Knifeandfork Presents
Trying the Hand of God
An Engagement Party Event
Thursday, April 2, 7 – 10pm
250 South Grand Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90012
Trying the Hand of God explores the nature of the media-perpetuated chance moment. Knifeandfork will host a carefully choreographed continuous reenactment of the infamous illegal, but not penalized, “Hand of God” soccer goal from the 1986 International Federation of Associated Football (FIFA) World Cup. The performance will be staged on a recreation of Mexico City’s Aztec Stadium, constructed within the confines of the MOCA Sculpture Plaza. A limited number of audience members will have the opportunity to play the role of Diego Maradona, the Argentine soccer legend who scored the controversial goal against England during the quarterfinals, eventually leading his team to win the match and the tournament.
Through live performance, Knifeandfork introduces the potential for variations on a familiar, media-repeated image. The issue of variation is particularly interesting in this case, as the controversy over the “Hand of God” goal raised complex questions of chance, skill, and fate. In their choreographed reenactments, Knifeandfork attempts to control all possible variables, yet the possibility of a “perfect” performance inevitably remains elusive. Rather, the repetitions serve as a form of kinetic documentation, both of what was and what might have been, and they grant the audience agency over the representation of this iconic event, which has been otherwise ossified by media reproductions.
Knifeandfork
Knifeandfork, founded by Brian House and Sue Huang while on a coffee break during a figure-drawing class in Sweden, currently operates out of Los Angeles and New York. Knifeandfork projects are concerned with the critical reconfiguration of media structures and contexts. Recent work includes The Wrench (2008), which recasts Primo Levi’s The Monkey’s Wrench as an open-ended mobile phone text-message exchange between participants and an artificially intelligent character; 5 ’til 12 (2006), a nonlinear interactive installation utilizing a database of video clips to create a near-infinite number of narratives based on the Akira Kurosawa film Rashomon; and Hundekopf (2005), a location-based narrative project utilizing SMS text-messaging to animate and recontextualize the experience of riding the Berlin Ringbahn. Knifeandfork’s past exhibition hosts include Rhizome at the New Museum for Contemporary Art, New York; Beall Center for Art + Technology, University of California, Irvine; Loving Berlin Festival, Berlin; and Kulturhuset, Stockholm.
Engagement Party
Launched in October 2008, MOCA’s Engagement Party offers emerging Los Angeles–based artist collectives three-month residencies during which they present public programs at MOCA Grand Avenue on the first Thursday of each month from 7 to 10pm. Collectives may employ any medium, discipline, or strategy during their residency, resulting in programs that may include performances, workshops, screenings, lectures, or any other activity emerging from the group’s particular focus. By providing a platform for artist collectives who operate through multi-disciplinary, non-object based practices, MOCA intends to address the significant role of these practices in the contemporary cultural landscape and challenge the conventions of a collecting institution. Engagement Party is made possible by a one-year grant from The James Irvine Foundation.
Parking for MOCA Grand Avenue
Parking is recommended at the Walt Disney Concert Hall garage. Parking is also available in surrounding lots.
MEDIA CONTACTS:
Lyn Winter
Tel 213/633-5390
lwinter@moca.org
Jessica Youn
Tel 213/633-5322
jyoun@moca.org
