Materials & Applications

Materials & Applications is a Los Angeles-based non-profit art and architecture organization that produces critical exhibitions and programming. These exhibitions typically take the form of outdoor, public installations and one to one architecture. The organization is one of dozens of small non-profit artist run spaces that have been called "feral" in their relationship to larger, more established organizations and museums in Los Angeles. Jeremy Rosenberg, a Los Angeles based writer, has likened it to other "feral" artist-run organizations such as The Museum of Jurassic Technology, Center for Land Use Interpretation, and Echo Park Film Center.

Overview

The organization's mission is "to advance new and critical ideas in architecture through exhibitions and public programs, in order to investigate the visible and invisible role architecture plays in our world today." From 2003 to 2015, the organization was founded by Jenna Didier and Oliver Hess in the front yard of their Silver Lake home. In 2015, Jia Gu became director of the organization. Today, its offices are located in Chinatown, and its exhibitions take place throughout east Los Angeles. These exhibitions are free and open to the public.

Past artists include Benjamin Ball, Layers LA, Judy Chicago, Gail Borden, Doris Sung, Jimenez Lai, Marcelo Spina, and Warren Techentin. The organization's work has been exhibited in shows at the Cal State Long Beach University Art Museum and in the San Francisco Museum of Craft and Design. It is run by a Board of Directors with a young leadership council called the Contemporary Council. The organization has received funding by the Pasadena Arts Alliance and the Graham Foundation.

Programs

Uncube Magazine called it "part architecture gallery, part public art display, and part workshop for experimentation and learning, the venue provides an outdoor exhibition space for new architectural ideas, while inviting the public to participate in creating its installations." A key aspect of their work is to allow artists and architects to test new ideas and new construction methods. "Places like M&A provide architects with the opportunity to fail. I mean that in the best possible way," said Benjamin Ball of Ball-Nogues, whose works are now in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. "Not many clients will support a trial-and-error process on an untested structure. M&A is a place where you can do that."

The organization organizes public programs or hands-on building activities for the local community and participating artists. Past programs include Zoning & Its Applications, Can A Building Own Itself?, New Forensics: Scenarios and Simulated Environments, and Staging Construction, an open call for projects. Past installations include a golden vortex (Maximilian's Shell), a mini-golf course (TURF: A Mini-Gold Project), an igloo (Light Frames), a dissolving ice performance, a rotating room (Phalunstary Module) and a large white bird-cage (Le Cage aux Folles).