The Administrative Sublime, or The Center for Land Use Interpretation

In this essay from our archives, Michael Ned Holte looks at the complex, impure Conceptual art project of the Center for Land Use Interpretation. Behind an anonymous grey brick storefront, on a relatively nondescript section of Venice Boulevard in West Los Angeles is The Center for Land Use Interpretation. Driving past with the steady flow of traffic, the Center fades into the general atmosphere, devoid of exemplary qualities. Stopped at the red light, one might notice other things in the neighbourhood: a boxy, deep-purple bar called Carbon; the ‘world’s shortest main street’, a mere half-block-long street, situated perpendicular to Venice Boulevard; or the Center’s somewhat-more-notorious neighbour, The Museum of Jurassic Technology, whose façade and signage are just ostentatious enough to get noticed at a glance.