COLLECTION NAME:
Visual Resources Teaching Collection
mediaCollectionId
ArtArtHiAAH~7~7
Visual Resources Teaching Collection
Collection
true
Image Record ID:
aahi0003640
image_record_id
aahi0003640
Image Record ID
false
Work Title (display):
In the Name of the Place: Chinese Take Out
Image Title:
full view
Work Description:
A collaborative project initiated by artist Mel Chin, the objects, props, and sets for "In the Name of the Place" were designed and produced by a group of artists consisting mainly of students and teachers from the University of Georgia, Athens, and the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia. Each week, the GALA committee would receive advance copies of the highly confidential " Melrose Place" script and propose props for the set of the show. These props acted as visual subplots, responding to the storyline of the show in witty and often overtly political ways. In this way, a container of Chinese food smuggled slogans from the Tiananmen Square protest onto primetime television. In another example, a pregnant Allison (played by Courtney Thorne-Smith) is shown working on a large quilt, but the image that unfolds is the chemical structure for RU486 - the controversial abortion pill. Inserting visual juxtapositions wherever possible, GALA's objects address subjects that are often too difficult to examine on a sitcom or nighttime soap. Modeling the project after the way a virus spreads, GALA's alterations often go unnoticed at first. But with subsequent airings, fans began to pick up on the unfolding visual drama. With the show now airing in syndication all over the world, GALA's objects spread their messages slowly and subversively. In 1996, GALA mounted an exhibition of the hundreds of objects produced for the show at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles. (http://www.pbs.org/art21/artists/chin/card1.html)
Work Dates (display):
1996
Work Dates type:
creation
Image Date (display):
2009-01-26
Work Creator (display):
GALA Committee (American, founded 1995)
Work Creator gender:
male and female
work_creator_or_agent_gender
male and female
Work Creator gender
false
Work Creator notes (display):
This complex collaborative endeavor was created by The GALA Committee: a group comprised primarily of students and faculty from the University of Georgia and CalArts. The group organized initially around the activity of developing site-specific art objects for the sets of the popular television series. Working first with Melrose's Set Decorator, GALA's collaborative structure quickly grew to include scholars, critics, other artists, and, most notably, the writers and producers of Melrose Place itself. With the ultimate goal of involving the television audience, the GALA Committee placed numerous props and set pieces in camera's view, which were then broadcast to an international audience of millions. Although the artworks were not intended to subvert or parody the series, the characters and stories often provided an opportunity to create pieces which addressed topics like gender, infectious diseases, violence, environmental devastation and global conflict. The exhibition sidestepped editorial posturing and aimed instead to infiltrate and transform the medium, reinventing television with interpretive, interactive possibilities. Simultaneously, the GALA Committee moved public art into the most broadly communicative context possible. (GALA Committee website: http://www.cftnm.ucsb.edu/mpart/)
Work Creator UCB affiliation (display):
visiting artist, Visiting Artist Program, 2004
Work Creator (corporate) members (sort):
LaPointe, Jon
Work Creator (corporate) members (sort):
Chin, Mel
Work Creator (corporate) members (sort):
Penley, Constance
Work Style Period:
20th century
work_styleperiod
20th century
Work Style Period
false
Work Style Period:
Contemporary
work_styleperiod
Contemporary
Work Style Period
false
Work Subject:
human rights
subject
human rights
Work Subject
false
Work Subject:
Melrose Place (television program)
subject
Melrose Place (television program)
Work Subject
false
Work Subject:
television programs
subject
television programs
Work Subject
false
Work Subject:
mass media
subject
mass media
Work Subject
false
Work Subject:
China (nation)
subject
China (nation)
Work Subject
false
Work Subject:
art
subject
art
Work Subject
false
Work Worktype:
props (object-genre)
work_type
props (object-genre)
Work Worktype
false
Work Worktype:
prints (visual works)
work_type
prints (visual works)
Work Worktype
false
Work Category (VRC classification):
prints
work_category__ucbaahvrc_classification_
prints
Work Category (VRC classification)
false
Image Rights (display):
unknown
Work Rights (display):
© GALA Committee
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Holding Institution:
University of Colorado at Boulder
Collection:
Art and Art History Visual Resources Collection
Collection info and contact:
For information about this collection, see