Public Fiction

Public Fiction is an art space and quarterly publication based in Los Angeles. It was founded 2010 by Lauren Mackler.

Graphic designer and curator Lauren Mackler moved from New York to L.A. to open Public Fiction in 2010. Public Fiction resides in an unmarked storefront in the Highland Park neighborhood of Los Angeles. Neither a commercial gallery nor a not-for-profit organization, the space hosts exhibitions, performances, artist talks, screenings, and dinners. Additionally Public Fiction releases a print publication quarterly that often corresponds to events that took place at the venue. Exhibitions and events develop in relation to a set theme or topic over the course of a three-month period.

Though the space had already hosted several one night events, Public Fiction's first official exhibition, "Public Records," transformed the gallery into a record store. The show centered around music, archives, and collecting. For "The Free Church," its second show, artists turned the space into different iterations of a spiritual space for worship. For that show, former MOCA Director Jeffrey Deitch, donated the money to fund Public Fiction's first print journal. The third series was held at MoCA and was called The Club. Mackler orgnaized evenst addressing of social clubs, night clubs, and art clubs. Laura Owens did the poster for the series. The fourth one was the Theatricality and Sets issue, where for three months three months on Public Fiction hosted props, performances, stages, and other theatrics. For "Foreign Correspondents" series, the whole space was turned into an office. For Foreign Correspondents the journal came out one week at a time as Dispatches.[1]

In 2012, Writer Andrew Berardini and Mackler the curated “Treating Shadows as Real Things,” in Torino at the Chapel of the Holy Shroud, Artists for this exhibition included Lucas Blalock, Anthony Lepore, Sarah Cain, Andrea Longacre-White, Giorgio de Chirico, Carlo Mollino, Samara Golden, Ry Rocklen, Mark Hagen. The Exhibition was presented as a tangent to the Artissima art Fair. Mackler and Berardini also organized "Set Pieces" at Milan gallery Cardi Black Box.[2]

For the 2014 Frieze Art Fair in New York, Public Fiction and Allen Ruppersberg reinvented "Al’s Grand Hotel", a project initially created by Ruppersberg in 1971 in Los Angeles. The hotel was open for six weeks and acted as a site for happenings, parties, performances and a place to sleep. Al’s Grand Hotel was restageded as a fully functioning hotel installed within the fair, with two rooms, and a lobby. Visitors could become guests of the hotel and were allowed to book rooms to spend the night. The print catalogue and website texts for this project were co-authored by Cecilia Alemani and Lauren Mackler.[3]

Public Fiction was included in the 2014 Made in LA Biennial at the Hammer Museum. Mackler co-organized a series with writer and curator Sarah Lehrer-Graiwer. The duo created a multifaceted series with revolving exhibitions taking place at the Hammer, Public Fiction's store front, and within a publication.[4]

References

  1. ↑ Sue Bell Yank. "The Museum of Public Fiction: Collaboration in Highland Park". KCET.
  2. ↑ Yasmine Mohseni. "Milan Gallery Imports L.A. Art Scene for Angeleno-Only "Set Pieces" Exhibition - BLOUIN ARTINFO". Artinfo.
  3. ↑ Noura Wedell. "Public Fiction". Flash Art International.
  4. ↑ Los Angeles Times (13 June 2014). "Public Fiction is collectively in Hammer Museum's 'Made in L.A.'". latimes.com.

External links