Derived from the Greek word for change, 'metabolism' is the process that maintains life. In continuous cycles of creation and destruction metabolism transforms nutrients into energy and matter. Working to sustain these cycles, the Metabolic Studio transforms resources into energy, actions, and objects that nurture life. Led by artist and philanthropist Lauren Bon, it is a studio for practice at the interarticle of art and philanthropy.
Silver (Ag) and Water (H2O) are the two resources mined from the mountains around the Owens Dry Lake that are responsible for the shape of the city of Los Angeles as we now know it today. Silver mined out of the Inyo Ranges was key to the evolution of film and photography. Water mined out of the Owens Valley was transported to Los Angeles to create the San Fernando Valley nearly one hundred years ago. In an act of reconciliation Lauren Bon and the Metabolic Studio are making a film out of silver and water mined here. As a means to that end our Studio has so far constructed a dozen scenes over a four-year period. The completed film will be shown on the one hundredth anniversary of the opening of the LA Aqueduct: November 5, 2013.
The land that hosts the West Los Angeles VA campus was originally donated to the VA under an 1888 deed restriction that created a charitable trust requiring the land to be used as a permanent home for veterans. Unfortunately, the VA, as the trustee of that charitable trust, has not adhered to this requirement, as the West Los Angeles VA campus is not being used as a home for veterans as required by the donors of the land that established the West Los Angeles VA campus in the first instance.
The Liminal Camera can produce a photograph within hours of having taken it. It captures an image without drawing attention to itself as most cameras and camera equipment do. The camera body is a shipping container which makes it hard to recognize as an image-making machine. Its size means that camera operators are able to be inside the camera. From the operators’ vantage point the subject appears upside down. The Liminal Camera is both an image capturing tool and perceptual tool.
