Art shows get movie-trailer treatment: Eight of the best and weirdest

Featured on latimes.com

Movies have trailers. Books have trailers. And now art shows have trailers. Which means that a form of communication generally reserved for gun-toting space heroes is now being used to present shows about minimalism.

As far back as 2006, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York had an online trailer for Doug Aitken's video installation "Sleepwalkers," produced in collaboration with the arts nonprofit Creative Time. But the form seems to have picked up steam in the last several years; gallery shows now frequently employ them.

Some art exhibition trailers are pretty straightforward: a straight-up ad for the show. Others are a bit more Hollywood, with quick cuts and heart-pounding music. Yet others feature collages of imagery — some appropriated, some not — that make absolutely no sense. These must be art.

Sadly, none of the ones I've seen so far contain explosions or over-the-top testosterone narration. (This summer. One man. Will make art. Like no other art you've seen before.) Either way, there's still plenty to look at. Click here to view eight of the most interesting.