Checkpoint California

Hollywood and Silicon Valley, palms, sea, blue skies; California is a land of milk and honey–with Villa Aurora right in the middle. In the 1940s, the former exile residence of Marta and Lion Feuchtwanger was a meeting point for European intellectuals. Today, it is an artists’ residence that embodies much more than California Dreaming. Villa Aurora celebrates its twentieth anniversary with an exhibition and accompanying book titled Checkpoint California. Organized in collaboration with Deutsche Bank KunstHalle, the project presents work by nine Villa Aurora fellows–Nairy Baghramian, Rosa Barba, Peggy Buth, Sabine Hornig, Christian Jankowski, Michael Just, Philipp Lachenmann, Albrecht Schafer, and Thomas Struth–that unfold experiences of transit and exile, transatlantic differences and contradictions. The art is discussed in essays by the curators HansJoerg Clement, Alexandra von Stosch, and Laurence Rickels as well as contributions by additional authors.