American Artist: The Monophobic Response

(Los Angeles, CA—June 12, 2024) The Art + Technology Lab at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) presents American Artist: The Monophobic Response, a meticulously crafted yet poetically altered re-creation of a pivotal 1936 static rocket engine test that initiated the United States' venture into space travel. Conceived by American Artist (b. 1989), The Monophobic Response is inspired by Octavia E. Butler’s 1993 novel Parable of the Sower, which is set in 2024. Drawing parallels between Butler’s fictive 2024 U.S. Presidential race and the impending real-world election, the project raises a crucial question: in the year 2024, how do global citizens create strategies for survival when technological advances introduce dystopian elements into a bleak world?

The Monophobic Response is co-shaped by Ayana Jamieson, Adam Kleinman, and Chester Toye in collaboration with LACMA’s Art + Technology Lab and with support from LACMA, Getty’s PST ART, and Hyundai Motor as an extension of The Hyundai Project: Art + Technology at LACMA. American Artist was a grant recipient of the Art + Technology Lab in 2021.