Spotlight: Station to Station
Doug Aitken’s train is running again. The original road trip he dreamed up, Station to Station, took place over 24 days in 2013, as the Los Angeles-based creative and a host of visual artists, musicians, and street performers climbed on and off a train housing artists in residence, a recording studio, and many of the trappings of a traveling circus as it traveled from the Atlantic to the Pacific Coast. Now his feature film, Station to Station, a compilation of 62 one-minute movies shot during various stops across the country—including 10 happenings staged in such cities as Pittsburg, Santa Fe, Barstow, Los Angeles, and Oakland—is playing for one week at the Nuart Theatre in L.A. beginning on Friday, August 21. Whip-cracker Chris Camp makes an onscreen appearance, as well as musicians including Beck, who performed at L.A.’s Union Station, and Cat Power, who joined the movement in Barstow. It’s the sort of creative spontaneity that originally launched music festivals and art fairs—before all the corporate titans got involved. Spend some time with Aitken this weekend, it’s worth every minute.
By Elizabeth Varnell
Pictured: A still of Beck from Doug Aitken’s Station to Station film.
Photo courtesy of Station to Station
