The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA, Los Angeles - Paul Pfeiffer Exhibit

Installation view of Paul Pfeiffer: Prologue to the Story of the Birth of Freedom, November 12, 2023 - June 16, 2024 at The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA. Courtesy of The Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA). Photo by SPARANO + MOONEY ARCHITECTURE.

• TEAM

  ARCHITECTURAL TEAM | John Sparano, Anne Mooney, Ludwing Juarez, Jorge Beltran, Jack Somers, Morgan Bennett

  PHOTOGRAPHY | Sparano + Mooney Architecture

  STRUCTURAL | NAST Enterprises Corp.

Surveying 25 years of work, the Paul Pfeiffer: Prologue to the Story of the Birth of Freedom exhibit at the Geffen Contemporary at MOCA was the first U.S. retrospective of the New York-based artist (b. 1966, Honolulu). Known for his incisive video works, Pfeiffer reframes imagery from mass media (cutting, splicing, masking and cloning) to expose how spectacle shapes collective memory, desire and identity. His practice often centers on global celebrities – pop stars, actors, athletes – placing their bodies at the crossroads of worship and objectification within mass culture. Arenas such as basketball courts, boxing rings and stadiums emerge as stages where social and political identities are constructed and contested.

The exhibition features more than 30 works, including landmark photo and video pieces and new sculptures from his Incarnator series. Designed like a studio soundstage, the presentation reflects Pfeiffer’s interest in the artifice and labor of filmmaking, underscoring his ongoing question: Do we shape images, or do images shape us?

Installation view of Paul Pfeiffer: Prologue to the Story of the Birth of Freedom, November 12, 2023 - June 16, 2024 at The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA. Courtesy of The Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA). Photo by SPARANO + MOONEY ARCHITECTURE..

Installation view of Paul Pfeiffer: Prologue to the Story of the Birth of Freedom, November 12, 2023 - June 16, 2024 at The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA. Courtesy of The Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA). Photo by SPARANO + MOONEY ARCHITECTURE.

Sparano + Mooney Architecture provided design support for the exhibit, collaborating with the museum’s Exhibition Production group and Pfeiffer’s studio, designing specialized gallery partitions and an 8’ tall custom wood-finished platform for Pfeiffer’s Vitruvian Figure art piece with a designated accessible path of travel to the top of the platform.  In addition, Sparano + Mooney Architecture worked with the structural engineer to design architectural supports for all specialized partitions that held integrated art within.  Gallery areas were designed to comply with present building code requirements for construction and accessibility.  Sparano + Mooney Architecture generated permitting drawings for tenant improvement renovations to accommodate Pfeiffer’ exhibits; attended design meetings with the museum’s Exhibition Production group and the artist’s studio; prepared a building permit application and submitted permitting documents to the Building Department and Fire Department for approval; and attended plan check review meetings to obtain the necessary building permit issuance while also providing support during exhibit construction.

Paul Pfeiffer, Vitruvian Figure, 2008; cast resin, aluminum and acrylic; 110 1/4 x 322 x 320 in. (280 x 817.9 x 812.8 cm). Collection of Inhotim Institute, Minas Gerais, Brazil. Photo by SPARANO + MOONEY ARCHITECTURE.