The wilds of epiphenomena

Scott Benzel, Tanya Brodsky, Alice Könitz, Rita McBride, Kristin Posehn

Curated by: Kristin Posehn

Opening Reception:  Saturday, April 13, 2024, 6-9 pm

April 13 - May 11, 2024

An epiphenomena is a second-order phenomenon. In the philosophy of mind, it relates to a theory whereby matter gives rise to mental phenomena and consciousness. Each work in The wilds of epiphenomena explores and probes a world beyond the ordinary, a world of second-order and higher phenomena. With materials ranging from dry ice to currency and electronics, these artworks give rise to physical, imaginal, and conceptual shape-shifting, hinting at the mutable nature of mind and presence.

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Scott Benzel is an interdisciplinary artist living and working in Los Angeles. His work has been exhibited or performed at the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Museum Of Contemporary Art Los Angeles, LA><ART, Los Angeles, the MAK Center for Art and Architecture, Los Angeles, The Palm Springs Art Museum, the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, Mt. Wilson Observatory, Pasadena, CA, and REDCAT, Los Angeles, and was featured in Made in L.A. 2012 at the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles. Solo exhibitions include The Horse, Dublin, Bel Ami, Los Angeles, Maccarone, New York, Various Small Fires, Los Angeles, Shanaynay, Paris, Public Fiction, Los Angeles, Human Resources, Los Angeles, and Mandrake, Los Angeles. He is a member of the faculty of the School of Art at California Institute of the Arts.

Tanya Brodsky (b. Kyiv, Ukraine) is an artist and educator based in Los Angeles. Brodsky holds an MFA from UC San Diego (2016) and a BFA from RISD (2005). She has participated in residencies including The Mountain School of Arts MSA^, SOMA Mexico City, Vermont Studio Center and The Lighthouse Works. Brodsky's work has been reviewed in Artforum, Hyperallergic and Carla, and has been recently exhibited at Left Field Gallery, Tyler Park Presents, The Fulcrum Press, The Box, Ochi Projects, Materials & Applications, Visitor Welcome Center (Los Angeles), Test Site Projects (Las Vegas), The Magic Hour (Twentynine Palms), and the Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego. Her public art installation, “Yolki Palki,” was recently on view in West Hollywood. Brodsky teaches sculpture and public art at California State University, Northridge, and at the University of Southern California.

Alice Könitz (b. Essen, Germany) lives and works in Los Angeles. Könitz has presented her work in numerous exhibitions including the 2008 Whitney Biennial (Whitney Museum of American Art, NY); the 2008 California Biennial/High Desert Test Sites; the 2014 Made in LA Biennial at the UCLA Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; the Main Museum, Los Angeles; Galerie Nächst St. Stephan, Rosemarie Schwarzwälder, Vienna; the Armory Center for the Arts, Pasadena; Commonwealth and Council, Los Angeles; LA><ART, Los Angeles, CA; the MAK Center for Art and Architecture Los Angeles, Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles and Berlin Projects; the Lehmbruck Museum, Duisburg; Museum of the City of Mülheim an der Ruhr; Villa Arson, Nice; and the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery. Her work is represented by Commonwealth and Council. Könitz holds a master’s degree in fine arts from Cal Arts and an Akademiebrief and Meisterschülerbrief from the Kunstakademie in Düsseldorf. She was awarded the DAAD fellowship for North America; the Förderpreis zum Ruhrpreis für Kunst und Wissenschaft; the Kreativkraftpreis der Stadt Mülheim/Ruhr, the COLA individual artist fellowship, and the Prospect Art New Work Grant. She received the Mohn award for artistic excellence, for her participatory project LAMOA (Los Angeles Museum of Art).

Rita McBride (b. Des Moines, 1960) lives in Düsseldorf and Los Alamos, California. She received a BA from Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, and an MFA from the California Institute of the Arts, Valencia. In 1988, she began exploring architectural and sculptural form in works ranging from small-scale objects to public commissions. Her major public commissions include Mae West, Munich (2011); Bells and Whistles, the New School, New York (2014); and Obelisk of Tutankhamun, Cologne (2017). Major presentations include Rita McBride: Public Tilt, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (2014–15); Rita McBride: Gesellschaft, Kestner Gesellschaft, Hannover, Germany, and Kunsthalle Düsseldorf (2015–16); Rita McBride: Explorer, Wiels, Brussels (2017–18); Particulates, Dia Chelsea, New York (2017–18); National Chain 2020/Social Practices (in collaboration with Alexandra Waierstall and Fontys Dance Academy), Museum De Pont, Tilburg (2021). In 2001, she initiated a series of genre-bending publications that often use anonymous, collective writing structures. In 2018, she also initiated Particulates, an anthology of science fiction, edited by Nalo Hopkinson, that accompanied her exhibition Particulates at Dia Chelsea. Since 2003, Rita McBride has been a Professor at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf (Art Academy in Dusseldorf), where she served as its director from 2013-2017.

Kristin Posehn is a Los Angeles-based artist working between conceptual sculpture, architecture, writing, and painting. Her work has been commissioned and exhibited by institutions internationally, including the MAK Center for Art and Architecture, Los Angeles, Bonnefanten Museum, NL, Netwerk Center for Contemporary Art, BE, Museum De Paviljoens, NL, Aspex, UK, Kunstmuseum Luxembourg, LU, Brooklyn Historical Society, NY, and other venues. The Center for Art + Environment at the Nevada Museum of Art maintains a collection of materials from her architectural installations. She received a Ph.D. in Sculpture from the Winchester School of Art, Winchester, UK, and held a two-year residency at the Van Eyck, Maastricht, NL. She has taught at Oxford University, Duke University, Woodbury University, Winchester School of Art, and other institutions.