Brognon-Rollin workshop with HOLA students (courtesy Elexis Padron of HOLA, and FLAX)
As part of their current residency at FLAX Foundation, French artists David Brognon and Stéphanie Rollin, known as Brognon-Rollin, held a workshop with students at Heart of Los Angeles, a nonprofit offering programs in academics, art, and athletics to underserved youth. The artists asked the students to create signs with slogans for issues they felt strongly about, from Black Lives Matter to water conservation and transgender rights. This Friday, the signs will become animated as part of the sign-spinning performance “Follow Your Own Path,” named after one of the students’ original slogans. The performance will accompany La Tiendita, an exhibition of Pop art created by the students. Inspired by Claes Oldenburg’s iconic installation, “The Store” (1961–64), La Tiendita will feature soft sculptures, paintings, photographs, and prints based on everyday supermarket items. The exhibition and performance use the language of advertising and commerce to celebrate the material culture and community fabric of the MacArthur Park neighborhood.
Brognon-Rollin, “Here be Dragons / Hic Sunt Dragons,” an earlier sign-spinning performance (image courtesy the artists and FLAX Foundation)
Later this month, Brognon-Rollin will present the results of another workshop with students at the Metropolitan Continuation High School in Downtown Los Angeles. Again borrowing from students’ own words — this time from an essay on social justice — “Maybe some of us will change this” confronts tensions around the border, translating the titular phrase into the Oaxacan whistling language of Mazatec. Recordings of the students whistling these cautiously hopeful words will be broadcast over the PA at the Metropolitan High School, in a sound installation at the ICA LA, and from the speakers of ice cream trucks as they drive along their routes.
When: Friday, March 8, 5–7pm
Where: HOLA Visual Arts (2619 Wilshire Blvd., Westlake, Los Angeles)
More info at FLAX Foundation.
