The Woods Opens at Automata in L.A.

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Jesse Garrison's installation 'The Woods' is on view at Automata in Los Angeles on April 20-21. | Image: Courtesy of the artist

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After a showing at CalArts last month, artist and CalArts graduate student Jesse Garrison (MFA Theater-Integrated Media 17) recreates his interactive light, shadow and sound installation, The Woods, this weekend (April 20-21) at Automata in Los Angeles’ Chinatown.

The Woods asks viewers to become active participants in the space and to consider their physical and symbolic relationship to the forest. Garrison explains his interest in the nature-human connections in his press release:

The woods have played many roles throughout history. They are conversely both a place of sustenance and abundance, but also one of danger, mystery and transformation. Perhaps it should come as no surprise that they feature so prominently in folktales, mythology and contemporary popular culture. In an era of increasing urbanization, how do we reconcile our diminishing physical relationship to the forest with our symbolic one? How do the woods from our personal histories project themselves onto the present?

During the installation, guests move through a knee-high forest of twigs as LED lights on motorized dollies illuminate the path ahead in response to guests’ movements. While the participants are generally taller than the branches on the ground, the lights and shadows of The Woods loom above on the walls and ceilings of the space.

To create an even more immersive environment, Garrison tapped fellow CalArtian Justin Scheid (Music MFA 15) to compose a soundscape that responds to viewers’ movements.

View a clip of the work-in-progress, below:

Above: Clip from Jesse Garrison’s ‘The Woods.’

The performance and art space Automata was founded in 2004 by artists Susan Simpson (Film/Video MFA 99) and School of Theater faculty Janie Geiser.