For Frieze Los Angeles, artist and choreographer Madeline Hollander continues her search for patterns of perpetual motion in oft-imperceptible realms, from the materials and phenomena of nanoscience to the cosmos. Looping events are, for Hollander, sites which illustrate the psychological ambiguities of rhythm—teetering between sameness and difference, objectivity and subjectivity.
The eighty-eight watercolors which comprise Hollander’s Day Flight correspond to the International Astronomical Union (IAU)’s officially recognized constellations. Rather than follow the arbitrary and accepted patterns drawn up by astronomers, which flatten each star onto a single plane, Hollander has created a celestial route in three-dimensions, moving from closest to farthest star, demarcated by map pins. For her presentation at Frieze Los Angeles, the watercolors representing each constellation has been organized by month, functioning as a calendar of the night sky over the course of a year.
A color-coded system nested throughout Hollander’s artworks offers a language decipherable to the artist through her synesthetic connection between color, language, and gesture. Their border’s candy stripe patterns spell the month in which each constellation appears clearest in the night sky, with the central curlicued ribbons’ alternating colors unfurling each constellation’s name in this same cryptic color-coded alphabet.
During the week of Frieze LA, at the invitation of Art Production Fund, Hollander has organized a series of performances allowing participants to navigate these choreographic circuits through the sky. Departing from Santa Monica via state-of-the-art ultra-light electric airplanes, the flights offer a view of an ever-changing landscape, with the recent devastation to Los Angeles adding a further perspective on the histories and experiences which shape a city. On the ground of the fair, the active performances will be visible on monitors.