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You are here: Home / LACE / 2000-2004 / Strange Animal

Strange Animal

October 15 – December 10, 2004

Organized by Giovanni Jance
in conjunction with Andrea Zittel and High Desert Test Sites

In the experimental and social spirit of High Desert Test Sites – a series of experimental art sites located along a stretch of desert communities – past and present participants (not known for their collaborative efforts) of the HDTS have been provided a space in the city wherein a single parameter is set; that is, each participant must somehow interact or intervene in the making or presentation of another participant.

Like HDTS, and inspired by it, the exhibition Strange Animal provides a period of time and space that serves as a catalyst for people to gather in what amounts to an arbitrary place to discuss each other’s work in the process of putting it together.

Because participants are responsible for the fabrication and installation of their works, they inevitably end up helping each other, discussing and sometimes altering their projects. What is proposed versus what is manifest may not always equate. Strange Animal, like HDTS, is not as much place specific as much as it is social event specific.

HDTS may be thought of as a kind of computer with a variety of interfaces into which one can plug, play media, unplug, and depart. Sometimes the media are interactive, sometimes not. Sometimes it works, sometimes it does not. With this in mind, we have invited twelve people to participate in the Los Angeles satellite of HDTS: Justin Beal, Jedediah Caesar, the cake society, Kate Costello, Shannon Ebner, Fabienne Lasserre and Christy Gast, Marie Lorenz, Matt Lorenz, Pentti Monkkonen, Jennifer Nocon, Jim Skuldt and Dick Slessig. This like generation of recent MFA graduates from across the country will together (and also separately) embark on an unscripted melding of performative installation and sculpture. All artifacts from the contributors’ participation become part of the event.

Click here for Radio Free High Desert Test Sites Playlist

Additional artists working in collaboration with Jedediah Caesar have provided small edition posters, including: Simon Bloor, Tom Bloor, Sky Burchard, Nathan Carter, Feral Childe, Drew Dominick, Craig Dongoski, Fritz Haeg, Gustavo Herrera, Marie Lorenz, Gene Moreno, David Pham, Pruess Press, Tyson Reeder, Jaime Sims, the cake society, Sarah Vanderlip, and Patrick Wymore

Filed Under: 2000-2004, Exhibition, LACE Tagged With: 2004, Craig Dongoski, David Pham, Dick Slessig, Drew Dominick, Exhibition, Fabienne Lasserre and Christy Gast, Feral Childe, Fritz Haeg, Gene Moreno, Giovanni Jance, Gustavo Herrera, HDTS, High Desert Test Sites, imon Bloor, installation, Jaime Sims, Jedediah Caesar, Jennifer Nocon, Jim Skuldt, Justin Beal, Kate Costello, Marie Lorenz, Matt Lorenz, Nathan Carter, Patrick Wymore, Pentti Monkkonen, Pruess Press, Sarah Vanderlip, Shannon Ebner, Sky Burchard, Strange Animal, the cake society, Tom Bloor, Tyson Reeder

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LACE recognizes our presence on Tovaangar, the unceded ancestral lands of the Gabrielino-Tongva people who are its rightful caretakers.

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News

LACE’s Lightning Fund Opens August 15, 2025!

PRESS RELEASE: Announcing LACE’s Next Emerging Curators

Announcing the 2025 Lightning Fund and Jacki Apple Awards

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LACE (Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions)

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VideoLACE is now live as part of the LACE Digital VideoLACE is now live as part of the LACE Digital Archive! Check out the link in our bio to watch documented performances from the last few years with more to come. Explore documentation from LACE projects including “This Home, Forever” (2025), “ENDURANCE” (2025), “ABUNDANCE” (2024), and “APOLAKI” (2023).
“A Tender Excavation” approaches research-base “A Tender Excavation” approaches research-based artistic practices through propositions of alternative histories, bringing together a group of artists who work with historical and familial photographic archives as a point of departure to construct new narratives and elicit transformation.

LACE is thrilled to introduce three of the artists featured in the exhibition...

❥ Jamil G Baldwin (@juh_mile) was born in Lancaster, CA and raised in and across the Inland Empire and Los Angeles. Baldwin’s work explores the ability of the photographic document to reconstitute the histories of images and material into value systems of care.

❥ Camille Wong (@camillexwong) is a research-based artist living in Los Angeles, CA. Their practice examines power, geopolitics, and historiography through the lens of media and spectacle. They approach the gaze of ethnography by authoring the personal into the world through experimental documentary.

❥ Artemisa Clark (@bustilacaca) is a multidisciplinary artist from Los Angeles. She received a MA in performance studies from Northwestern University in 2016 and a MFA in visual arts from the University of California, San Diego in 2015. She has exhibited and presented research in spaces such as MOCA, The Hammer, the Mexican Consulate, the Vincent Price Art Museum, and more.

Join us at the opening reception on Saturday, November 1, 2025 from 2–5 PM at CSULA’s Luckman Gallery. Light refreshments will be provided. RSVP at the link in our bio.

Support for this exhibition is provided by the Teiger Foundation.
Swipe to see selections from LACE’s archive over Swipe to see selections from LACE’s archive over the last almost 50 years!

LACE is excited to announce that we will be at the Los Angeles Archives Bazaar this Saturday, October 18, at CSULA! The event will feature 80 local and regional collections, along with practical workshops and exclusive presentations by archivists, filmmakers, and preservationists.

This year’s Archives Bazaar is presented by the LA as Subject Research Alliance in partnership with the USC Libraries, the Cal State LA University Library, and the Cal State LA Pathway Programs Office.

The Archives Bazaar runs from 10–3 PM in the Golden Eagle Ballrooms at Cal State LA. Admission is free. For the full program and exhibitor list, visit laassubject.org.

Slide 1: “The Archival Impulse: 40 Years at LACE” (March 15, 2018 – November 7, 2021). Photos by Chris Wormwald (@christopherwphoto).
Join LACE and multidisciplinary artist Marnie Webe Join LACE and multidisciplinary artist Marnie Weber (@marnieweberstudio) on Thursday, November 13 from 7-9 PM at the Philosophical Research Society (@philosophical_research_society) for the Los Angeles premiere of her latest film, “House of the Whispering Rose” (2025). The screening will also feature Weber’s film “Song of the Sea Witch” (2020).

Filmed at the historic Beverly Estate in Beverly Hills, where silent film star Marion Davies and William Randolph Hearst shared their final days, “House of the Whispering Rose’’ takes place against a backdrop of forgotten wealth and grandeur.

Following the screening, LACE’s Curator and Director of Programs Selene Preciado (@selene__preciado) speaks with Marnie Weber to learn more about the making of the films and her collaborations. Light refreshments will be provided.

Reservations are filling up quickly and space is limited. RSVP at the link in our bio.

This program is supported by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.
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