Text and photos by Elena Siemens, CC-BY-NC 4.0 2024
Collage by Liam Frazer
A response to Baudrillard’s writing on LA’s freeways where warning signs “read like a litany” (Baudrillard), our Midterm Popup foregrounds the intersection. We choose to make it appear surreal. In our view, it lends itself to a closer scrutiny.
Collage by Jiahua Yuan
Unlike the freeway described by Baudrillard as “immense collective act, rolling along, ceaselessly unrolling” (Baudrillard), the intersection honors the pedestrian. One and all are welcome: kings and paupers, cartoon characters, as well as inanimate beings.
Collage by Elena Siemens
Mixing borrowed and original components, this portrait of the modern-day Napoleon crossing an unidentified street is inspired by the miniseries The Great in which the eighteenth-century royals speak today’s language and wear contemporary fashion.