Aluminum I-beams, steel, hardware, chain, neon, speakers, MP3 audio playback, printed signage on aluminum, fiberglass seating
8’ x 9’ x 12’
Audio: 30:00
Powder coated and fabricated steel, PA speaker, MP3 playback, misc. hardware
7-10’ x 3’ x 3’
Audio: 03:00
PHASE GALLERY is pleased to present FORUM, a solo exhibition by Los Angeles-based artist David Schafer. The exhibition critically examines the intersections of power, control, and symbolic representation in contemporary society. Through immersive environments that merge sound, sculpture, and visual elements, Schafer explores how social structures are shaped by coded signs, corporate spectacle, and institutional influence.Pantheon is a sculptural installation that integrates neon, seating, and a layered soundscape, transforming viewers into active participants within its theatrical framework. Drawing from Gilles Deleuze’s concept of capitalism as a “regime of decoding”—where coded flows are continually transformed into commodities—and Franco Berardi’s concept of “semiocapitalism” in which signs, rather than material goods, drive economic production, Schafer deconstructs corporate logos from banking, media, military, and entertainment industries. By stripping these logos of their original identities and reducing them to abstract forms, Pantheon exposes the deeper mechanics by which branding operates—extending beyond mere identification into a mechanism of social conditioning and economic exchange. This coded visual language reflects the pervasive influence of corporate spectacle, as institutional power further embeds itself within everyday life through signs and symbols that shape our perception and behavior.