X-TRA

X-TRA X-TRA is a contemporary art journal published in Los Angeles by Project X Foundation. X-TRA's mission is to provoke critical dialogue about contemporary art.

X-TRA is a contemporary art journal published quarterly in Los Angeles. Edited by a collective of artists and writers, X-TRA publishes expansive features, historical essays, commissioned artist's projects, interviews, columns, and substantive reviews. X-TRA is published in print and digital-reader format, and the complete archive is available online. Project X Foundation for Art & Criticism is a n

onprofit organization founded to support X-TRA and create platforms for critical art dialogue. In tandem with X-TRA, Project X produces artist's editions, books, and a wide range of public events.

“Artists are increasingly being tapped to lead biennials in the role of “guest curator,’ a position that already indicat...
08/12/2023

“Artists are increasingly being tapped to lead biennials in the role of “guest curator,’ a position that already indicates institutional divestiture from the advocates and creative visionaries who make successful exhibitions work. In addition to choosing works for exhibition, curators also run interference, managing conflicts between artists and between artists and the public. These tasks are doubly difficult when the institution holds the curators at such a distance. Does the reliance on contract curators—often artists with limited institutional experience hired and managed by career administrators—reflect a conflicted desire on the part of the institution to both speak freely and control speech?”

In X-TRA Volume 25, Number 2, Anuradha Vikram, contributor and member of the X-TRA Editorial Board, examines the curatorial framing and politicized media narratives that have shaped the discourse around recent global art exhibitions documenta 15 and the 12th Berlin Biennale. Vikram poses insightful questions regarding the inclusion and exclusion of artworks that depict trauma or critique political movements and leaders‚ asking, who has the authority to address these sensitive topics?








Read Vikram’s “Fear of a Lumbung Planet: Decolonization and Backlash at documenta and the Berlin Biennale” via the link in our bio. To support us further, considering purchasing a print copy through the webstore.

Images:
1: Atis Rezistans | Ghetto Biennale, 2022. Installation view, documenta fifteen, Kassel, June 18–September 25, 2022. Photo: Frank Sperling.

2: Wajukuu Art Project, Wakija Kwetu, 2022. Installation view, documenta fifteen, Kassel, June 18–September 25, 2022. Photo: Nicolas Wefers.

“This summer marked the twentieth edition of REDCAT’s annual New Original Works (NOW) Festival, a self-described ‘cataly...
07/12/2023

“This summer marked the twentieth edition of REDCAT’s annual New Original Works (NOW) Festival, a self-described ‘catalyst for creativity and new ideas.’ Each week featured three performances in a shared program in REDCAT’s black box theater. These works, mostly untested, were selected via an open call that encourages emerging and early-career artists, then bolstered with an artist fee, technical support, and rehearsal space. This makes NOW a relatively rare platform for brand new, experimental performance in Los Angeles.”

For the Dispatches column, Jessi DiTillio () reports on three standout efforts from the 2023 New Original Works Festival (NOW) at in Los Angeles.

Read “TV on Stage” now!

Pictured: Melissa Ferrari, Relict: A Phantasmagoria, 2020/2023. Performance, REDCAT, Los Angeles, August 24–26, 2023. Photo: Angel Origgi.

“What happens when you look down is that the perspective feels wrong. Geometric slabs of sidewalk phenomena—mounding tar...
04/12/2023

“What happens when you look down is that the perspective feels wrong. Geometric slabs of sidewalk phenomena—mounding tarmac, manhole covers, storm-drain grates—have been transposed on the interior ground at original scale but in implausible proximity.”

For the Dispatches column, Emma Kemp () crosses the psychogeography of Fiona Connor’s Continuous Sidewalk, 2023, presented in her Glendale studio by Château Shatto.

Read “Memory Arcade Dream Space or Continuous Sidewalk” now!

Images: Fiona Connor, Continuous Sidewalk, 2021–23. Poured and formed concrete, cast resin and metal inserts, brick, asphalt, paint, silicon, wax, sand and dirt, silkscreen on aluminum, existing space. Courtesy of the artist and Château Shatto, Los Angeles. Photo: Ed Mumford.

THIS WEEKEND! 💚  Visit us this at the 2nd annual Print Pomona Art Book Fair, presented by The Arts Area () and The Bento...
02/03/2023

THIS WEEKEND! 💚  Visit us this at the 2nd annual Print Pomona Art Book Fair, presented by The Arts Area () and The Benton Museum of Art () at Pomona College. We are excited to join this unique publishing community of more than 50 incredible booksellers and publishers from all over California 🗺.

