My Barbarian

23 October 2010 - 23 January 2011

© My Barbarian The Night Epi$ode Two: Yoga Matt / Veronika Phoenix, 2009 Single-channel video still. 12:48 min Courtesy of the artists.

MY BARBARIAN

October 23 - January 23, 2011

My Barbarian is a Los Angeles-based performance collective founded in 2000 by Malik Gaines, Jade Gordon, and Alexandro Segade. Their video installation The Night Epi$ode (2010) explores the genre of science fiction, linking narratives related to the economic collapse with supernatural occurances. Inspired by episodic television shows like Rod Serling’s Night Gallery, the three performers appear in six short videos that view the current financial crisis through the tropes of that genre. In The Night Epi$ode, 2010, a woman starts a romance with a supernatural being after losing her job, a man turns to witch doctors when his insurance won’t cover his medical condition, and a trio of curators trapped in a board room argue over the politics of art. Combining science fiction with elements of French existentialism and absurdist dialogue, My Barbarian’s lively performative videos comprise a multi-part installation. Organized by Hammer senior curator Anne Ellegood, Hammer Projects: My Barbarian is the group’s first solo museum exhibition.
Biography
My Barbarian is a Los Angeles-based performance collective founded in 2000 by Malik Gaines, Jade Gordon and Alexandro Segade. My Barbarian has performed and exhibited at venues such as the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Hammer Museum, Museum of Contemporary Art, and LAXART in Los Angeles, California; the Whitney Museum of American Art, New Museum, and Studio Museum in New York; and at numerous venues internationally including The Power Plant, Toronto, Canada; De Appel, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Galleria Civica, Trento, Italy; and Townhouse Gallery in Cairo, Egypt. Hammer Projects: My Barbarian is the group’s first solo museum exhibition.

www.hammer.ucla.edu