56x45x25

56x45x25 was a self-managed space run by Vista Oral, located in a garage in Silver Lake, Los Angeles, and active until 2018.

The name 56x45x25 refers to the dimensions, in centimetres, of Iberia’s standard cabin baggage allowance. The choice directly reflected one of the project’s premises: to produce exhibitions and events using materials and elements that could be easily transported between Barcelona and Los Angeles, the two cities where the members of the collective were based. At the same time, the reference to dimensions expressed in the metric system symbolically introduced the difficulties of translation between two languages and two cultural contexts. The contrast between different systems of measurement thus operated as a metaphor for these frictions and displacements, but also for the possibilities that emerge through exchanges between contexts that are never fully equivalent.

The project emerged from a desire to build bridges between the two cities through an organic programme developed out of collaborative practices with different agents from the art world. Collaboration was understood as a space for exchanging knowledge, resources and skills, structured around the principles of good professional practice.

Artists such as Fermín Jiménez Landa, Enric Farrés and Antoni Hervàs took part in 56x45x25. Some of the relationships and lines of work initiated in the space led to a series of collaborations with artist Hailey Loman and LACA (Los Angeles Contemporary Archive). The experience also gave rise to Folleto, an independent publishing project developed by Vista Oral together with Eloi Gimeno.