Momenta is comprised of five segments: Mount, a video; Wardrobe, photographically printed garments; Equipoise, an installation with intended activation; Collaboration at a Distance, photography; and Flourish from Fire, stills of the Blind Courier exhibition installation project, presented at the Brand Library in 2019.
Also, part of Momenta exhibition is the limited edition, artist-signed Momenta View-Master. Based on the original View-Master of the 1950s, the new models recreate the same custom-made 3-D viewing experience. A small number of these keepsake View-Masters will be available for sale on the Momenta website, each with a disk that includes select images from the exhibition. One View-Master will be awarded via an online giveaway, details to be announced soon
Momenta’s five components:
Mount is a poetically charged, non-narrative video, and a visually layered piece that reflects on a devastating fire that engulfed Kasmer’s home, destroying not only much of her artwork but literally altered her past and present. Additionally, Mount addresses the wildfires that have recently ravaged California and Oregon and tackles the overall climatic impact of man upon nature.
The Wardrobe is comprised of fine art wearables created by applying the artist’s digital printed photographs to textiles which are then fashioned into garments. The photographic imagery is taken from native plant life, earth elements, and astrophysics. The construction of the garments are interpretations of fashion designs from the 70’s to the 90’s. These artworks are companion pieces to the artist’s installations spanning the last ten years. Upcycled rugs are composed of the remnants of the photographic fabrics of the Wardrobe. These small sitting rugs and the hand painted hangers were created this year for the Momenta exhibition.
Housed in an apartment bedroom, Equipoise is Kasmer’s current installation. Her original intent was to open this thoughtful environment to the public, however, the pandemic intervened. As the isolation of Covid dragged on, this space morphed into a meditative chamber with sacred objects, ritual instruments and rugs, intended for the practice of meditative sitting. The Activation segment is intended to demonstrate not only Kasmer’s own artistic sensibilities but also to suggest a possibility of what individuals can privately create as a contemplative space within their own environment.
Collaboration at a Distance. Lauren Kasmer: Digital photographs on textiles; 2010-2020 – During the pandemic Lauren Kasmer continued her work via Zoom, Skype, and email to create an impressive collaboration with ten women friends who intermingled to model and photograph each other, wearing and interpreting ten years of an archive of Kasmer’s photographically printed wearables.
An installation composed of two poetic non-narrative videos surrounded by domestic furnishings and photographically based wall works, Flourish from Fire’s photographic imagery is sourced from a devastating home fire. The arrangement was originally displayed in the Brand Library Art Gallery. It was an inviting space, a reinterpretation of shelter, one that proposes that what can be seen as personal tragedy could instead welcome contemplation and reflection of universal themes.
