Event Blog 1: The Catch by Lauren Bon and Metabolic Studio

            On April 25^th I visited The Hammer museum for the first time with my five-year-old daughter. As I read about Lauren Bon and Metabolic Studio before our visit, I was still not prepared for the experience that we would have. Opening the door to the dark room of The Catch my daughter was afraid to enter. It took some time for our eyes to adjust to the dark lighting and then she was comfortable enough to explore the room with me. The room had a very eerie feeling with the water lens sitting above the dark room with a white fabric draped around it and the rest of the room was painted black. In addition, to the stark visual of the exhibit there was an audio track that was playing sonic sounds created by moving water. As we were only in the room for less than ten minutes, I started feeling a little light headed as I am prone to migraines when lighting and sound are experienced at the same time in manner I am not accustomed to. I found the experience to affect my whole body in a very captivating and intriguing way.

 

“This work is about saying we need to do a lot better very quickly with figuring out two things: how to retain our water and how to send the rest of it out to the sea cleaner” (Bon). Lauren Bon, the founder of Metabolic Studio, thinks that it’s important, especially in Los Angeles, to conserve the clean water we do have and send the rest out to sea to get cleaned (Agsten). I was very inspired by her work for my midterm assignment. Learning that Lauren Bon was trained as an architect (Agsten) really reminded me of the focus from Unit 1: Two Cultures and this quote by Ramon y Cajal, “Only artists are attracted to science,” (Vesna). The Catch is part of a much larger project by Lauren Bon and Metabolic Studio called Bending the River Back into the City. This project will focus on getting clean fresh water to people in Los Angeles (Los Angeles River). I am really touched by the way her art can have such a huge positive impact on one of the biggest cities in our country. I definitely recommend looking into her work. 

 

Works Cited:

Agsten, Allison. "Hammer Projects: Lauren Bon and Metabolic Studio." The Hammer Museum. The Regents of the University of California, 7 Mar. 2015. Web. 30 Apr. 2015. <http://hammer.ucla.edu/exhibitions/2015/hammer-projects-lauren-bon-and-metabolic-studio/>.

Bon, Lauren. "Another City Is Possible | Bending the LA River." Another City Is Possible | Bending the LA River. Metabolic Studio. Web. 30 Apr. 2015. < http://anothercityispossible.com/bendingtheriver.html>.

Bon, Lauren. The Catch. Digital image. Hammer Museum. 7 Mar. 2015. Web. 30 Apr. 2015. <http://hammer.ucla.edu/exhibitions/2015/hammer-projects-lauren-bon-and-metabolic-studio/>.

"Los Angeles River." LA River Latest: The City of Los Angeles. City of Los Angeles, 3 Apr. 2014. Web. 30 Apr. 2015. < http://www.lariver.org/LARiverLatest/LACITYP_027961>.

Vesna, Victoria. “Neuroscience-pt1.mov” UC online program. Youtube, 17 May 2012. Web. 12 May 2015. < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzXjNbKDkYI&hd=1>.