June 23, 2013
Dream Home Resource Center, Olga Koumoundouros’s most recent investigation of home ownership, addresses the immateriality of real estate transactions and the shift from home as emblem of the American dream to house as commodity. Inspired in part by the Hammer Museum’s exhibition A. Quincy Jones: Building for Better Living and Jones’s vision of modern architecture, Koumoundouros fast-forwards more than half a century to the present, a moment filled with far less optimism about housing in the United States.
During the course of the installation, housing specialists, activists, and citizens invested in and affected by issues surrounding home ownership and the recent economic downturn will set up temporary offices in the gallery. The experts will offer practical insight on managing bankruptcy and foreclosure while others with firsthand experiences of losing homes will share personal stories. Collectively, the group’s services are intended to provide a free resource for anyone in need of housing guidance. (The Lobby Gallery is an admission-free area of the museum.)
In addition to the central convening area for the specialists and visitors, a timeline of significant moments in the history of Los Angeles real estate over the last seventy years lines the walls, alongside a blackboard of notes inscribed during a weekly performance that highlights fluctuations in interest rates, analysis of subprime mortgages, foreclosure percentages by neighborhood, housing starts, sale trends, and more. Through these elements, Koumoundouros hopes to provoke viewers and participants to consider the currency, both emotional and monetary, invested in the places in which we live.
Organized by Allison Agsten, curator, with Sohrab Mohebbi, curatorial assistant.
Part of the curatorial department, the Public Engagement program collaborates with artists to develop and present works that create an exchange with the institution and with visitors. Enacted both inside and outside the galleries, Public Engagement projects range from re-envisioned security guard uniforms to library and orchestra residencies. Public Engagement was established in 2009 thanks to a James Irvine Foundation Arts Innovation Fund grant.
Check the participant schedule here.
Source: Hammer Museum
Leave a Reply