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A Forest of Signs: Art in the Crisis of Representation at MOCA LA

exhibition · 2026-05-01

The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, mounted a major exhibition titled "A Forest of Signs: Art in the Crisis of Representation," borrowing its name from Charles Baudelaire. Featuring around 300 works by some thirty American artists who emerged since the mid-1970s, the show explored the crisis of meaning in a society where words and images produce an excess rather than a lack of signification.

Key facts

  • Exhibition titled 'A Forest of Signs: Art in the Crisis of Representation'
  • Organized by the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
  • Included approximately 300 works
  • Featured about thirty American artists
  • Artists emerged since the mid-1970s
  • Title borrowed from Charles Baudelaire
  • Theme: crisis of representation due to excess of meaning
  • Exhibition date: July 1989

Entities

Institutions

  • Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles

Locations

  • Los Angeles
  • United States

Sources