There are no straight lines or perfect circles in Physics, there are only currents, vortexes, distorted electromagnetic fields, impossible matter and beings in a reflexive state of becoming—morphing, deforming, sprawling and spilling out with each aberrant encounter. Catalina Ouyang’s exhibition “forgive everything” is conceptually framed around the “three-body problem,” a centuries-old conundrum in the field of Orbital Physics; taking the positions and velocities of three bodies, it remains impossible to calculate their subsequent movement and trajectory, a problem that illuminates the dynamic cosmic assemblage in which we live–susceptible to the gravitational push and pull of varying forces, reliant on factors of chaos and unpredictability.  

The installation titled Syzygy unfurls as you move between three dimly lit spaces that are loosely divided by delicate tulle-like screens. Three grotesque assemblage sculptures punctuate the center of each segmented space—ambiguous limbs, hoofs, hair, flesh, bones, and material debris congeal and ooze, ensnared in states of becoming. Various sounds worm in and out of your ear canals—the subtle hymn of a chorus of flies suddenly morphs into the velvety vibrations of a cello concerto. Three moving projectors illuminate the walls of the gallery with footage of choreography that evokes the three-body problem by way of gesture in movement. Bodies draped in baroque bows and pleats become entangled as the dancers shift between moments of repetition and divergence, swarming the room as their images move in opposition and collide.

In a new single-channel film, Sympathy for the Devil (installed around the corner at Night Gallery East), Ouyang presents interrelated notions of self, mother, and grandmother as an expansive way to think about the three-body problem as it relates to the formation of identity, engaging with personal-familial narratives that evoke various conditions of agency that are always relational and situational, repetitive and disruptive.

Night Gallery
​​2276 E 16th Street
Los Angeles, CA 90021
On view through January 14, 2023