PABLO DÁVILA: Ladies & Gentlemen,
We Are Floating In Space

May 13 - July 9, 2016
Artist opening Friday, May 13, 7 - 9 PM

... Thus, the surface of the earth at the equator moves at a speed of 460 meters per second — or roughly 1,000 miles per hour. While going around the sun it covers the route at a speed of nearly 30 kilometers per second, or 67,000 miles per hour. In addition, our solar system — Earth and all whirls around the center of our galaxy at some 220 kilometers per second, or 490,000 miles per hour. The galaxies in our neighborhood are also rushing at a speed of nearly 1,000 kilometers per second towards a structure called the Great Attractor, a region of space roughly 150 million light-years away from us... The earth is also moving with respect to the cosmic microwave background radiation (CBR) at a speed of 390 kilometers per second. (Scientific American, October 26, 1998).

We tend always to attach ourselves to the objects, to the flavor of the most recent past. We look at the present through a rear-view mirror. We march backwards into the future. (Marshall McLuhan - McLuhan, M. and Q. Fiore. (1967). The Medium is the Massage: An Inventory of Effects)

~

CULT | Aimee Friberg Exhibitions is pleased to present Ladies & Gentlemen, We Are Floating In Space, a solo exhibition of light installations, sculpture and architectural interventions by Mexico City based artist Pablo Dávila on view from May 13 through July 9, 2016. The gallery will host an artist reception on Friday, May 13 from 7 — 9 PM. This is the artist's first solo exhibition in the United States.

Dávila explores sentience and subjectivity through investigations in perception, space and time consciousness. His practice takes many shapes-- encompassing video, electronics, light installation, photography, conceptual painting and site-specific interventions. Utilizing a minimalist reductive approach, Dávila traverses the space in between sensory perception and cognitive understanding. His poetic gestures trigger a questioning of our expectations in dealing with the passing of time, and the psychological lens with which we process events in our memory.

For Ladies & Gentlemen, We Are Floating In Space, Dávila isolates conventional architectural materials- exposing the essential fundamental character and high-jacking the intended functionality, injecting a new reading with psychological, phenomenological, spiritual and cultural references. With this new body of work, Dávila makes reference to several distinct (but arguably, parallel) perspectives of time consciousness. He draws namely from the works of philosopher and communications theorist Marshall McLuhan, Tibetan Buddhist practitioner and yogi Milrepa, minimalist American composer Steve Reich and the aging technology of UNIX timestamp.

Dávila explains: "Light rays manifest themselves in a way in which our brain must process what is captured by our eyes for us to comprehend what we are seeing. I believe we are disoriented in our comprehension and perception of time and space, I am attracted to particular objects that confront this deception and speak to me to me with distinct speeds, aesthetics and spaces."

For Remember tomorrow, exposed and fixed photographic paper protrudes out of the top of the enclosed frame covering a photograph of Milarepa's Cave or Namkading Cave in central Tibet. The cave is where Milarepa achieved enlightenment in just one life and is a pilgrimage site for Tibetan Buddhist practitioners. As the title suggests, the piece playfully calls to question our awareness of the present and our fascination with the past and future.

Living in time believing in the timeless is a wall installation in which 32 drumsticks and 16 crotales (small antique cymbals) are mounted in a horizontal line. The drumsticks are controlled by custom electronics, driven by the UNIX timestamp, the 32 digit binary code, clock used by computers all over the world. The internal code of the sculpture translates the UNIX generated number into a pulse. As each second of UNIX code is inherently unique, the drumming pattern of Living in time believing in the timeless never repeats; The UNIX timestamp will end on the year 2038, and the sculpture will die with it - a conflation of past-future time.

