Redcat Screens 'Laureana Toledo: The Limit' 8/17

On Tuesday, August 17, 2010 at 8:30 pm, REDCAT will host the U.S. premiere of a new film by Mexico City-based artist Laureana Toledo, followed by a post-show discussion and Q&A with the artist and music critic and journalist Josh Kun.

Disguised as a thirty minute fan documentary, The Limit investigates how information and pop culture are digested, how colonialism is still activating our fantasies and expectations, and how the secondary role of women around rock bands is funnily reversed. "As a response to the commission of doing a piece of art in Sheffield addressed to an imaginary spectator that hates art, I decided to put together a cover band that would only play covers by bands from Sheffield--Pulp, Def Leppard, Human League, ABC, Joe Cocker and the Arctic Monkeys," explains Toledo.

Named after the cult Sheffield nightclub which closed in 1992, The Limit was created in Mexico, pulling musicians from four of the most important groups in the Mexican rock scene--Julián Placencia (Discoruido/IMS), Sergio Acosta (Zoe), Quique Rangel (Cafe Tacvba) and Diego Suárez (Bengala). "Very few people in England know of these bands," added Toledo. "People in Mexico know lots of Sheffield bands... and from Birmingham, and from Manchester, and from Bristol." After playing one local concert at The Tandem Pub in Mexico City, The Limit traveled to Sheffield to play two shows before disbanding.

Much of Toledo's work appropriates and reinterprets a pre-existing entity; The Limit is no different. Deepening her investigation, Toledo also published an artist book resembling a magazine in conjunction with the film entitled The Name of the Band is The Limit. Here she continues to play with the idea of authorship by pirating an already iconic magazine layout of The Face, turning it into a labyrinth of information that leaves the reader unsure if he or she is reading about music, a band's story, an artist, Mexico or even just pop culture. Copies of The Name of the Band is The Limit will be available for purchase at REDCAT.

Laureana Toledo: The Limit screens at REDCAT on Tuesday, August 17, 2010 at 8:30 pm and will be followed by a post-show discussion and Q&A with the artist . Tickets are $9 and available at the box office, online at redcat.org or by calling 213 237-2800. REDCAT is located at the corner of W. 2nd and Hope Streets, inside the Walt Disney Concert Hall complex (631 West 2nd Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012).

ABOUT LAUREANA TOLEDO
Born in Ixtepec, Oaxaca, Mexico in 1970, Laureana Toledo lives and works in London and Mexico City. She has presented exhibitions and colaborative projects at Galeria OMR and Museo Anahuacalli in Mexico City, Eastside Projects in Birmingham, The Louisiana Museum of Contemporary Art in Denmark, Lunds Konstall in Sweden and the Whitechapel Art Gallery in London among many others. She has been recipient of an ISCP residency in New York in 2004, and Gasworks in London in 2009. She has also worked as an editor and independent curator in Mexico and abroad since 1996. She is the co-founder of SOMA, artist space in Mexico City.

With a background in photography, Laureana Toledo's practice has developed to incorporate various media, chosen in relation to a specific concept or theme of the work. Laureana is inspired by the imperceptible or transient moments of the everyday, speculating on how such phenomena can gain new forms of visual presentation. Her work often involves systematic and repetitive interventions into different media (texts, books, photographs, painitngs, etc.) to re-code their existing narratives. Laureana also takes this approach into her exploration of the history of rock music, one of her passions.

ABOUT REDCAT
Opened by CalArts in 2003, REDCAT (Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater) introduces diverse audiences, students and artists to the most influential developments in the arts from around the world, and gives artists in this region the creative support they need to achieve national and international stature. REDCAT is the newest partner in an international network of adventurous art and performance centers, which together are playing a vital role in the evolution of contemporary culture. REDCAT is a center for experimentation, discovery and lively civic discourse. For more information, visit redcat.org.

REDCAT Season Sponsors include The Standard Hotel Downtown, Yamaha Pianos, the Los Angeles Times and KCRW. Full REDCAT Acknowledgments can be found online at redcat.org/acknowledgments.

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