Still from Doug Aitken’s ‘migration’ via Regen Projects
Doug Aitken’s film, ‘migration,’ makes its West Coast debut at Regen Projects in Los Angeles, along with an exhibition of new text-based light boxes. ‘migration,’ which was first shown at 303 Gallery in New York and then at the 2008 Carnegie International, shows a number of different wild animals in motel rooms across the US, acting as wild animals will do, but in settings unnatural, with only subtle variations. The film is shown at both of Regen Projects’ locations, projected outside of the Santa Monica Boulevard location from sunrise to sunset, and on a billboard inside the North Almont Drive location.
Doug Aitken [Artist's Page]
Doug Aitken [Regen Projects]
Doug Aitken’s ‘Migration’ at Regen Projects [LA Times]
Doug Aitken at Regen Projects Preview [SlamXHype]
Doug Aitken at Regen Projects [Sundance]
Doug Aitken’s Migration [KCET]
Doug Aitken: Migration [Daily Serving]
DOUG AITKEN – LOS ANGELES [Look Into My Owl]
Installation view of Doug Aitken’s ‘migration’ via Regen Projects
Doug Aitken’s ‘Free’ via Regen Projects
Doug Aitken’s ‘migration’ via Regen Projects
‘Migration’ is the first part of a film trilogy entitled ‘empire,’ and recalls the idea of the frontier, of the displacement and adaptation that occurs. Speaking to the LA Times, Regen said, “We’ve exhausted the frontier in terms of geography. It’s not even something that’s technological anymore. With technology, it’s like, OK, we can do it and it will be done, and if it’s not done now it will be done eventually. Whether it’s programming or code or anything — it doesn’t really matter and it’s not very interesting to me. I’m interested in people, in how people occupy space and how they negotiate what they do and why.” Aitken’s animals act as stand-ins for people, in an inversion of the American expansion of the western frontier. The motel rooms are anonymous and near replicates of each other, but no reaction is the same.
Still from Doug Aitken’s ‘migration’ via Regen Projects
Aitken’s light boxes use a juxtaposition of words, shapes, and photographs to explore ruptures, similar to those presented in ‘migration,’ that open up variables of interpretation. A view of a parking lot with the words ‘the handle comes up, the hammer comes down’ running through the image is cut into four light boxes shaped to spell the word, ‘FATE.’ A star shape shows the Los Angeles skyline at night.
Doug Aitken’s ‘migration’ via Regen Projects
Doug Aitken’s ‘migration’ runs September 12 through October 17, 2009 at Regen Projects and Regen Projects II in Los Angeles.
Doug Aitken’s ‘Heatwave’ via Regen Projects
Doug Aitken’s ‘migration’ via Regen Projects
Installation view of Doug Aitken’s light boxes at Regen Projects
Still from Doug Aitken’s ‘migration’ via Regen Projects
Installation view of Doug Aitken’s light boxes at Regen Projects
Doug Aitken’s ‘the handle comes up, the hammer comes down’ via Regen Projects
Doug Aitken’s ‘migration’ via Regen Projects
Doug Aitken’s ‘Now’ via Regen Projects
Doug Aitken’s ‘migration’ via Regen Projects
Doug Aitken’s ‘new horizon’ via Regen Projects
Installation view of Doug Aitken’s light boxes at Regen Projects
