[Exhibit] Arena 1: Ghosts

If you're in the Santa Monica area this month, be sure to catch the  ARENA 1 Gallery presentation of GHOSTS – a group exhibition, curated by Michael EB Detto and Sayon Syprasoeuth, which gathers new work from six artists exploring the aftermath of the catastrophe, the genocide, or the war. It will run until March 1st at 3026 Airport Avenue in Santa Monica, California.

ARENA 1 is an exhibition space founded by Santa Monica Art Studios directors Yossi Govrin and Sherry Frumkin. Based in an historic hangar at the Santa Monica Airport, ARENA 1 invites internationally known as well as newly established curators to develop innovative and compelling exhibitions.

For this exhibition, the curators ask:
"How should we treat the Ghosts each of these leaves behind – in real life, as metaphor, as a tool? The very own substantiality each one thing in itself exhibits, its innate properties, its relation to subject, time space, and language are altogether qualities which suddenly start to dissipate when we have to deal with ghosts. It is hard even to agree on one word for them: there are specters, phantoms and wreath, genie and spirit, the apparition and many other denominations to describe a phenomenon that tends to blur the demarcation line between subject and object, past and presence, here and there."

Initiated by Michael Detto’s project “Cambodian Ghosts”, Sayon Syprasoeuth and Michael Detto invite artists to a dialogue about their art and the ghosts of the past, and to present their work in this context. There will be an exhibition walkthrough and conversation with the artists discussing the themes (amongst others) ethics and art, beauty, style and the challenges of an aesthetics of evil, and about the ghost in art. Be sure to see it, if you can.