The Spreading Ground
Hansen Dam, Pacoima, 7th Council District
About the Artist
Lucky Dragons (Sarah Rara and Luke Fischbeck) use sound, music, movement, choreography, and objects to create immersive environments and experiences. The Spreading Ground was conceived specifically for Hansen Dam and consists of a month-long series of workshops to produce a collaboratively created musical composition. The scores will be performed at sunset by a large choral procession of unamplified voices along the reservoir’s two-mile ridge.
The composition and libretto are influenced by the infrastructure of the spreading ground—a water-conservation technology used to recharge an aquifer and an example of how human intervention can support water collection and absorption to rebuild a healthy ecosystem. The Spreading Ground invokes themes of human intervention in LA’s water ecosystem and the relationship between geologic and human history.
—Irene Tsatsos
Member, Curatorial Committee
CURRENT:LA Water
Lucky Dragons is an ongoing collaboration between LA-based artists Sarah Rara (b. 1983, Livingston, New Jersey; lives and works in LA) and Luke Fischbeck (b. 1978, San Francisco; lives and works in LA). Lucky Dragons uses participation, dissent, perception, and attention as research methods for their performances and public art projects. They purposefully work toward a better understanding of existing ecologies through workshops, publications, and recordings. Lucky Dragons have presented collaborative work in a variety of contexts including REDCAT, the Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater, LA; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Hammer Museum, LA; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; Centre Pompidou, Paris; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; Institute for Contemporary Arts, London; The Kitchen, New York; the Venice Biennale; Whitney Biennial, New York; and the Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.; among others. Visit the artist’s website.
About the Art
The Spreading Ground is a musical composition for a walking chorus that examines Los Angeles as a site of transformative power and environmental hazard. The chorus sings, speaks, and meditates on short verses to unravel LA's vast water infrastructure. Interested participants are invited to work with the artists through a process of open rehearsals that culminate in a dramatic procession and public performance along the top of Hansen Dam.
See the Art:
Sat, Jul 16, 23 + 30 for Open Rehearsals
Sat, Aug 6 + 13 for Performances
(see Related Events for details)