This event is free to attend and open to the public.

📚Make sure to check out the fair’s talks, panels, and performances planned throughout the weekend via the link in bio. 🎡

Dates:
Saturday, March 4, 11 am to 7 pm
Sunday, March 5, 11 am to 5 pm

Location:
Pomona College
Edmunds Ballroom in the Smith Campus Center
170 E 6th St, Claremont, CA

Meet X-TRA! Jeff joined the X-TRA Editorial Board in early 2001. In 2002, he moved on to become the founding Chair of Pr...
01/03/2023

Meet X-TRA! Jeff joined the X-TRA Editorial Board in early 2001. In 2002, he moved on to become the founding Chair of Project X Foundation for Art & Criticism, the nonprofit dedicated to the support of X-TRA, and to serve as a Publisher of X-TRA, with Ellen Birrell & Stephen Berens. The original Project X Board was comprised of Beall, Berens, Birrell, Mike Kelley, Elizabeth Pulsinelli, Cay Sophie Rabinowitz and Mitchell Syrop.

*Jeff Beall is an artist and entrepreneur, based in Santa Monica. He makes conceptually driven work that consistently uses techniques of veiling/revealing to heighten the experience of seeing. Subject matter in recent years has included a memorial to lives lost in the 1992 Los Angeles uprising, watercolor flowers, and encryption technology*. *Beall’s work is included in the public collections of the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Berkeley Art Museum, Carnegie Art Museum, Laguna Art Museum, Oakland Museum of Art, Orange County Museum of Art, and Portland Museum of Art.*

*In addition to his work with Project X for the past 20+ years, he has also served on the Advisory Council of Liberty Hill Foundation[link] for the same length of time. He also served as Vice Chair/Chair of the board directors for the Westside Waldorf School (2008-2015).*

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Image details:

Slide 1: Self Portrait.

Slide 2: Jeff Beall on first learning about X-TRA Contemporary Art Journal.

Slide 3: Unsolved: 1992 LA Uprising @ 25 Years (2017), Installation view, Gallery 169, Santa Monica.

Slide 4: Unsolved Portraits 21 & 22  (2017), Photograph on paper, 8 1/2 x 11 in.

Slide 5: Untitled (Two Ways), (2006), Iris print and watercolor on paper, 33 3/4 x 45 1/2 in.

Slide 6: Untitled IV (2020), Acrylic on watercolor on paper, 22 x 15 in.

Slide 7: THIS SUSPENDED MOMENT (These Are the Good Old Days), (2020), vinyl mesh banner, 54 x 300 in.

NEW ONLINE! This past October, Sprüth Magers Los Angeles () recreated Nancy Holt’s a room-sized installation, Electrica...
28/02/2023

NEW ONLINE! This past October, Sprüth Magers Los Angeles () recreated Nancy Holt’s a room-sized installation, Electrical System. For the Dash column, writer and curator Hannah Spears () revisits Holt’s Systems Works, which she first began in the 1980s. Spears considers the artist’s preoccupation with electrical grids and utility systems, pointing to a precarious relationship with society and the environment.

Read Hannah Spears’ column, “Dependencies and Redundancies” via the link in bio.




Slide 1: Nancy Holt, Electrical System II: Bellman Circuit, 1982. Installation view, David Bellman Gallery, Toronto, Canada. 3/4 in. steel conduit, lighting and electrical fixtures, light bulbs, electrical wire, dimensions variable. Courtesy of Sprüth Magers. © Holt/Smithson Foundation. Licensed by Artists Rights Society, New York.

Slide 2: Nancy Holt, Pipeline, 1986. Steel, oil,  30 x 32 x 15 ft. (indoor section); 26 x 15 x 6 ft. (outdoor section #1); 10 x 31 x 18 ft. (outdoor section #2), steel duct 1 ft. (30.5 cm) diameter. Installation view, Visual Arts Center of Alaska, Anchorage. © Holt/Smithson Foundation. Licensed by Artists Rights Society, New York.

Slide 3: Nancy Holt, Sun Tunnels, 1973-76. Concrete; total length: 86 ft.; tunnel length: 18 ft.; tunnel diameters outside: 9 ft. 2-1/2 in.; tunnel diameters inside: 8 ft.; wall thickness: 7 1/2 in. Great Basin Desert, Utah. The tunnels are aligned with the sun on the horizon (the sunrises and sunsets) on the solstices. Each tunnel has a different configuration of holes corresponding to stars in four constellations: Draco, Perseus, Columba, Capricorn. Collection of the Dia Art Foundation with support from Holt/Smithson Foundation. © Holt/Smithson Foundation and Dia Art Foundation. Licensed by Artists Rights Society, New York.

