Over the past two decades, Los Angeles-based artist Connie Samaras (born 1950) has used photography and video--as well as writing, teaching and political activism--to explore the aspirations and anxieties of the imagined future through depictions of built environments that she calls speculative landscapes. Dealing with the paradoxes of these surreal environments--vast, impersonal constructions such as the cities of Las Vegas and Dubai and the remote, scientific colonies of the South Pole or a commercial space launch facility in New Mexico--Samaras´ ongoing interest is in mapping political geographies and the psychological dislocation in the everyday. Despite critical acclaim and impressive solo exhibitions, Samaras´ work has not yet received the wider recognition it deserves. This volume, and the exhibition it accompanies at The Armory Center for the Arts in Pasadena, address this oversight, providing the first thorough overview of her ouevre to date.
