SHANGRI L.A.： Architecture as a State of Flux Artists: Anibal Catalan Debbie Hu Ricks & Cedar Miller Infranatural Marcos Lutyens, Daniela Frogheri & Fernando Meneses Marcos Novak Oyler Wu Collaborative James Rojas Chris Tallon In addition to the main gallery, Marcos Novak will be exhibiting in the project space, and Anibal Catalan will be exhibiting in the lobby gallery. The hallway in the 1653 building will feature work by the Santa Monica College Fine Art Mentor Program, works selected/curated by Ronald Lopez. Shangri-La, as normally spelled, refers to a fictional place in the Far East first described in Lost Horizon, a novel by British author James Hilton, and later popularized in a movie by Frank Kapra with the same name. Colloquially, the term Shangri-La has become synonymous with an earthly paradise or utopia, and also with seemingly unattainable dreams or goals, carrying both positive and negative connotations. The title for the current exhibition, Shangri L.A.: Architecture as a State of Flux, takes its cues from these ideas. The prospects of Los Angeles or any major city really becoming a utopian paradise would seem an unattainable goal, especially in the light of recent economic shifts in Los Angeles, California, the United States, and the world. Aligned, however, with the overarching program Los Angeles 2019: Almost Utopia, Shangri L.A. deals with the future of architecture in Los Angeles as something much closer to thought, desire, and perhaps science fiction, than one which has a literal corollary, as of yet, in the outside world. The works in Shangri L.A. approaches architecture as something fluid and ephemeral, at times virtual, interactive, recycled and purely cosmetic, building on and dissecting what is already there, exploiting in between spaces, and shifting as needs, values, emotions and desires shift. Instead of trying to rebuild a city from the ground up (which would be an ecological nightmare), perhaps with these strategies one can conceive of transforming, some day, the urban landscape as acts of transgression by individuals and small groups, within one’s own means, and by any means necessary, not unlike an artist deals with a site specific installation. This exhibition celebrates architects, and non-architects, who make work that serves as visual/structural enhancers and pressure valves which might one day help Los Angeles or a city like it be more fun and less monotonous, more livable and less alienating. Will the end result be utopian or even almost utopian? As Le Corbusier, the Constructivists, the Bauhaus and Schindler were challenging notions of architecture from the prior century, a new wave of artists and architects are challenging and building upon the innovations of the 20th century. Although some of the assumptions of these historical figures may have proven to be erroneous, the influence of the forms they created, and the ubiquity and triumph of Modernist design and architecture is undeniable. Perhaps ten or a hundred years from today, some of the artists in this exhibition will have a similar influence.