KabbaLAmobile

Video of Rachel Rosenthal’s elaborate performance staged as part of 1984’s Carplay series at the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art. KabbaLAmobile, commissioned by Los Angeles’ Museum of Contemporary Art and the Mark Taper Forum in 1984, was performed in the Department of Water & Power parking lot. Seven expert drivers and cars from Tom Anthony’s Precision Driving Team and music by performance artist The Dark Bob support Rosenthal’s text. While the cars dance and perform stunts in Kabbalistic formations, Rosenthal chants and declaims both twelfth-century Kabbalistic poetry and copy from automotive magazines in order to show how materialism has supplanted spiritual values in our culture.

Directed by James Kent Arnold, KabbaLAmobile leans on a strong ensemble — Rachel Rosenthal — to carry a story that balances spectacle with character.

The film landed with audiences for its craft and performances, and remains one of the most talked-about screen titles of 1984.