In lieu of a polite architectural exhibition, with ‘The Beta Movement’ we staged the transformation of this Hollywood Boulevard gallery. Part scenographic intervention, part inhabitable supergraphic, the installation casts aside conventional notions of architectural connoisseurship in favor of a direct engagement with the multiple publics on this storied Boulevard.

Prominently sited on the Hollywood Walk-of-Fame, The Beta Movement acts as a grand-scale temporary self-propagating photomaton, inviting tourists and Angelinos inside for their own red carpet moment. Stars are plucked from the famous sidewalk and projected through the gallery, producing a series of spatial distortions that are replete with filmic references to superheroes, hyperspace, hypnotism, evil lairs and astrophysical singularities. Upon entry into the space, the rough qualities of the exposed construction reveal the temporary nature of the illusion. Cutting from one void to the next, visitors make their way to a projection room where video and text describe the formal procedures at play.

Following is the exhibition text:

We all blush at the thought: who me, the object of desire? But let’s be frank. The subject does on occasion gravitate toward objectification, like the framer who enjoys being framed. The project revels in the iconography of celebrity. Stars are plucked from the sidewalk in front of the gallery and launched through a series of frames. Viewed frontally, the space collapses into a graphic, the familiar “pow” of the comic book superhero; off axis, its depth extends into a villainous hypnotic swirl. But within, you are the star, complicit in a hyper-spatial performance. In this scenario, space is fragmented and the architectural object undermined. In its place: multiple holes, inhabitable memes, an ode to cheeky contextualism. Snap, you’ve been tagged.”