May 31 - June 28, 2008 Annie Shaw
Monte Vista is proud to present “Hey, You Never Know.,” an absurd exploration into the geographical distribution of luck and money, faith and fate starting in the east and ending in the west by Annie Shaw.
“Hey, You Never Know.” is the promotional slogan for the New York lottery, including Mega Millions. A multi-state lottery, Mega Millions draws its capital from twelve states, two of which are New York and California. Since migrating to the east coast three years ago, Annie has found herself living next to the Mega Millions billboards in Manhattan and in Brooklyn. Twice a week, as the number indicating the jackpot would change from low to high, she imagined anticipation rising and falling at each transition. And then once in a blue moon, the number would drop drastically, and she knew someone’s life had changed.
For the duration of the exhibition, Annie will dedicate her time at Monte Vista as an artist-in- residence, and a Mega Millions participant. Each day, she will purchase one Mega Millions ticket at one location in one zip code in Greater Los Angeles. Visitors to the installation are invited to join the lottery pool. Each additional dollar will bring her to purchase one more ticket in a different location. Any winnings will be evenly divided amongst all the participants who contribute to the pool. A series of images video, photograph and sculpture, will be developed and displayed throughout this process.
Please join us for the following events:
Saturday, June 7 at 7 pm : “How to Win the Lottery” : a lecture by Melissa Brown
Based in New York, Melissa has spent the past few years fascinated with the Powerball
games and how to measure and capitalize on their idiosyncrasies. She has incorporated this numerological science into both her drawings and her purchases in the New York State Lotto. Serving as the official spiritual guide of “Hey, You Never Know,” Melissa has provided Annie with a set of numbers, calculated from the formula, in order to test their probability of winning against QuikPick. She will be at Monte Vista in person to share the intricacies of her system for beating the lottery.
Friday, June 27, 7pm : Final Drawing and Closing Party
Celebrate the closing of the exhibition and watch the live broadcast of the Mega Millions drawing with Annie on site. Witness the fate of the last ticket purchased by the lottery pool and view all the materials developed during the four-week project.
Annie Shaw is the founder of Leefahsalung at the New China Town Barber Shop, a site-specific, curatorial and collaborative project series challenging the role of art production and its relationship to local identities. A catalog detailing its five-year history is currently in production, to be published this coming fall. She moved to New York in 2005 to study at Columbia University, where she completed her MFA in 2007. We are thrilled that she has returned to present her first solo project in the Southland.