Lawrence Weiner's "Water in Milk Exists" at Cottage Home

Los Angeles Premiere of Lawrence Weiner’s
Water in Milk Exists

Thursday, July 9, 8pm
Cottage Home
410 Cottage Home St. LA, CA 90012
Screening followed with a few words by Lawrence Weiner and a reception.

Lawrence Weiner teamed up with cinematographer Kiki Allgeier and producer Nortitoshi Hirakawa to realize WATER IN MILK EXISTS, a fresh skin flick that challenges both artistic and pornographic conventions. The film contains quotations from the artist’s children books, austere dialogues on string theory, animations, as well as a lot of carnal action.

WATER IN MILK EXISTS in a rare public screening and is receiving its Los Angeles premier at Cottage Home. Weiner realized his first porn movie A BIT OF MATTER AND A LITTLE BIT MORE in the 1970s as public declaration of Weiner’s solidarity with the detained crew of the legendary DEEP THROAT. Weiner’s latest contribution, on the contrary, focuses on a highly individual experience of sex and a freedom in sexuality that is often loss in the gaps between porno, pop culture, and the practice of everyday life.

The European premiere of WATER IN MILK EXISTS took place during Art Basel in one of the last remaining porn movie theatres in that city. For its Los Angeles premier, it will be screened in a former Chinese porn theater that has in its most recent incarnation been converted into an art gallery. Thus bringing together like Weiner’s film, art and pornography. This screening has been organized independently by Andrew Berardini, and will likely retain a smattering of the downbeat underground vibe in which it was originally screened.

Writes Lawrence Weiner: "SITUATED WITHIN A LANDSCAPE OF HUMAN INTERACTION THOSE ACTIVITIES THAT LEAD TO THE CONSTRUCTION OF STRUCTURES NECESSARY TO DEAL WITH OR CO-EXIST WITH THE FORCES OF NATURE, WATER IN MILK EXISTS ATTEMPTS TO PRESENT VARIOUS CHARACTERS AT A POINT OF DISJUNCTIVE BUT SIMULTANEOUS REALITIES. IF THE CONCISE PLACEMENT OF STONES LEADS TO A STRUCTURE (A TRUISM POSED BY MIES VAN DER ROHE) THEN PERHAPS A CONCISE PLACEMENT OF PERSONS CAN LEAD TO A STRUCTURE NOT BASED UPON PARALLEL HIERARCHIES. THE ACTIVITIES OF THE PLAYERS FIT WITHIN THE GENRE OF ADULT FILMS. IN FACT, THE PLAYERS ARE ADULTS."

A Structure of Lawrence Weiner. Players: N Beckwith, Lesny Jn Felix, Cleo Fishel, Taka Fukuya, Jonathan Hokklo, Joann Kim, Lucca Jean Lax, Kristen Lorello, Zaza M., Christopher Mitchell, Natalie S. Mignon, Kitao Sakurai, Ryan Scanlan. Director of Photography: Kiki Allgeier. Producer: Noritoshi Hirakawa. Executive Producer: Edi A. Stockli. The Swiss Institute, New York. Curator: Gianni Jetzer. Editors: Kiki Allgeier, Lawrence Weiner. Graphics: Bethany Izard. Melodic Noise: Kim Allgeier, Lawrence Weiner. Henry the Navigator, copyright Lawrence Markey and Lawrence Weiner.