opening reception July 15, 6-10PM
gallery hours Wednesday – Sunday, 12-6PM

Conquest of the Universe or When Queens Collide is the premiere feature film by Los Angeles-based artist Tyler Matthew Oyer. Originally a stage production by Charles Ludlam’s Ridiculous Theatrical Company from 1967, Conquest marks the first adaptation of Ludlam’s plays into moving image.

The narrative, which is based off Christopher Marlowe’s play Tamburlaine the Great, is interwoven with lines of Shakespeare, Bible verses, quotations from other plays such as Oscar Wilde’s Salome, the speeches of dictators, and help wanted ads. The story depicts homoerotics, incestuous lust, nonsensical domination and satirical downfall of a corrupt, confused Trump-like imperialist “President of Earth”.

The film features an eclectic cast of west coast performers including Justin Streichman as Tamberlaine, Gracie DeVito as Alice, Harry Dodge as Gravedigger, Julie Tolentino as the Witch of Ensor, EJ Hill as Bajazeth, Young Joon Kwak as Natolia, and Lex Brown as Venus, alongside Kelly Cline, Johanna Breiding, Audra Wist, Marc Bendavid, Anna Rose Hopkins, Mireya Lucio, Sean Grattan, Fred Schmidt-Arenales, Audrey Wollen, and Thibault Lac, with full score by Daniel Eaton.

Presented as a sculptural installation, the movie will begin every hour, on the hour.

On the occasion of this exhibition a Conquest of the Universe reader, with essay by Kelly Aliano, will be available.

Called an “interdisciplinary gospel immortalist” by Kembra Pfahler of the Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black, Tyler Matthew Oyer (b. 1987) is an artist, writer, organizer, and educator based in Los Angeles. He has performed at MoMA PS1, REDCAT, dOCUMENTA (13), Hammer Museum, Kunstnernes Hus Oslo, Art Basel Miami Beach, Bergen Kunstall, Rogaland Kunstsenter, The Royal Vauxhall Tavern, High Desert Test Sites, Highways Performance Space, and the Orange County Museum of Art. He has written works of performance including GONE FOR GOLD, Shimmy Shake Earthquake, and 100 Years of Noise: Beyoncé is ready to receive you now. Oyer is the founder of tir journal, an online platform for queer, feminist, and underrepresented voices. He received an MFA from the California Institute of the Arts in 2012. His debut album, RELEASE, is available on Practical Records.

Charles Ludlam (1943-1987) founded the Ridiculous Theatrical Company in 1967. He wrote and produced 29 plays, won 6 Obie Awards and the Rosamund Gilder Award for distinguished achievement in the theater in 1986. His most popular play is The Mystery of Irma Vep, in which two actors manage, through a variety of quick-change techniques, to play seven roles in a send-up of gothic horror novels. In 2009, Ludlam was inducted posthumously into the American Theater Hall of Fame.