In her work, artist Alice Könitz explores the interaction of institutional structures, systems of display, public participation, and the built and natural environments. In 2012, Könitz founded the Los Angeles Museum of Art (LAMOA), a nomadic sculpture and experimental exhibition space that began as an open-air pavilion outside her studio in Eagle Rock. An architectural display system that functions as a site for public engagement, LAMOA is a dynamic platform in which other artists are invited to participate and artistic dialogues are constructed.

In this film, Könitz speaks about her exhibition Display Systems of the Los Angeles Museum of Art (2019) at Commonwealth and Council, a gallery that began as an artist-run space and has been located in Koreatown since 2010. Both LAMOA and Commonwealth and Council share a community-oriented sense of purpose and spirit of inclusivity. Here Könitz discusses works on view by artists represented by the gallery, including Carmen Argote, Clarissa Tossin, Jen Smith, Gala Porras-Kim, Beatriz Cortez, Katie Grinnan, and Olga Koumoundouros, and how utopic leanings tie them together.

Alice Könitz (born in Essen, Germany; lives and works in Los Angeles) has presented her work in numerous exhibitions including the 2008 Whitney Biennial (Whitney Museum of American Art, NY); the 2008 California Biennial and High Desert Test Sites; the 2014 Made in L.A. Biennial at the UCLA Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; the Main Museum, Los Angeles; Galerie Nächst St. Stephan, Rosemarie Schwarzwälder, Vienna; the Armory Center for the Arts, Pasadena; Commonwealth and Council, Los Angeles; LAXART, Los Angeles, CA; the MAK Center for Art and Architecture Los Angeles, Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles and Berlin Projects; the Lehmbruck Museum, Duisburg; Museum of the City of Mülheim an der Ruhr; Villa Arson, Nice; and the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery.

Könitz holds a master’s degree in fine arts from Cal Arts and an Akademiebrief and Meisterschülerbrief from the Kunstakademie in Düsseldorf.

She was awarded the DAAD fellowship for North America; the Förderpreis zum Ruhrpreis für Kunst und Wissenschaft; the Kreativkraftpreis der Stadt Mülheim an der Ruhr; and the COLA individual artist fellowship. In 2012, she founded the Los Angeles Museum of Art (LAMOA), an experimental exhibition space that the artist describes as a “platform for an organic institution that lives through participation.” LAMOA was featured in the Hammer Museum's 2014 Made in L.A. and won the Mohn Award for that year.

Crew Credits -

Production:
Creator and Executive Producer - Hernan Diaz Alonso
Producers - Marcelyn Gow/Reza Monahan
Segment Producer - Kavior Moon
Director - Reza Monahan
Director of Photography - Sean Morris
B Camera - Robert Moreno
C Camera - Solomon Turner
Lighting - Jinn Jeong
Sound Engineer - David Dadon

Post-Production:
Story Producer - Kavior Moon
Editors - Cal Crawford/Sean Morris/Reza Monahan

Soundtrack:
Ambient-Samurai - "BMG For Meditation #" from the album "A Week Before The Birthday Party"
Copyright: CC 3.0 BY-SHARE ALIKE

Additional Images Provided by Alice Könitz and Commonwealth and Council

©2019 SCI-Arc Channel