All images: stills from Marnie Weber's The Eternal Heart, produced by West of Rome.
Tickets are now on sale for Marnie Weber’s “Eternity Forever,” presented by West of Rome Public Art this Thursday, November 11. The project will be held at the Mountain View Cemetery and Mausoleum in Altadena, California from 6:30-10PM. For those who didn’t get enough spook over Halloween, or for those interested in taking part in immersive, innovative public art, be sure to get your tickets soon! West of Rome is a non-profit arts organization that was launched by Emi Fontana in 2005. It is well known for its unorthodox exhibitions and performances by artists in a variety of locations (mostly in Los Angeles, though) aimed at offering visitors a truly unique experience.
Fontana, through West of Rome, has worked with Olafur Eliasson, Monica Bonvicni (featured in Whitewall’s summer issue), Mike Kelley, Michael Smith, and now Marnie Weber. Weber’s piece in Altadena is part of West of Rome’s ongoing project, “Women in the City,” where female artists like Jenny Holzer, Barbara Kruger, Jennifer Bolande, Louise Lawler, and Cindy Sherman have taken their art public on streets all over Los Angeles.
According to Fontana, the idea for “Eternity Forever” with Weber came about during a stroll through Mountain View Cemetery. “I like to work on projects that unfold slowly and organically,” says Fontana. “[Mountain View] is a beautiful place, very peaceful at the foot of the mountains. The Altadena area has this slightly haunted feeling, locals have some mysterious and sometimes spooky stories to tell. Mountain View, in particular, feels really Gothic. Marnie took me there for the first time few years ago, while we were walking among tomb stones, she told me how much she would have like to do a show there. That is how everything started.”
For “Eternity Forever,” Weber has conceived a public performance/experience in which guests will first be greeted by a parade of ghouls and monsters. Then Weber and The Spirit Girls will perform a live score to Weber’s film, The Eternal Heart. “I wanted to explore the idea of sentimentalized horror with this new body of work,” says the artist. She does so in the film by casting characters – monsters – in a “naive manner to create a feeling of a time long ago and created in the manner of Bosch or Bruegel combined with homemade Halloween costumes.” Weber also plays the lead role in the film, which was inspired by silent film actresses who “carry a naive yet haunted quality."
West of Rome also promises a few other surprises for the evening (which, knowing the organization, that promise will be kept and then some!) in addition to showcasing some of the Weber’s collage work. If you can’t make it Thursday, the exhibition will be on view from November 13 – December 20, 2010.
