Cliff Notes
Each week, our regional Cliff Notes columnists Hayashi Wilder, Emily Small, Jade Ichimura, and Renée Reizman pick the most exciting events and exhibitions on the West Coast.
Trade Safe Chasity Box
Materials & Applications, Los Angeles, CA
August 7–November 13, 2025
Echo Park’s Materials & Applications is just a few blocks away from Elysian Park, a 600-acre haven that abuts the 5 freeway, then spills over into Lincoln Heights and Chinatown. For decades, the park has been known as a hot spot for cruising—for both lowriders and gay men—which led to the installation of “no cruising” warning signs in 1997. Ostensibly, they were to chase out the showy lowriders that would cause a ruckus on weeknights, but the LAPD exploited the late-night regulations to harass and arrest queer men caught in the park.
Though the cruising signs came down last year, architectural designers Adam Barrett Miller and Strat Coffman acknowledge this history in their interactive installation, Trade Safe Chasity Box. Referred to simply as “the box,” the structure is a silvery cube made up of basic hardware supplies like plywood and steel storage rack posts. It’s mounted to castors, which allow it to be pulled apart like a magician’s prop, allowing a spectator to wander inside and explore all its kinky amenities. There’s a cushion bound in shibari rope, a black latex glove, a side mirror from a classic car, and the requisite peepholes and glory holes.
The box also contains security cameras, but instead of broadcasting to a CCTV feed, the video glitches. Miller and Coffman want to evoke a sense of unease through the aesthetics of surveillance, but have in fact created a private chamber to explore fetish. An exhibitionist, however, may find comfort in knowing that the box’s exterior is on full display in Materials & Applications’ small storefront space on Sunset Boulevard, with no curtains blocking the view through its wide glass windows.
On October 4, Trade Safe Chasity Box will be activated through Binds for Letting Go, A Live Shibari Performance by Kemo Burns. It may make passersby blush.
Reflection: What would you touch if no one was looking?
Yuval Pudik: The Hom(o)stead Act: Kaiserpanorama
NOON Projects, Los Angeles, CA
September 12–November 8, 2025
October seems to be the month to celebrate voyeurism, because NOON Projects also has a large installation dotted with glory holes. Yuval Pudik’s solo exhibition, The Hom(o)stead Act: Kaiserpanorama, recreates an old form of cinema, the stereoscope, out of intricately crafted cardboard. Up to 28 observers can press their eye against the contraption to watch a three-hour film, Pudik’s ode to queer media via overconsumption.
The film packs in more than 18,000 clips, all sourced from Pudik’s iPhone. His strict diet of doomscrolling combined with targeted advertising means that the algorithm serves an onslaught of reality television, AI slop, and political hot takes with a queer bent. Pudik’s frenzied edit snaps from arthouse cinema to amateur pornography, then political theater and religious fervor. Sacred or profane, in Pudik’s eyes, it’s all camp.
After indulging in the Kaiserpanorama’s film, one can actually crawl on their hands and knees to enter The Cavity (2025). The separate work inside the stereoscope is a micro-sized gay bar with dangling dildos, festive tinsel, and signage from famed gay bars across the world, including Silver Lake’s very own Akbar. The black and white tiled floor, littered with empty liquor bottles and prescription bottles, feels like the mess leftover after a night of debauchery.
The walls in The Cavity are cluttered with cut-outs of notable public figures, niche influencers from gay internet subcultures, and art historical references. The dense collage mirrors the overwhelming nature of the film, but in this space, the eye can actually rest long enough for one to spy their favorite gay icon or the target of their rage. I spot a nude model (probably a porn star I do not know about) waving his dick above Ronald Reagan. Despite the presence of political ghouls, The Cavity is a cramped, safe space for community and reflection.
Reflection: What do you see through the peephole?