In 2013, Doug Aitken, the internationally acclaimed creator of video and sound installations, produced “Station to Station,” a collaboration with multitudes of other well-known artists, musicians and performers. Called “a nomadic cultural incubator, cross-continental happening and moving earthwork,” it took place on a customized train that traveled from Brooklyn to San Francisco, pausing along the way in Pittsburgh, Santa Fe and five other stops to entertain locals with artworks and performances. It was just one example of Mr. Aitken’s maximalist ambition to make spectacular art commensurate with, yet critical of, the technologically accelerated complexity of modern life. Opening Saturday, Sept. 10, at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, “Doug Aitken: Electric Earth” will survey his two-decade career. Anchored by seven enveloping installations, the exhibition will include single-screen films, photographs and electrified sculptural constructions.
