During the COVID-19 Pandemic, Automata awarded me a three week individual artist residency at its space in the Chinatown arts district of Los Angeles where I worked on the development of Model Killer.
More from Automata:
We are excited to announce a new series of individual artist’s residencies—a program we launched to serve creative process and new work development while we are unable to gather for events. We’ve turned over the keys, and are giving 24-hour access and uninterrupted work-time to a fantastic group of artists!
Each artist will also share their process through informal online / virtual offerings that will allow you to learn more about their artistic practice and the inquiry that has fueled their current creative pursuits. Stay tuned for your chance to meet the artists and learn more about how they’ve made use of their time at Automata!
The 2020 Automata Residency Project is made possible with generous support from The Jim Henson Foundation and the LA Arts Covid-19 Relief Fund, funded by the J.Paul Getty Trust in partnership with the California Community Foundation.
Our Residency Projects are also funded, in part, through the ongoing support of the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs and the LA County Arts Commission.
Meet The Artists In Residence
June 9–27, 2020
RAY CHANG
Ray Chang is a Taiwanese-American artist who recently received his MFA degree at the California Institute of the Arts in Experimental Animation. Through experimentation of mechanical sculpture and installation, he explores themes of visual phenomena, automation and broad feelings of ennui and alienation. His 2018 installation Manufactured explored the origins of the manufacturing of goods, by employing early cinematic principles as a way to find intersections with early manufacturing methods. Ray also collaborated with a group of colleagues from the CalArts School of Theater, and together they attended and showcased their toy theater project Ubu Roi at the Prague Quadrennial for PQ Studio of Summer 2019.
July 1–15, 2020
MOIRA LAEL MACDONALD
Moira Lael MacDonald is a multidisciplinary theater artist. Her most recent work, Selkie, was performed at Automata in February 2020, and was previously featured at the Skirball Puppetry Festival. Other work includes Blue Waves, Margery and Me, Anatomy Lesson, Amaranth, The Life of the Bee, and Letter from the Bees. Her short hand-processed film, The Visible Woman, has been screened at the Eagle Rock Center for the Arts and Concord Space. Moira holds an MFA in Puppetry and Integrated Media from CalArts, and a BFA in Acting from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. She teaches at Pasadena City College, Moorpark College, and the Ventura Youth Correctional Facility.
August 6–27, 2020
MARSIAN DE LELLIS
Marsian De Lellis is a Los Angeles-based interdisciplinary artist who investigates contemporary forms of animism, desire and neurodivergence. In their work, they employ artificial figures, cutouts, pop-ups, performing objects, and wearable architecture. De Lellis has been supported by The Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, The Foundation for Contemporary Arts, Center Theatre Group, The Jim Henson Foundation, The Center for Cultural Innovation, The Durfee Foundation, The Anna Sosenko Assist Trust, UNIMA-USA, and has been an artist-in-residence at the Eugene O’Neill Center and the Atlantic Center for the Arts. (photo credit: Austin Young)
September 1–15, 2020
GABRIELLE CIVIL
Gabrielle Civil is a black feminist performance artist, poet, and writer, originally from Detroit, MI. She has activated objects in performance art works around the world, most recently with Wild Beauty at Velocity in Seattle (2020). Her performance memoirs include Swallow the Fish (2017), Experiments in Joy (2019) and the forthcoming (ghost gestures) performance writing (2020), which won the 2019 Gold Line Nonfiction Chapbook contest. A 2019 Rema Hort Mann LA Emerging Artist, she teaches creative writing and critical studies at the California Institute of the Arts. The aim of her work is to open up space.
September 20–October 4, 2020
PATRICK MICHAEL BALLARD
Patrick Michael Ballard is a Los Angeles based storyteller utilizing performance, sculpture, creative writing, illustration, installation, and sound to develop the shifting ground of contemporary narrative form. Patrick has exhibited his work at Machine Project, the Les Urbaines Festival in Lausanne, Switzerland, MaRS, 356 Mission, Moskowitz Bayse, ltd, Cirrus Gallery, and has exhibited public sculpture on the facade of the Gamble House. He received his MFA from California Institute of the Arts, and his BFA from CSU Long Beach.
October 9–23, 2020
KENDRA WARE
Kendra Ware is a performance based multidisciplinary artist who writes and directs. A graduate of CalArts and Sarah Lawrence College, she oftentimes fuses puppetry, video, music, text, and spoken word poetry of a personal nature to critique existing societal norms and challenge the notion of otherness. Most recently she has directed at Borderlands Theater in Tucson, AZ, Cara Mia Theater, Dallas, TX, and in Perryville Women’s prison in Goodyear, AZ. Original work has been shown at REDCAT in Los Angeles, Son Of Semele, The Santa Barbara Museum of Contemporary Art , The Last Bookstore, La Mama Theater, Umbria and the Pan Asian Theater in New York City and site specific locations.
Automata wishes to thank the California Arts Council, the Jim Henson Foundation, the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, the Los Angeles County Arts Commission, The Metabolic Studio, The Orphiflamme Foundation, MapFund, The Center for Cultural Innovation, The Doris Duke Charitable Trust, our amazing Board of Directors, our Members, audience, artists, contributors, and the community of Chinatown for their support.