Performance artist Vita Kari is causing another stir.
The L.A.-based TikTok star’s latest viral stunt landed them on the news this Monday, just nine months after they got the cops called on their unsanctioned performance outside Art Basel Miami Beach. This week’s effort, titled ON THE WALL, saw Kari taped to a facade bearing an ad for their practice at the corner of La Cienega Boulevard and Melrose Avenue. A release said the spectacle “delves into the contentiousness of public space, perception, and identity.”
The “endurance performance” was supposed to last from August 31 through September 4. But, according to a post across Kari’s social media channels, authorities cut it short on Labor Day.
“Do you think that’s good for the neighborhood?” one concerned citizen remarked in an LA5 news segment about the stunt, which Kari posted on Instagram and TikTok to announce its premature conclusion.
Onlookers gaping at ON THE WALL. Courtesy of Vita Kari.
Or, as Kari’s catchphrase goes, did they just print it out?
Since launching their social media-based practice in 2022, Kari has drawn from the Net Art movement of the 1990s and the Post Internet Art of the 21st century to amass many millions of views for their fake-outs. Most of Kari’s posts are part of their “The Thing About Being Creative…” series. In it, Kari opens each clip musing on creativity, only to rug viewers by revealing some element of the scene—like their eyelid, or a cocktail—is printed out. Kari sometimes stages more intricate performances, such as a wedding to themself gone awry, or last December’s “trapped in a can” stunt, but these short clips, optimized for the algorithm, are their bread and butter.
Thus, ON THE WALL was something of a special occasion. The only proof it ever happened is the LA5 clip Kari posted, showing them taped to an ad (in a nod, perhaps, to Maurizio Cattelan), featuring a photo from one installment in their “Creative” series. Passersby gawk at Kari in the newsreel. Someone feeds them from afar. A reporter remarks that “residents are reaching a breaking point after three days of disturbances.”
A helpful bystander fueling Kari’s stunt. Courtesy of Vita Kari.
“This is almost like an episode from the office,” one TikTok user interjected among the sea of 1,517 comments crowding Kari’s post.
On Instagram, Kari included a poll beneath the LA5 footage asking fans if they caught OFF THE WALL in person. Thirty-one percent of 7,000 respondents said “it got shut down before I could see it,” while 61 percent said “do it again.” Only six percent said “I just watched this on tv.” A mere two percent said they saw it in person.
But here’s the catch: the three-day stunt never happened.
That’s right. LA5 doesn’t even exist. Kari staged the spectacle in just four hours, using makeup to create the illusion of a three-day sunburn. Jackie Breihan shot the fake broadcast (which even misgendered Kari for authenticity), Tim Barry directed, and Preston Geer did the voiceover.
“I wanted to push the boundary of layered realities and fabricate a parallel yet similar digital construction of myself, as an ongoing exploration of virality as a form,” Kari remarked via email about developing ON THE WALL.
It’s a feint that recalls performance artist Adam Himebauch’s recent piece, Never Ever Land, which saw him stage a fake sleep-in at Ceysson & Bénétière in New York. His livestreamed performance, which Kari saw at the gallery, toyed with the idea of mediated reality—ground that Kari is similarly exploring by leveraging virality.
“For this piece specifically, I used the viral structure of a three-second hook, carefully analyzing viral news clips to know exactly what would hit the algorithm and capture attention,” Kari said. “It was pretty specific: it went from an upset interview to a controversial, ambiguous issue clip to a news voice-over explanation, all within five seconds.”
Behind the scenes. Courtesy of Vita Kari.
Even though Kari was only taped to a wall for a few hours, the work still required endurance. “My body weight wasn’t supported by duct tape on a wall, but by shifting vinyl, which forced me to physically hold myself up,” Kari explained. “This made my body not only on display, but also emphasized the unseen labor bodies perform to bring pieces to life.”
And though their team was made of friends, family, and actors, the public still got involved. Unwitting residents were shocked, even though many of them have known the local artist for years. “To my surprise, there was real, distressing controversy about my position on the wall, which we managed to capture on film,” Kari said.
Since they have—metaphorically—printed it out once again, does that make the whole spectacle fake? From Kari’s perspective, their work’s online engagement renders it really real.