On the gallery's main back wall is a minimal yet elegant work titled Oblique approach. A piece of glass leans against the wall and receives a projection of light from above, illuminating only the interior edges of the glass. A volume is created without containment, light passes through and reflects the room and the observer simultaneously, inviting introspection and a heightened awareness of the ambient space surrounding.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Pablo Dávila (b. 1983, Mexico City) has exhibited at Travesia Cuatro (Guadalajara), FIFI Projects (Monterrey), FIFI Projects (Mexico City), Sala Juarez (Gaudalajara), SALÓN ACME (Mexico City), and at ACME (Brooklyn, N.Y.). He participated in the artists-in-residence program at the Atlantic Center for the Arts with Josiah Mcelheny (Florida). Dávila holds a film degree from Vancouver Film School in Vancouver, British Columbia. He is represented by FIFI Projects in Mexico. He lives and works in Mexico City.

Image Credits (from left): Pablo Dávila, Oblique approach, 2016, Glass and video projector; At all times, 2016, Mirror and video projector.
PABLO DÁVILA, At all times, 2016, Mirror, steel frame and video projector, 51 x 114 x 31 cm, 20 x 45 x 12 in, Edition of 3 + 1 AP
PABLO DÁVILA, Prologue, 2016, Acrylic, steel frame, motor, Unique one of a kind, 305 x 203 x .6 cm, 120 x 80 x .25 in
PABLO DÁVILA, Ad libitum (piano phase), 2016, Print on cotton paper, aluminum frame, LED’s, 35 x 158 x 6 cm, 13.75 x 62 x 2.5 in (Triptych), Edition of 2 + 1 AP
PABLO DÁVILA, Oblique approach, 2016, Glass and video projector, 140 x 107 x 48 cm, 55 x 42 x 19 in, Edition of 2 + 1 AP
PABLO DÁVILA, Remember tomorrow I, 2016, Framed C-print, aluminum frame, 90 x 70 x 9 cm, 35.5 x 27.5 x 3.5 in
PABLO DÁVILA, Remember tomorrow II, 2016, Framed C-print, aluminum frame, 90 x 70 x 9 cm, 35.5 x 27.5 x 3.5 in
PABLO DÁVILA, Living in time believing in the timeless, 2016, Drumsticks and custom electronics, 85 x 147 x 13 cm, 33.25 x 58 x 5 in
PABLO DÁVILA, Constant (phase), 2016, Video projection on canvas, 175 x 175 x 5 cm, 69 x 69 x 2 in, Edition of 2 + 1 AP

Current

CULT TURNS 10
10 Year Anniversary Exhibition
January 18 - March 2, 2024

Past

Terri Loewenthal
Mountain Goat Mountain

September 15 – November 18, 2023

Time is a Tangled Web: Mary Fernando Conrad, Sophronia Cook, Cross Lypka, Tyler Cross, Zhivago Duncan, Jean Isamu Nagai, Rachel Kaye, Ruth Charlotte Kneass at CULT Bureau, Oakland
September 28 - December 16, 2023

Last Light: Luz Carabaño, Sophronia Cook, Cross Lypka, and Aidan Koch
June 23 - August 26, 2023

ECHO ECHO: Rachel Bridges and Ivan Bridges at CULT Bureau, Oakland
March 2 - August 5, 2023

Two Handfuls Of Silver Dust: Rhonda Holberton
April 27 - June 17, 2023

LEGACY: Binta Ayofemi, Adrian L. Burrell, Rachel Bridges, Ivan Bridges, Masako Miki, and Jean Isamu Nagai
January 18 - April 1, 2023

ZHIVAGO DUNCAN: Measuring Consciousness
September 15 - December 10, 2022

CULT Bureau: Gaze Interrupted
September 17 - November 19, 2022

AMY NATHAN: Slipknot Loophole
May 14 - August 26, 2022

Rebekah Goldstein: Welcome Home Stranger
March 19 - May 7, 2022

Sapiens / Stories at CULT Bureau
November 10, 2021 - April 30, 2022

Physics & Fiction
January 20 - March 12, 2022

Chris Fallon: Irresistible Deception
October 15 - December 18, 2021

Sapiens / Stories on 8-Bridges
October 7 - November 3, 2021

Masako Miki: New Mythologies
June 16 - October 12, 2021

Tales of Metamorphosis: Rebekah Goldstein, James Perkins, and Amy Nathan
June 3 - 30, 2021

