MEDIAN is an experimental moving image installation by the Collective Artist Collective (David Hartwell and Bill Ferehawk). Opening July 14, the Los Angeles Forum for Architecture and Urban Design will present the exhibition MEDIAN, an experimental moving image installation, at WUHO Gallery on Hollywood Boulevard.  

MEDIAN is a creation of David Hartwell and Bill Ferehaw, the Collective Artist Collective.  The opening night reception, set for Thursday, from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m., is free and the public is invited. MEDIAN runs through August 25. 

Created by David Hartwell and Bill Ferehawk, MEDIAN is an immersive video and audio installation on both walls of the exhibition space, projected nearly life sized, that renders everyday collisions of contexts that make Los Angeles endlessly surprising and challenging. But concealed behind the familiar frame of Los Angeles, lies a potentially disruptive and subversive canvas, positioning the viewer in the most privileged and uninhabitable location in Los Angeles—the middle of the road. From here, MEDIAN presents a peculiar moving image view of the social and material proximities of Los Angeles, exploring a myriad of urban audio-visual-scapes, and draws out new perceptions and interpretations of the urban experience.

The Los Angeles Forum for Architecture and Urban Design is an independent nonprofit organization that initiates dialogues on design and the built environment through public programming, exhibitions, and publications. L.A. is a catalytic place for architecture and design, offering lessons that extend globally. Our curatorial stance frames and challenges what architecture means in an evolving city.

David Hartwell specializes in the visualization of technical and historical content. He began his career working for visual effects pioneer Robert Abel developing graphical user interfaces for IBM’s educational multimedia projects. He has since then art directed, programmed, and animated television and installation content for the likes of Disney, Microsoft, MGM Grand, History Channel, Discovery, TAG Heuer and PBS. David was formally trained as a photographer. He then obtained his B.A. (1991) from Art Center College of Design (Europe). As a designer, David has always been interested in the experiential aspect of art delivery. Unimpressed by the current state of video art, David never gave up on the promises of multimedia. He believes that the technical advancements of the last twenty years do now afford video artists to break away from the spatial confines and chronological limitations of the media allowing the viewer to engage with the piece on their own terms.

Bill Ferehawk creates films and moving images. A key subject of his work is the built world. MEDIAN is a discursive exposition about everyday collisions of contexts that make Los Angeles endlessly surprising and challenging. The work explores a myriad of urban audio-visual-scapes and draws out new perceptions and interpretations of the urban experience. Forthcoming, is a new moving image installation, Vessel of Change (supported by the Graham Foundation) that will be exhibited at the opening of the new Wende Museum in 2017. Vessel of Change explores the peculiar physical circumstances surrounding the historic Malta Conference of 1989, nicknamed “Seasick Summit,” and symbolic end of the Cold War. Bill is also creator and executive producer of a new 10-part television series for A+E Networks (2017) about the design and construction of projects that are improving our world. He is thankful for institutions and companies that have supported his work, including the National Endowments for the Arts, National Endowment for the Humanities state councils, Graham Foundation, Intuit, Autodesk, and Epson. Bill studied art history at the University of California, Berkeley, architecture at Yale School of Architecture, and is co-founder of Radiant Features in Los Angeles.

July 14 – August 25, 2016

Opening Reception: Thursday, July 14, 7 to 10 pm (free and open to the public)
LA Forum Events @ WUHO Gallery
6518 Hollywood Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90028
Gallery Hours: Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, noon to 5 p.m.

Admission: Free and open to the public.

Top image courtesy of LA Forum for Architecture and Urban Design

> via laforum.org