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The Arroyo Seco Journal

Blog
June 4, 2010
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A major art event has taken up residence in an unlikely space in Eagle Rock. “A Voyage of Growth
and Discovery” by Mike Kelley and Michael Smith will be on view at the Farley Building for three
months, until August 26.
“A Voyage of Growth and Discovery” features the character of Baby IKKI in a mixed media work
that includes a multi-channel video, a 30-foot sculpture and a sound installation.

The two-and-a-half hour, six-channel video component of “A Voyage of Growth and Discovery”
follows the existential journey of Baby IKKI—a pre-lingual character Michael Smith has been
performing at major international museums and in public for over 30 years--as he wanders through
a festival of "radical self-expression" in Nevada's remote Black Rock Desert. The installation
evokes the festival's fantasy-like environment, which is described by the event producers as “both
folksy and grand—a mixture of fairground, playground, hippie commune and the futuristic
architectural aesthetic of R. Buckminster Fuller.” Baby IKKI negotiates the rave-like festival
environment while also exploring the primal natural elements of fire, water, earth and wind. Related
sculptures fill the 15,500-square foot space surrounding a 30-foot tall junk sculpture of Baby IKKI.

The collaborative project was actually born in Mike Kelley’s studio space in the Farley Building, a
50s-era public storage building. It had its debut in New York before returning to its roots.

“A Voyage of Growth and Discovery” is co-produced by West of Rome and the SculptureCenter of
Long Island City, New York. It is curated by Emi Fontana, West of Rome’s Executive and Creative
Director.
Pasadena-based West of Rome Public Art (WoR), launched in 2005, is a non-profit “conduit of
cultural activity,” dedicated to the realization of artists’ projects, exhibitions and public
interventions that encourage dialogue and community interaction, primarily within the Los Angeles
region.

In opening the artists’ studio to the public, West of Rome is intentionally calling into question the
traditional division between the art’s public and private spheres. The event also reflects West of
Rome’s ongoing desire to highlight parts of the City outside the art world’s usual path—in the case
of Eagle Rock, an area characterized by ethnic diversity and a large population of creative
professionals.

Posted by Edward Rivera at 6:54 PM

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