Meet LA’s Art Community: Nikita Gale Is Thinking About the Politics of Sound and Music

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July 20, 2020

Alum Nikita Gale (M.F.A. '16)explores the history of protest in fascinating ways, from looking at the role of the barricade to tracing the influences of rock and roll performance. Gale’s first solo museum exhibition is currently at the California African American Museum (CAAM), though the space is closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Gale’s work has also been exhibited at MoMA PS1, the Studio Museum in Harlem, Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions (LACE), Commonwealth and Council, the Hammer Museum, and other venues.

Nikita Gale’s “AUDIENCING” was presented as part of VW Sunday Sessions on February 21, 22, and 23, 2020 at MoMA PS1 (images courtesy MoMA PS1, photo by Maria Baranova)

"Welcome to the 24th installment of the interview series Meet LA’s Art Community. Check out our past interviews here.

This week, I interviewed the artist Nikita Gale. Gale’s work explores the history of protest in fascinating ways, from looking at the role of the barricade to tracing the influences of rock and roll performance. In particular, Gale is interested in the political function of “silence and noise.” “When we speak of sound, we are speaking of touch,” Gale writes. “So when we speak of listening, we are also speaking of being touched and of feeling.”

Gale’s first solo museum exhibition is currently at the California African American Museum (CAAM), though the space is closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Titled PRIVATE DANCER, the show provokes new ways of thinking about the “shared experience of music concerts” by creating an “uncanny experience” in which we listen to soundtracks by Tina Turner.

Gale’s work has also been exhibited at MoMA PS1, the Studio Museum in Harlem, Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions (LACE), Commonwealth and Council, the Hammer Museum, and other venues. Gale holds a BA in Anthropology with an emphasis in Archaeological Studies from Yale University and earned an MFA in New Genres at UCLA. Gale currently serves on the Board of Directors for GREX, the West Coast affiliate of the AK Rice Institute for the Study of Social Systems."— Elisa Wouk Almino, Jul. 20, 2020

This post is an excerpt. Read the full article on the Hyperallergic website.

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