NEW ONLINE! For the QxA column, writer and curator Moira Sims speaks to Bárbara Wagner and Benjamin de Burca about their...
28/02/2023

NEW ONLINE! For the QxA column, writer and curator Moira Sims speaks to Bárbara Wagner and Benjamin de Burca about their collaborative filmmaking process and the fine line between authenticity and storytelling. Recently on view at the New Museum (), the duo’s solo exhibition, Five Times Brazil, invited dancers and activists to participate in their films, addressing and multiplying the complexities of authorship, whilst responding to the complex socio-political climate of Wagner's native Brazil.

Read Sims’ conversation with Wagner and de Burca, “Watch and Learn” via the link in bio. 🔗








Slide 1: Bárbara Wagner & Benjamin de Burca, Swinguerra, 2019. 2K HD video, color, 5.1 sound, 21 min. Video still. © Bárbara Wagner & Benjamin de Burca. Courtesy of Fortes D’Aloia & Gabriel, São Paulo/Rio de Janeiro.

Slide 2: Bárbara Wagner and Benjamin de Burca, *Fala da Terra* [Voice of the Land], 2022. 2K HD video, color, 5.1 sound, 20 min. Installation view. Bárbara Wagner and Benjamin de Burca: Five Times Brazil, June 30–October 16, 2022, The New Museum, New York. Courtesy of the New Museum. Photo: Dario Lasagni.

Slide 3: Bárbara Wagner & Benjamin de Burca, *Faz que vai* [Set to go], 2015. 2K HD video, color, 5.1 sound, 12 min. Installation view. Bárbara Wagner and Benjamin de Burca: Five Times Brazil, June 30–October 16, 2022, The New Museum, New York. Courtesy of the New Museum. Photo: Dario Lasagni.

In the winter of 2019, X-TRA published ektor garcia’s unique artist project, “sacri-oficio,” featuring photographic asse...
22/02/2023

In the winter of 2019, X-TRA published ektor garcia’s unique artist project, “sacri-oficio,” featuring photographic assemblages taken between trips to New York, Glasgow, Basel, and Scotland. Accompanied by an introduction by artist Candice Lin, these images cluster an array of materials typically seen and used in garcia’s work: worn out leather gloves, crochet needles, and rows of handmade clay chains. The Spanish word “oficio” translates to “profession” in English, a play on words suggestive of his occupation (and sacrifice) as an artist.

View ektor garcia’s artist project, “sacri-oficio” via the link in bio. 🔗





FEB 17TH AT 8-11 PM  │ X-TRA Contemporary Art Journal invites you to its first in-office event of the year! This intimat...
15/02/2023

FEB 17TH AT 8-11 PM  │ X-TRA Contemporary Art Journal invites you to its first in-office event of the year! This intimate gathering marks new beginnings for the publication in its new office, located in the historic Granada Buildings. We are particularly proud to introduce the first X-TRA Editorial Fellow, chosen after a rigorous interview process of many worthy applicants. Throughout 2023, the new Fellow will embark on a year of sustained mentorship from X-TRA’s editors. We will present a one-of-a-kind selection of our archives, displaying rare print issues featuring Los Angeles artists and writers. Come mingle in our beautiful courtyard with the X-TRA community, including the Project X Foundation’s Board of Directors, members of our Advisory Council, X-TRA’s Editors, our staff, and our contributing writers.

If you have been part of the X-TRA community as a writer, artist, or editor, are in town, and would like to join us, please reach out to Nahui Garcia at [email protected] for further details on arriving. This event has limited capacity, and reservations are required. 🫶

FEB 10 AT 4PM║🌱 Translated Intimacies: Un Manifiesto Analquista 🌱X-TRA presents an intimate conversation between Dominic...
07/02/2023

FEB 10 AT 4PM║🌱 Translated Intimacies: Un Manifiesto Analquista 🌱

X-TRA presents an intimate conversation between Dominican Republic-based performance artist and writer Johan Mijail, the feminist queer/cuir working group, Invasorix, and the writer and poet Christopher Rey Pérez. The conversation will orbit around Mijail’s moving artist's project, Un Manifiesto Analquista: Tra(n)splantar. Poéticas Anales y Amor Vegetal, featured in the fall issue of X-TRA. The project was published in the original Spanish and with an accompanying English translation by artist, theorist, and poet manuel arturo abreu.

