)
Digital sculpture
Release date: February 24, 2022
The following excerpt from an interview between exhibition curator Aurora Tang and artist Kristin Posehn accompanied the digital study release:
TANG: How do you see these digital studies in relation to the physical exhibition?
POSEHN: It's been a back-and-forth evolution. As I was fabricating the sculpture, installing, and then documenting it, I was also 3D modelling the gallery. It was fascinating to be in the gallery and observe how light falls in the space at different times of day, and then go to my studio and juxtapose that with how light was being rendered in the 3D environment I was building. The conversations we've had in the gallery and responses from visitors have brought up new ideas that are filtering into the studies. It's been a way for the work to continue to unfold, respond, and reflect in real time.
Digital Study #4 (Chimera)
Digital sculpture animation
Release date: March 3, 2022
A chimera is an organism composed of multiple tissues with different genetic composition. In Greek mythology, a chimera is a hybrid being — part lion, goat, and snake. As an animation, Digital Study #4 (Chimera) morphs between three states in an infinite loop, reflecting an otherwise unseen backdrop all the while.
Casting Glances with Kristin Posehn: Inverted Dome
An informal listening event, featuring a playlist of audio tracks selected by artists, including: Kathryn Andrews, Scott Benzel. Holly Childs, Steven Chodoriwsky, Alice Könitz, Rita McBride & Glen Rubsamen, Linda Persson, Imogen Stidworthy, Nasrin Tabatabai & Babak Afrassiabi, Peter Wu+, Jayme Yen, and Andros Zins-Browne.
Sunday, February 20, 2022
2:00 PM – 5:00 PM
The Casting Glances Playlist:
Kathryn Andrews — Marking Time by Pauline Anna Strom, 2020, 4:28
Imogen Stidworthy — Telahumo by Nicholas Jaar, 2020, 14:20
Rita McBride & Glen Rubsamen — Tubular Bells Flipped and Reversed, 3:16
Alice Könitz — Petrachus Pot (sound recovered from an urn), :43
Peter Wu+ — Music for 18 Musicians: Pulses II by Steve Reich, 1998, 6:10
Jayme Yen — Smashmouth Playing in a Cave, 3:22
Andros Zins-Browne — Fearless Vampire Killers by Bad Brains, 1982, 1:07
Nasrin Tabatabai & Babak Afrassiabi — Structures for Sound by Francois & Bernard Baschet, 1963, 5:27
Linda Persson — Spirit Animal (original composition), 2022, 12:58
Steven Chodoriwsky — Crater Canticle (original composition), 2022, 2:50
Holly Childs — Meisou (Dark Slumber) by Geinoh Yamashirogumi, 1986, 5:11
Scott Benzel — Pandaemonium (original composition), 2022, 19:07
Publication Release
Schindler House
Friday, April 29, 2022
6:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Kristin Posehn: Inverted Dome is organized by Aurora Tang. This exhibition is made possible with support from the Pasadena Art Alliance and the MAK Center Patron Program.
Artists
Kristin Posehn
Kristin Posehn is an artist based in Los Angeles. She received a Ph.D. in Sculpture from the Winchester School of Art, Winchester, UK, and held a two-year research and production residency at the Van Eyck, Maastricht, NL. She has taught at Oxford University, Woodbury University, Winchester School of Art, and Duke University. Posehn was awarded the Hermine Van Bers Art Prize in 2009, and has received grants and commissions including from the Bonnefanten Museum, Museum De Paviljoens, Brooklyn Historical Society, and Netwerk Center for Contemporary Art. The Center for Art + Environment at the Nevada Museum of Art maintains a collection of materials from Posehn’s architectural installations, and dedicated a solo show to this work in 2017. Recent exhibits include Manic Castle Hash at Open Wall Salon / Binomial Nomenclature in Los Angeles (2020); and Substrata at EPOCH/Los Angeles Museum of Art (2021).
Related events
Opening Reception
Thu, Jan 22, 2022
6pm-8pm
Publication Release
Fri, April 22, 2022
6pm-8pm
Inverted Dome is organized by Aurora Tang.
This exhibition is made possible with support from the Pasadena Art Alliance and the MAK Center Patron Program.