Migration Installation by Doug Aitken

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Los Angeles Times' article:

Doug Aitken's 'Migration' at Regen Projects
In 'Migration' and other art projects, Doug Aitken plays with the narrative of time, space and frontiers.

September 11, 2009|Holly Myers

Discussing the genesis of his recent project, "Migration," which has its West Coast debut at Regen Projects this month, Doug Aitken tells the story of a conversation he had in Las Vegas with funk musician George Clinton.

"He was staying at a Days Inn," Aitken recounts, "but he was playing at some really fancy casino. So I said to him, 'Why aren't you staying at the casino? I'm sure they would have given you a penthouse or something.' And he said" -- here Aitken slips into a low, world-weary, rock star voice -- " 'Yeah, you know, I've been on the road since, like, 1968 and I've been staying at the Days Inn since 1968, and all I want to do is fall asleep and wake up in the exact same place.' "

It is a curious image -- the godfather of funk, with his mop of multicolored dreds, padding about a cheap motel room -- and not far removed from what "Migration" became: a 24-minute film involving a succession of such motel rooms, each occupied by some variety of wild animal. The creatures, all indigenous to North America, appear alone or in pairs, doing, in most cases, whatever they set about doing when Aitken and his crew let them loose. A buffalo overturns furniture with the nudge of its massive head; a mountain lion tears into a bedspread; a beaver plods across a tile floor and angles its face beneath the faucet in a bathtub. (Shot on location across the country, the film presented an unusual array of logistical challenges -- "I think there were a few hotels that thought we were making adult films or something," Aitken says -- but there were, surprisingly, no disasters.)

Filmed in the smooth, sleek visual style that's become Aitken's signature and backed by a lush soundtrack, the piece has the air of a surreal travelogue, sincere though not especially sentimental, its pathos held in check by the consummate strangeness of the spectacle it presents. The animals bring what feels like an ancient quality of consciousness to bear on a garishly contemporary setting, illuminating the chasm between the two.

Fuente: http://articles.latimes.com