Almanac is delighted to present Okie Dog on Santa Monica, a solo show by Canadian artist Megan Rooney, developed during her residency at Almanac Inn, Turin.

The exhibition is like a Sun salutation, a light stretching. In what might be the foyer, misplaced light effects and an ambiguous monologue bend forward to greet us.

The sickly glow works to transport us halfway to an LA hospital waiting room, while an intense self-help tape pulls us back into the body, rolling out, exhaling.

In its recording, the voice starts a new life, both more and less connected to its extended origins. In the mind's eye, the vibrations chime with objects just out of reach.

In this doubled-over position, things start to shift, and portals might open. The make-up smears left behind by angry tears on bedroom pillows might morph into the face of a high school best friend.Those gazes of envy can be left behind now - all that remains of the inches of fat carefully pinched on a daily basis are some jeans and dismembered recollections: a limb here and there.

It's hard to stay grounded while looking over your shoulder. Zoomed on a carpet exploration, domestic objects form relations of kinship, animal instincts are recalled.

Wayfinding through bristles, thread and dust, emotional bonds are set out as a conventional display of fragmented identities, with each spacing as a breath.

Coming back up for air, the centre remains still. We have to navigate around the bodies falling into consciousness around us. Gravity is simultaneously pushing us down and pulling us up. In the background the voice is still speaking out for something.



The opening includes performances by Megan Rooney and Paul Kneale.