by Anne Gabriel
Luminex, a downtown art event consisting of video works projected into large format onto the sides of buildings installed at various locations—was, exactly what it sounds like—a crawl among parking lots looking at giant projections of screen savers.
There were a few saving graces of the evening including opening poetry and remarks by Killah Priest of the Wu Tang Clan which brought an authentic and human element to Luminex’s showcase projection of Refik Anadol’s illustriously boring and anticlimactic churning of continuous digital wave forms of the variety I see every morning on my computer screen.
Other notable works included Carole Kim’s Chronicles of Touch: HOWDOESYOURMEMORYWORK which included a durational performance by dancers onsite who are then fragmented and projected onto screens behind them. This collaboration of human movement and digitization felt considered and authentic to the task at hand—which was bringing large digital art and humanity to a downtown community which houses skid row.
This is Luminex’s 3rd year iteration and the first time I’m seeing it despite the fact I live in LA. Poor planning, poor marketing, poor communication led most people to want to hit the after party without seeing much else which is just about as much attention as giant screen savers projected onto buildings should have.
Photo: Refik Anadol