Dan Levenson’s SKZ Monochrome Workshop installed at The House of the Book, Simi Valley (photo by Dan Levenson)
The State Art Academy, Zurich (SKZ) is a fictional Swiss art school conceived by artist Dan Levenson. Over the past 15 years, he has fabricated everything from utilitarian wooden desks and lockers to faux-aged abstract paintings supposedly created by its students. He has even devised a curriculum for this modernist Bahaus-esque institution.
The latest chapter of this unfolding narrative takes place at the American Jewish University, where Levenson has created an SKZ classroom in conjunction with Ezra Orion, Revisited, an exhibition examining the work of “Israel’s best forgotten artist.” The installation is situated in the brutalist House of the Book, a 1970s performance hall designed by Sidney Eisenshtat. Levenson attempts to draw parallels between the faded utopian visions of Orion and the SKZ. This Sunday, the space will be activated by a series of performances that explore the phenomenon of learning. The program will feature Carver Audain’s sonic reworking of the Nirvana song “School,” Barnett Cohen’s “People Performing Words” — inspired by bored students in bad classes — and Carolyn Pennypacker Riggs’s collaborative sound and movement piece that focuses on liminal states of knowledge.
When: Sunday, January 28, 2–5:19pm
Where: House of the Book (1101 Pepper Tree Lane, Simi Valley, California)
More info here.
