Otis Installation In LA [33]

The exhibition of A Book About Death, organized by Mara Thompson, at The Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles opened on October 11 and runs through October 31. Here are some photographs of the installation lifted from Mara's Face Book Photo Album. The works were aligned along the bottom edge of a wall, and affixed above as they were in New York.  Visitors can create their own book in Los Angeles as well. Some 50,000 cards were sent via FED EX to Otis after the exhibition closed in September.

Photos: A tracing of Kate Harding on the window serves as counterpoint to the exhibition. Mara, Bibiana and Alexandra take a break after installing the works.  One visitor checks out Ray Johnson's works for his A Book About Death, the loose photocopied book that inspired the name of this current project. Posters designed for the show in New York were printed up (free high resolution PDFs are available on the main site, click here), and visitors were encouraged to do the same for themselves. Other views of the installation wall and visitors can be viewed here.

Mara reports that the opening was well attended, and that the President of Otis, Samuel Hoi was "intrigued" by the show. She writes: "While we were installing the show a staff member was giving a tour to some friends of the college, going into the adjacent Ben Maltz gallery.  They stopped to see what was going on and loved the concept, got sidetracked from the Ben Maltz and spent time walking the row.  One gentleman's grandfather had been on the Lusitania and took that card as well as several more."

Other exhibitions are currently being planned for Montreal, Savannah, Mexico, Belgium and possibly Wales, Budapest and elsewhere. If you would like to work with the exhibition to re-exhibit a complete set of the works, organize a panel discussion, create a sister event to go along with the works, please contact Matthew Rose (MATTHEW.ROSE.PARIS at GMAIL.COM) and we will do our best to assist you. Several artists and collectors have complete sets of the book and have made it clear they would be more than happy to lend it to organizers.

All materials for this "boîte en valise" – the exhibition in a box (or blog) – are free and easily used to set up the exhibition. Some organizers are using the entire catalog on the main site to create a slide show; others are printing the posters large on tyvek for outdoor installations, while still others are working out panel discussions, and inviting local communities to produce their own books for a live and ongoing new exhibition to go along with the original works.