Francis Almendárez

"New Cross / Van Nuys" is based around the sole work in the exhibition, ​Untitled (Van Nuys Blvd),​ a 2013/16 video by Francis Almendárez. Through its employment of this single video piece, the project aims to address urban development and its long-term and historical effects. The framing of ​Untitled (Van Nuys Blvd)​ within a new apartment complex is intentional and self-aware, endeavouring to point to the development of New Cross and the potential discussions it might raise.

The enclosed, vitrine-like structure of NX Project Space as well as the movement of the​ sun both dictate the way one experiences the work. The glass walls of the space are an architectural demarcation that enclose the work, denying direct access to it and physically positioning the viewer at the vantage point of an outsider looking in. Similarly, later sunsets (resulting from the position of the sun at this time of the year) influence the visibility and luminosity of the projection, only gradually allowing the image to emerge as the sunlight recedes. Moreover, the artist has embraced the new setting of the work by removing the original sound and inserting the video in the acoustic environment of New Cross. Through this play on access, visibility and permeability, the work seeks to point to the liminal space within the process of gentrification.

Notorious for cruising in the 1960s and 70s, Van Nuys Boulevard is a large road running through the San Fernando Valley area of greater Los Angeles, California (the artist’s hometown). In comparing it to New Cross Road and the New Cross neighborhood, Van Nuys Boulevard is nestled in the San Fernando Valley, an area in which the demographics have also changed dramatically. Dubbed “The Valley” for short, the location was once the very picture of quintessential white American suburbia - an image perpetuated through Hollywood cinema and pop culture. Yet in reality, as a part of Los Angeles’ outskirts, The Valley (much like New Cross) actually boasts one of its most ethnically, culturally, and economically diverse populations to date (including the presence of the American pornography industry). Furthermore, like Van Nuys Boulevard, New Cross Road is an essential vein in London’s road infrastructure providing access to commuters from southeast to central London and vice versa.

The six-minute video will play daily on a loop beginning at 6pm. The two very (geographically and culturally) distinct places of New Cross and Van Nuys are thus connected through the visual and the sonic, mirroring one another in their rapid development, ever-diversifying population, and shifting topography.

Francis Almendárez (b. 1987, Los Angeles, USA) is an artist and filmmaker living and working in London, where he is completing his MFA in Fine Art at Goldsmiths, University of London. Recent awards include participation in the 2015 ICA Moscow & Moscow Biennale Art Foundation Summer School, Vishniy Volochek, Russia and placement on the shortlist for the 2015 Bloomberg New Contemporaries at the ICA, London. Recent group shows include “No Lifeguard on Duty,” Westwerk, Hamburg, Germany, 2016; “Between the Lines,” GRAD, London, 2016; “Thank you for your time.,” Maher’s Basement, London, 2015; “X-Mas Short Film Madness: Queer, Post-Porn, Experimental Video-Art,” Edifício AXA, Porto, Portugal, 2014.