NOT I: Throwing Voices (1500 BCE–2020 CE)
NOT I: Throwing Voices (1500 BCE–2020 CE)
Ventriloquism relies on the confusion between sight and hearing, puppeteer and puppet, silence and speech. Issues of agency, authorship, and objecthood are at the core of even the most conventional ventriloquist sketch: Where is the voice coming from? How is that voice split into many bodies? Who is speaking on behalf of whom?
Using this popular form of entertainment as a guide, the exhibition stages dialogues across LACMA’s collections, focusing on the misdirection of voice, silence, and sounds. Ventriloquism—objects forced to speak on behalf of an entire culture, age, or region—resonates within the history and logic of institutions devoted to the dissemination of knowledge such as libraries and museums.
Favoring conversations among objects over singular masterpieces, NOT I includes a special project by Meriç Algün in collaboration with the Los Angeles Public Library, as well as commissions by Raven Chacon, Patricia Fernandez, and Puppies Puppies.
This exhibition was organized by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
All exhibitions at LACMA are underwritten by the LACMA Exhibition Fund. Major annual support is provided by Kitzia and Richard Goodman, Meredith and David Kaplan, and Jeffrey Saikhon, with generous annual funding from Terry and Lionel Bell, the Judy and Bernard Briskin Family Foundation, Kevin J. Chen, Louise and Brad Edgerton, Edgerton Foundation, Emily and Teddy Greenspan, Earl and Shirley Greif Foundation, Marilyn B. and Calvin B. Gross, Mary and Daniel James, David Lloyd and Kimberly Steward, Kelsey Lee Offield, David Schwartz Foundation, Inc., Mr. and Mrs. Anthony and Lee Shaw, Lenore and Richard Wayne, Marietta Wu and Thomas Yamamoto, and The Kenneth T. and Eileen L. Norris Foundation.
Image: Jasper Johns, Ventriloquist II, 1986, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, gift of Tony Ganz in memory of Victor W. Ganz, © 2020 Jasper Johns and ULAE/Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY, published by Universal Limited Art Editions
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This exhibition was organized by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
All exhibitions at LACMA are underwritten by the LACMA Exhibition Fund. Major annual support is provided by Kitzia and Richard Goodman, Meredith and David Kaplan, and Jeffrey Saikhon, with generous annual funding from Terry and Lionel Bell, the Judy and Bernard Briskin Family Foundation, Kevin J. Chen, Louise and Brad Edgerton, Edgerton Foundation, Emily and Teddy Greenspan, Earl and Shirley Greif Foundation, Marilyn B. and Calvin B. Gross, Mary and Daniel James, David Lloyd and Kimberly Steward, Kelsey Lee Offield, David Schwartz Foundation, Inc., Mr. and Mrs. Anthony and Lee Shaw, Lenore and Richard Wayne, Marietta Wu and Thomas Yamamoto, and The Kenneth T. and Eileen L. Norris Foundation.
Image: Jasper Johns, Ventriloquist II, 1986, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, gift of Tony Ganz in memory of Victor W. Ganz, © 2020 Jasper Johns and ULAE/Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY, published by Universal Limited Art Editions