Mijail, Pérez, and Invasorix will discuss the work of translation, moving back and forth between their respective practices, interests, and critical engagements with art as artists, writers, poets, curators, and critics. The discussion will foreground translation *itself* as a form of art, across an array of perspectives across the American continent—namely, Mexico, the Caribbean, and the U.S. diaspora. How might we use translation actively as a tool to deepen our understanding of a text, and invite one another into our respective cultural imaginaries?

*

X-TRA introduce Translated Intimacies: Un Manifiesto Anarquista, una conversación intima entre la escritora y performer dominicana Johan Mijail y el colectivo feminista queer/cuir, Invasorix, y el escritor y poeta Christopher Rey Pérez. Juntos reflexionarán sobre el texto “Un Manifiesto Analquista: Tra(n)splantar. Poéticas Anales y Amor Vegetal” escrito por Johan. El texto fue publicado en español en el nuevo número de la revista X-TRA y traducido al inglés por el artista, teórico, y poeta manuel arturo abreu.

Mijail, Pérez e Invasorix compartirán sus intereses y su compromiso con el arte como artistas, escritores, poetas, curadores y críticos. La discusión pondrá en primer plano la traducción como una forma de arte, a través de una variedad de perspectivas en México, el Caribe y la diáspora multilingual en los Estados Unidos. ¿Cómo podemos usar la traducción como herramienta para profundizar nuestra comprensión textual y respectivos imaginarios culturales? Será el tópico a discutir en esta conversación.

In recognition of our 25th anniversary, X-TRA is offering subscription deals that you do not want to miss!📖 Support X-TR...
01/02/2023

In recognition of our 25th anniversary, X-TRA is offering subscription deals that you do not want to miss!

📖 Support X-TRA with a one-year subscription for only $30

📖 And, if you love what we do, consider supporting us with a two-year subscription for $55

Every new issue is thoughtfully designed by Becca Lofchie (._.l). Slide through some recent print pieces, including Travis Diehl’s “Feminist Realism,” Jareh Das’ “Doreen Garner: On White Monumenetality and Sacrificial Aesthetics,” and Laura Brown’s “Continuous Surface.”

🔗 Subscribe to X-TRA via the link in bio 🔗

📸: Ian Byers-Gamber ()

FEB 13 - 7PM │ Hosted by the ICA LA (), X-TRA presents an in-depth conversation between artist Gala Porras-Kim and Maria...
30/01/2023

FEB 13 - 7PM │ Hosted by the ICA LA (), X-TRA presents an in-depth conversation between artist Gala Porras-Kim and Mariana Fernández, writer, curator, and author of “A Museum for the Afterlife,” published in the fall issue of X-TRA Volume 24, Number 2. In her essay, Fernández looks closely at Porras-Kim’s practice of challenging museological norms of preservation and presentation of repatriated objects, divorced from their context, stripped of their history. Porras-Kim and Fernández will discuss the responsibility of care museums have to those who have passed, and expand their discussion into the politics of taxonomy and categorization. Perhaps, in understanding the choices of labeling a museum makes, choices that construct a history, there are rich possibilities for rewriting our understanding and experience of the past.

The discussion will be moderated by Nora N. Khan, Executive Director of Project X Foundation, publisher of X-TRA.

🔖 Mariana Fernández is a writer and curator based in New York. She has held curatorial positions at Performa, the Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC), and the Clark Art Institute. Her writing and criticism appear in publications such as frieze, X-TRA, BOMB, and The Brooklyn Rail.

🔖 Gala Porras-Kim lives and works in Los Angeles. Her work is about the social and political contexts that influence how intangible things, such as sounds, language, and history, have been framed through the fields of linguistics, history, and conservation. The work considers the way institutions shape inherited codes and forms, and conversely, how objects can shape the contexts in which they are placed. She has had solo exhibitions at Kadist, Amant Foundation, Gasworks, London, and CAMSTL, and upcoming in 2023 at MUAC, CAAC, and the Fowler. Her work has been included in the Whitney Biennial and Ural Industrial Biennial (2019), and Gwangju and Sao Paulo Biennales (2021). She was a Fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University (2019) and the artist-in-residence at the Getty Research Institute (2020-22), She is currently a fellow at Museo delle Civiltà in Rome.

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