A tram cable traverses The Project Room, a tiny cube tucked behind the main gallery space of Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions. LACE, on Hollywood Boulevard, is the perfect location for educating the public about Los Angeles contemporary art. Sheltered from the hubbub of the boulevard, The Project Room is a haven for imaginary universes such as Miha Strukelj’s installation, Here Somewhere. Open through August 14, Strukelj’s work mediates between memory and imagination in constructing a hypothetical, alternative urban landscape of Los Angeles—specifically an LA with a cohesive transit system.

Miha Strukelj: Here Somewhere (2016),
Installation detail, Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions.
Photo: Chris Wormald

Charcoal drawings of classic Los Angeles imagery inhabit most of the space, a wilderness of office buildings planted next to towering palm trees with an uncharacteristically quiet freeway overpass snaking through the cityscape. Though all familiar traits of the region, these Angeleno motifs are not anchored to any specific landmark, coaxing the viewer to mentally complete this imaginary narrative with their own idea as to where this generic slice of LA could exist. Strukelj uses not only calculated visual perspective, but also three dimensional ripples in the space, such as the cable stretching across a corner and an abstracted plywood continuation of the street drawn on the wall, carefully arranged on the floor yet seemingly unfinished, like an idea that has not quite been fully realized.

Miha Strukelj: Here Somewhere (2016),
Installation detail, Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions.
Photo: Chris Wormald

While the north and east walls present the viewer with a fictitious Los Angeles in the style of architectural plans, the south wall disintegrates into the skeleton of a road map, transforming from delicate charcoal lines into scuffed, yellow masking tape, a more ephemeral medium, easily removed and re-situated according to re-imaginings.

Miha Strukelj: Here Somewhere (2016),
Installation detail, Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions.
Photo: Chris Wormald

The installation omits extraneous details, particularly citizens or cars, which leads the viewer to focus on place, but also leaves a pregnant silence. This is where the west wall comes into play, with illustrations of public transport, diagrams of potential constructions, and a list of regions and neighborhoods in Los Angeles. Strukelj presents a generic Los Angeles cityscape and a suggestion of a coherent metro system, challenging the viewer to use their imagination in combining them.

Miha Strukelj: Here Somewhere, June 29 – August 14, 2016 at Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions, 6522 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90028, welcometolace.org/