Art Review: Protest on Main St

The August Downtown Art Walk saw the Los Angeles Community Action Group  jaywalk into the art world with a public art installation that improvised itself into performance art while snickering at authority with mischievous glee.  Temporary  housing became an alchemical as names of those declared responsible for impoverished residents were documented  on tents and boxes placed at a visible section of an art walk locale.

Theatrical social protest of early ’70s activism were mixed with prattle of street urgency on three tents and two cardboard boxes lined up neatly on the curb.  On the installation elements messages ranging from "With no affordable housing, we live here" (with a graphic showing an arrow pointed to the streets against a skyline of historic hotels) sat next to a simpler typographical treatment reading "Save Our Home".  A direct call to City Council was made with one tent called "Perry's Palace" that was set against City Hall. Two small carts filled with possessions completed the installation.

The traditional call to action of  LACAN's visceral protest against gentrification was in seen in the form of a performer dressed as a dinosaur––a modified Godzilla that I will call "Skidzilla"––who hovered over the symbolic tent city.  The result was an almost successful and canny stage setting reminding one of the San Francisco Mime Troupe, the company who spent decades performing art with social protest in humble environs. The tattered costume itself even allows added interpretation that development is creating gentrification and is made from civic policy that can unravel at any time.  

Team LACAN's installation added another layer of street theater as a LAPD unit parked in front of the tent city.  Across the street, members of LACAN video taped themselves placing a "Save Our Homes" sign on the squad car and posing for prosperity. "Skidzilla"  himself added protest iconography by standing in front of the unmoving car, sans driver, that later reminded me of the June 5, 1989, unknown rebel of  Tiananmen Square who placed himself in front of advancing tanks.

However, the additional symbolism that would be a generous description of intent as the "Skidzilla" wear may very well be tattered by  ineffective fabrication of materials, and the positioning in front of  a police unit was mere convenience––rather than social subtext.

As LAPD returned to the vehicle, applause from the protestors grew when LACAN spokesperson Pete White requested the officers to  pose with the sign before driving away, creating the most interesting aspect of what became Act 2. Amused by the sudden collaboration that became improvised satirical commentary, one LACAN supporter was inspired to direct others to take cider in plastic cups and "walk around the streets like they were filled with wine" –– a direct response to gallery goers who were targeted and taped taking alcohol in the streets during a opening reception earlier in the year.

This experimental attempt at art installation may, or may not have been, influenced by the growing art community now seen on The Nickel. There is a clear irony for the group speaking for others of being overshadowed by a neighboring community, yet  have in possession and on display Richard McDowell's Skid Row street signs. LACAN took an artistic risk in trivializing their own rage.

The untitled art became a contradiction to their own social––and now aesthetic––demand of  thought and people not to be censored, exploited, hidden or forgotten.

Untitled Main St Tent City Project
Los Angeles Community Action Group (LACAN)
Street installation with performance art
Downtown Art Walk
Main St n/o 5th St (Aka The Nickel)
Los Angeles
August 9, 2007

 

Comments

[Spartacous Cacao]

His Name is GENTZILLA, he is representative of the current housing Crisis in LA. currently there is a lack of affordable housing and none being built to replace the affordable housing being lost to Condo conversions and demolitions.

Gentzilla was created by Artist,
Spartacous Cacao