KNIFEANDFORK
Engagement Party at MOCA

March - May 2009
Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles


The moment when the illegal becomes legal

The Los Angeles and New York based artist collective Knifeandfork, founded by Brian House and Sue Huang, invites to view their work about the reconfiguration of media structures and contexts by using new media and their potential of non-linearity at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, during the Engagement Parties from March till May 2009. On 2nd April the illegal, but not penalized, 'Hand of God' soccer goal from 1986 by Diego Maradona becomes the theme for an interactive performance about what was and what might have been.

fig.: Image courtesy of Knifeandfork

Trying the Hand of God

After presenting 'Emptiness Is Form (Golf and Donuts)' with an interactive installation about socialising in communities where the museum visitors have been encouraged to team up and utilize balls outfitted with RFID tags to show off their skills, Knifeandfork invites to explore the moments when the illegal becomes legal.

'Trying the Hand of God' on 2nd April 2009 explores "... the nature of the media-perpetuated chance moment, Knifeandfork hosts a carefully choreographed continuous reenactment of the infamous illegal, but not penalized, “Hand of God” soccer goal from the 1986 International Federation of Associated Football (FIFA) World Cup. Audience members will have the opportunity to play the role of Diego Maradona, the Argentine soccer legend who scored the controversial goal against England during the quarterfinals."

The repetitions in their art serve as a form of kinetic documentation, both of what was and what might have been. Check out the potential for variations the 'Hand of God' is offering for chance, skill, and fate by attending the live performances by Knifeandfork.

On 7nd May you can participate in a remote-control car race through the galleries at MOCA Grand Avenue. Details about the program of the Engagement Party www.moca.org/party.


more culture>>>


About Knifeandfork
The artists of Knifeandfork are working with non-linearity and new media such as computers, mobile phones, video clips. In their recent work 'The Wrench' (2008), which recasts Primo Levi’s 'The Monkey’s Wrench' as an open-ended mobile phone text-message exchange between participants and an artificially intelligent character. '5 ’til 12' (2006) is a nonlinear interactive installation utilizing a database of video clips to create a near-infinite number of narratives based on the Akira Kurosawa film 'Rashomon'. Check out more about their work knifeandfork.org.

Knifeandfork was exhibited at the New Museum for Contemporary Art, New York; Beall Center for Art + Technology, University of California, Irvine; Loving Berlin Festival, Berlin; and Kulturhuset, Stockholm.

MOCA
Since October 2008, Engagement Party at MOCA offers Los Angeles–based artist collectives three-month residencies. The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA), was founded in 1979. Today, the museum has three Los Angeles locations of architectural renown, more than 20,000 members, a permanent collection of nearly 6,000 international works, educational programs, award-winning publications...