MIKA TAJIMA: PSYCHO GRAPHICS
Presented in partnership with Jessica Rich & the City of West Hollywood’s Arts at 8410 & 9039 Sunset Boulevard
Press Release
LOS ANGELES, CA— Premiering October 1st 2019, New York City based artist Mika Tajima will unveil “PSYCHO GRAPHICS”, a new public art project in Los Angeles presented by the non-profit Art Production Fund, in collaboration with Jessica Rich and the City of West Hollywood’s Arts Division. Presented on four large-scale digital billboards overlooking Sunset Boulevard, the video work features Tajima’s collaboration with ballet dancer Alexandra Jacob, known for combining bondage aesthetics with formal ballet technique. Using contortion techniques that demonstrate her physical limits, Jacob abstracts her body as it mimics a language that ultimately appears alien. Consequently the embodied practice of dance and its regimented movement slowly reveals a message to the viewer acknowledging our shared ortho-architectonic reality.
The term “Psychographics” refers to the ambient technological infrastructure that control and shape our lives by predicting our actions and desires from the raw input of shared psychologies of individuals. Applications of such predictive technology are prevalent in politics, military, and marketing intelligence. Drawing on the tension of freedom and control, this video work underlines Tajima’s ongoing investigation into the bodily and psychic experience of power through her multi-disciplinary practice. The work will be on view for one minute every ten minutes from October 1, 2019 through November 31, 2019 on the digital billboards at 8410 and 9039 Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles.
“I’m excited to be partnering with APF to present a new public arts project in Los Angeles. This new work deepens my investigation of the bodily and psychic experiences of power. Particularly as technology pervades all, I’m interested in the tension between control and freedom.” – Mika Tajima.
“We are thrilled to bring Mika Tajima’s important work to the vast audience that passes along Sunset Boulevard daily. Mika’s interest in the latest technologies and the processes of sharing information make the City of West Hollywood’s digital billboards a natural venue for this timely work.” – Casey Fremont, Executive Director of Art Production Fund.
This project is presented with generous support from the 7G Foundation. Special thanks to cinematographer Jarred Alterman, DI Facility Nice Dissolve, colorist Brian Boyd, Howie Chen for consultation, assistants Laura Hunt and Alex Ito, and Kayne Griffin Corcoran for additional support.
MIKA TAJIMA was born in Los Angeles, CA lives and works in New York, NY. She holds a BA in Fine Arts andEast Asian Studies from Bryn Mawr College, Bryn Mawr, PA, and an MFA from Columbia University, School of the Arts, New York, NY. In Fall 2019, Tajima will unveil new works to be included in the Okayama Summit 2019 curated by Pierre Huyghe followed by an exhibition of new work at Kayne Griffin Gallery, Los Angeles. Selected exhibitions include: Æther at Borusan Contemporary, Istanbul, Turkey; TOUCHLESS, Taro Nasu Gallery, Tokyo, Japan;Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Harford, CT; Embody, 11R, New York, NY; COLORI, Castello di Rivoli and GAM, Torino, Italy; All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France; Meridian (Gold), Sculpture Center, New York, NY. Public collections include: Whitney Museum of American Art, NY; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA; Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX; Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.
ALEXANDRA JACOB began her ballet training at the age of eight in Berkeley, CA. For ten years, she was a member of the Dance Theatre of Harlem, then under the direction of Arthur Mitchell and later Virginia Johnson. Lowell Smith, Royston Maldoom, Michel Fokine, and George Balanchine. She has recently collaborated with Zana Bayne, Rita Minissi's Things Power Themselves, Dirty Churches, Lou Dallas, Kanye West's Yeezy line, Nick Mauss's Transmissions Exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art, Ladyfag, and Charlie Le Mindu.During her tenure, she performed featured roles by Arthur Mitchell, Peter Pucci, Donald Byrd, Christopher Huggins, Lowell Smith, Royston Maldoom, Michel Fokine, and George Balanchine. She has recently collaborated with Zana Bayne, Rita Minissi's Things Power Themselves, Dirty Churches, Lou Dallas, Kanye West's Yeezy line, Nick Mauss's Transmissions Exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art, Ladyfag, and Charlie Le Mindu.
THE CITY OF WEST HOLLYWOOD is committed to providing accessible arts programming for residents and visitors. The City delivers a broad array of arts programs through its Arts Division including: Art on the Outside (temporary public art), Urban Art Program (permanent public art), Summer Sounds, Winter Sounds, WeHo Reads, Free Theatre in the Parks, Arts Grants for Nonprofit Arts Organizations, Library Exhibits and Programming, the City
Poet Laureate Program, Human Rights Speaker Series and the One City One Pride LGBTQ Arts Festival. For more information: www.weho.org/arts For more than 30 years, the City of West Hollywood has demonstrated that it is like no other city in the world. West Hollywood has become one of the most influential small cities in the nation. A strong spirit of community activism and civic pride thrives in the City and people from all over the globe visit to
experience its iconic destinations such as the rainbow crosswalks and LGBT clubs on Santa Monica Boulevard (historic Route 66), trendy shopping on Melrose Avenue, and nightlife on The Sunset Strip. Follow the City on social media @WeHoCity and @WeHoArts.
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