Janus II - CULT's 7 Year Anniversary Exhibition
April 9 - May 20, 2021

Troy Chew: Yadadamean
October 17 - December 12, 2020

We’re all in this together
August 14 - October 10, 2020

Beyond Words
June 26 - August 29, 2020

Ritual of Succession
January 10 - March 28, 2020

Record of Succession at fused space
January 13 - March 27, 2020

AMY NATHAN: Glyph Slipper
September 13 - December 7, 2019

FEMALE TROUBLE 2
June 28 - August 3, 2019

RUXUE ZHANG
April 20 - June 15, 2019

MASAKO MIKI: Shapeshifters
January 12 - March 23, 2019

JASKO BEGOVIC (SKO HABIBI): HUMAN_E.T.
November 30 - December 14, 2019

REBEKAH GOLDSTEIN: See You On The Flipside
September 8 - November 25, 2018

FEMALE TROUBLE
June 9 - July 28, 2018

TERRI LOEWENTHAL: Psychscapes
March 2 - May 19, 2018

VECINOS
October 27, 2017 - January 20, 2018

RHONDA HOLBERTON: Still Life
January 10 – March 4, 2017

REBEKAH GOLDSTEIN: Release Me
October 21 - December 10, 2016

NO SHOW MUSEUM: Yves Klein, Maria Eichhorn, Daniel Knorr, Etc.
One Night Only: Monday, October 17, 2016

DESIRÉE HOLMAN: Selected Works
September 17 - October 8, 2016

SHE MOONAGE DAYDREAM:
Facundo Argañaraz, Leah Guadagnoli, Desirée Holman, Kara Joslyn, Max Maslansky, Liz Robb, Tamra Seal, Emily Weiner, & Cate White

July 16 - August 20, 2016

PABLO DÁVILA: Ladies & Gentlemen,
We Are Floating In Space

May 13 - July 9, 2016

MASAKO MIKI: Conversations with Fox, Feather, and Ghost
March 4 - April 30, 2016

SUZY POLING: Total Internal Reflection
January 15 - February 27, 2016

DAN GLUIBIZZI: You Don’t Have to be Alone Tonight
November 6 – December 19, 2015

FRANCESCO IGORY DEIANA: Haptic Render
September 11- October 31, 2015

SEXXXITECTURE: Daniel Gerwin, Rebekah Goldstein, Roman Liška, Max Maslansky, May Wilson & Jake Ziemann
July 1 - August 1, 2015

ADAM SORENSEN: In Situ
May 1 - June 27, 2015

KLARA KÄLLSTRÖM & THOBIAS FÄLDT: Village / High Hills
February 27 - April 25, 2015

PRINCE RAMA: How To Live Forever
January 25 – February 21, 2015

JOSEPH DUMBACHER & JOHN DUMBACHER: Divert (Out of Line)
November 7, 2014 – January 16, 2015

REBEKAH GOLDSTEIN: Passenger
September 12 – November 1, 2014

A PATTERN LANGUAGE: Michelle Grabner, Angie Wilson & Lena Wolff
June 20 - July 19, 2014

MICHELLE BLADE: Gathering Into Being
April 25th – June 7th, 2014

MIGUEL ARZABE: /*Reject Algorithms*/
March 7 – April 19, 2014

JACQUELINE KIYOMI GORDON: Drawings
March 7 – April 19, 2014

FRITZ CHESNUT: Purr Valley
& Rhonda Holberton

January 10 - February 22, 2014

UNSEEN: Miya Ando, Miguel Arzabe, Chris Duncan, Klea Mckenna & Dean Smith
November 10 - December 21, 2013

Past Off-Site Exhibitions

RHONDA HOLBERTON: Still Life 2
April 7 - May 26, 2018

LAS COSAS QUE PINTAN / PAINTING IN AN EXPANSIVE FIELD
Works by Miguel Arzabe & Juan Sorrentino

April 9 – May 17, 2015

EBB: Gina Borg and Chris Russell at Loczi Design
December 10, 2014