The su i t e o f 14 l e t t e r pre s s pr int s ca l l ed L .A . : Tabu læ ad As t ra (L .A . : Map s t o t h e St a r s ) , by Di rk Hagne r, bea r s a re s emb l ance to an incunabu l um and ye t , i s pr int ed on 21th centur y, sp i r a l bound , ske t ch - book pape r bea r ing a ye l l ow - brown pa t ina f rom the wa t e r s o f the L .A . r i ve r. I t c l a ims to be a map to the “ s t a r s , ” whi ch usua l l y means whe re ce l ebr i t i e s l i ve , but not he re . The t i t l e page ha s a decor a t i ve f r ame , whi ch wa s impor t ed f rom Ex s u r g e Domi ne , a papa l bu l l , in whi ch Pope Leo X re sponded to Ma r t in Luthe r ’ s 95 Th e s i s . Each o f the fo l l owing p l a t e s a re s t amped wi th t iny La t in phr a s e s in a Gut enbe r g - l i ke font , ac compani ed by index i ca l ma rks , Ror s chach - l i ke s t a ins , ind i go sp l a t s , and s t r ange l i t t l e 15th centur y dep i c t i ons o f imag ina r y s ea c rea ture s . How doe s one make s ens e o f a l l o f the s e pr int ed ma r g ina l i a on the ub i qu i tous rec t ang l e s tha t appea r on each page ? Le t ’ s t ake the proce s s apa r t , in the way tha t the s e f r agment a r y image s we re pr int ed : f rom the cent e r outwa rd . Al l o f the p l a t e s in L .A . : Tabu læ ad As t ra s t a r t wi th a rec t angu l a r - shaped ob j ec t in the cent e r—the mode rni s t g r i d . The g r i d i s a b i rds - eye v i ew o f a l ands cape and emb l ema t i c o f the c i t y ’ s inf r a s t ruc ture ; i t i s s ymbo l i c mapp ing , but ye t , i t i s an abs t r ac t i on . Ros a l ind Kr aus s sugge s t s “ the g r i d func t i ons to dec l a re the mode rni t y o f mode rn a r t . ” He re , i t i s a ma sh - up quot e f rom the page s o f a r t hi s tor y. They appea r l i ke sma l l shee t s o f g r aph pape r in a wi de r ange o f f aded co l or s f rom s ep i a to ca rbon - copy b l ue . Ove r l ay ing the g r i d ( but p l aced a round the ma r g ins ) i s anothe r map : a co l l age cutout—in the form o f mount a in r ange s—f rom the f amous Thoma s Gu i d e o f Los Ange l e s and Or ange Count i e s . At once , we have a f l a t v i ew o f the “c i t y o f roads ” and then a s i l houe t t e o f the f amous mount a in r ange s tha t sur round the LA ba s in . The cent e r p i ece o f each Tabu l a anchor s the mode rni s t g r i d whi l e a l l ud ing to a v i sua l repre s ent a t i on o f Los Ange l e s .
1 Rosalind Krauss, ‘Grids’, in The Originality of the Avant-Garde and Other Modernist Myths , Cambridge, Mass. and London 1985, p.1
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