Larder is pleased to present the solo exhibition Civilization by Los Angeles–based artist and writer, Juliana Halpert. The exhibition features a new text written by the artist and an accompanying series of photographs. Through text and image, the work reconstructs Halpert’s long-standing pastime playing the turn-based strategy video game, Civilization in which players lead a human civilization over several millennia. The exhibition centers around the artist’s chosen game character Queen Maria Theresa, the eighteenth-century ruler of Austria and the Holy Roman Empire. Displayed throughout the gallery and domestic space, the text and photographs piece together Halpert’s built world within the game’s skewed historic and geographic realms.

In line with the fragmented and re-assembled world histories found in the game, Halpert’s photographs span various timelines and she has utilized multiple techniques for capturing and printing the work. While some images have been sourced and photographed or scanned by Halpert from within old history books, others have been captured directly by the artist in present-day California. The photographs and text works have then either been traditionally processed in the darkroom as silver gelatin prints or digitally processed as archival inkjet prints on cold press paper.

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Juliana Halpert (b. 1989, Montpelier, VT) lives and works in Los Angeles, CA. Halpert holds an MFA from ArtCenter College of Design (2020). Recent exhibitions include Plasma at Scherben, Berlin (2022); Animal at Gattopardo, Los Angeles, CA (2022); Everything at The Finley, Los Angeles, CA (2021); Wake up sleepers! at No Moon LA, Los Angeles, CA (2021) and The Goodbye Present at Kristina Kite, Los Angeles, CA (2021). She has contributed writing to Artforum, Bookforum, Aperture, Frieze, Art in America, and X-TRA, among other publications.


Juliana Halpert, Queen Maria Theresa (me), 2023. Archival inkjet print on cold press paper, artist frame. Edition of 3 + 1AP. 25 x 21 inches framed.


Juliana Halpert, Queen Maria Theresa (me), 2023. Archival inkjet print on cold press paper, artist frame. Edition of 3 + 1AP. 25 x 21 inches framed.


Juliana Halpert, Civilization, 2023. Installation shot.


Juliana Halpert, Salt works outside Graz, 2023. Archival inkjet print on cold press paper, artist frame. Edition of 3 + 1AP. 17 x 21 inches framed.


Juliana Halpert, Civilization, pt. 1, 2023. Archival inkjet print on cold press paper, artist frame. Edition of 3 + 1AP. 21 x 17 inches framed.


Juliana Halpert, Civilization, pt. 2, 2023. Archival inkjet print on cold press paper, artist frame. Edition of 3 + 1AP. 21 x 17 inches framed.


Juliana Halpert, Civilization, pt. 2, 2023. Archival inkjet print on cold press paper, artist frame. Edition of 3 + 1AP. 21 x 17 inches framed.


Juliana Halpert, Civilization, 2023. Installation shot.


Juliana Halpert, Civilization, pt. 3 (view from scout’s station above Linz), 2023. Silver gelatin print (left); archival inkjet print on cold press paper (right), found frame. Unique. 32 x 41 inches framed.


Juliana Halpert, Civilization, pt. 3 (view from scout’s station above Linz), 2023. Silver gelatin print (left); archival inkjet print on cold press paper (right), found frame. Unique. 32 x 41 inches framed.


Juliana Halpert, Civilization, 2023. Installation shot.


Juliana Halpert, Civilization, pt. 4, 2023. Archival inkjet print on cold press paper, artist frame. Edition of 3 + 1AP. 21 x 17 inches framed.


Juliana Halpert, Civilization, 2023. Installation shot.


Juliana Halpert, My castles, 2023. Archival inkjet print on cold press paper, found frame. Unique. 32 x 41 inches framed.


Juliana Halpert, My castles, 2023. Archival inkjet print on cold press paper, found frame. Unique. 32 x 41 inches framed.


Juliana Halpert, Civilization, 2023. Installation shot.


Juliana Halpert, Conflict, 2023. Archival inkjet print on cold press paper, artist frame. Edition of 3 + 1AP. 17 x 15 inches framed.


Juliana Halpert, Silver, 2023. Silver gelatin print, artist frame. 15 x 17 inches framed.


Juliana Halpert, Civilization, pt. 5, 2023. Archival inkjet print on cold press paper, artist frame. Edition of 3 + 1AP. 21 x 17 inches framed.


Juliana Halpert, Civilization, pt. 5, 2023. Archival inkjet print on cold press paper, artist frame. Edition of 3 + 1AP. 21 x 17 inches framed.

Photos: Evan Walsh