Connor Renwick: Neutra VDL House’s Built In Exhibition Shines a Light On New Works

Friday, October 15, 2021

Neutra VDL House’s Built In Exhibition Shines a Light On New Works

The Neutra VDL House welcomed visitors back on behalf of Built In, a group exhibition of site-specific work from 32 Los Angeles area artists, designers, architects and creative practitioners. The first in-person event in over a year, curators Erik Benjamins and design gallery Marta worked closely with VDL Directors Noam Saragosti and Juhee Park to bring it to life. Built In shines a light on newly-created, site-specific works that play off of the built-in architectural and historic elements of the VDL House. You can schedule a visit to see it yourself through November 7, 2021.

Built-ins are a commitment – unmovable, permanent elements of the interior architecture of a space that serve a pragmatic use. Rather than swapping out furniture, you have to figure out how to work with them in a new way. Built In invited creative responses to the ones that sit throughout VDL House. The results celebrate built-ins for what they are: materially and spatially-aware, sensorially-engaged, functional and poetic.

In the exhibit are new works by A History of Frogs, Brody Albert, BC, Charlap Hyman & Herrero, Misa Chhan, Jeremiah Chiu, Fiona Connor, Emily Endo, Escher GuneWardena, Andrew Thomas Huang, Nancy Kwon, L.A. Door, Lakes, Jason Lipeles and Janet Soval, New Documents, Kyoko Oshiro, Mina Park and Kwang Uh, Emma T. Price, Alex Reed, Rest Objects, Candice and Darren Romanelli, Nancy Stella Soto and PapiBoyBabyBoy, Stock-A-Studio, Arden Surdam, Terremoto, Three Sheep and Bob Dornberger and TOLO Architecture. While they all have Los Angeles as their base, these individuals represent a diverse array of practices and aesthetics that showcase VDL House in a fresh light.