LOS ANGELES — Music is, arguably, the secular world’s substitute for religious experience. From the pilgrimage aspects of festivals like Burning Man and Coachella to the more regular gatherings of underground raves in the Warehouse District and karaoke nights in dive bars, contemporary society continues to create ways to socially bond and bear witness to emotional vulnerability. rough on the other. We come together both to transcend the painful realities of our world and to celebrate the joys of unity and the incredible wonder of being alive.
Enter Carl Craig’s immersive installation Party/After-Party at the Geffen Contemporary at MOCA, a 30-minute celebration of the heat, ecstasy and ultimate descent of a night spent on the dance floor. Considered a figurehead of Detroit’s second wave of techno artists working in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the work stems from Craig’s long career as an electronic music producer and touring DJ. internationally, notably as co-creator and artistic director of the Detroit Electronic Music Festival in 2000 and 2001. Party/After-Party debuted at Dia Beacon in March 2020, just as the pandemic hit, which ironically caused the nightlife culture the work evoked to cease to exist. It seems appropriate that work reappear as the pandemic turns into something less demanding.
When I visited the museum late on a Tuesday, the gallery was unsurprisingly sparse. Before entering, museum staff warned me of flashing lights and the decibel level of the music, which contains references to Craig’s own tinnitus thanks to the inclusion of the occasional high-pitched ring, a seemingly inevitable consequence. of his chosen career. I walked into the room during a relative lull and was struck by its visual sparseness, exposing the austere steel columns and expansive walls of the warehouse-museum. Wandering around empty space with only a few other spectators in the moments leading up to the “party” portion of Party/After-Party I was eerily reminded of walking into a Catholic church on a weekday, with only a few eager parishioners anticipating deliverance outside of working hours.
Get the party started, absorbing everyone in the repetitive buzz of a techno beat. The warehouse darkens as the skylights close; strips of neon illuminate the space in a play of light that could very well cause an episode of epilepsy. Alternating through cycles of multicolored flashes and fades, the light effectively conveys the energy of a warehouse rave, with what may or may not be a nod to Dan Flavin’s minimalist light works.
The warm, pulsating beat melts into dreamy sound waves, still very much in tune with techno, as the light show shifts from flashing neon strips to a central spotlight that illuminates an “X” on the floor. In what felt like an invitation, viewers still present during my visit (three, including myself) took turns below, bringing out our respective personalities – spotlight-loving, somewhat self-aware and all business ( Me). Afterwards, the spotlights dimmed and the museum’s skylights reopened.
Coming out of the dark room into daylight was like leaving the club at dawn. Luckily, 30 sober minutes in a work of art doesn’t translate to a hangover, and I was objectively safe driving when I got back to my car. Whether explicitly spiritual or not, the work of Carl Craig Party/After-Party is certainly ceremonial. It is a celebration of a part of us, the human species, that can only emerge collectively, and a testament to our need to dance, cry and rejoice together.
Carl Craig: Party/After-Party continues at the Geffen Contemporary at MOCA (152 North Central Avenue, Arts District, Los Angeles), through July 23. The exhibition was curated by Kelly Kivland, former curator at the Dia Art Foundation, with Randy Gibson, head of exhibition technology. The Los Angeles presentation is curated by MOCA Associate Curator Alex Sloane with MOCA Curatorial Assistant Anastasia Kahn.
