Laura Zuspan's Boyfriend "Dolly" Is an Art Experiment

Laura Zuspan

​Relationships can be hard. Mistakes are made, miscommunications happen, and then there are all those messy feelings floating around. Some people give up on dating, while others lavish attention on a pet instead (cat ladies). In artist Laura Zuspan's case, she decided to get involved with an oversized rag doll of her own making, complete with LED eyes.

Zuspan named her "boyfriend" Dolly, and in an extended act of performance art proceeded to live out a romance with him. The documentation of their attempt at a so-called environmentally sustainable relationship forms the bulk of the exhibit "Eco Sexy," which opens tonight (Friday) at The Lab.

Visitors act the voyeur and spy on photos of the couple taken during the month they spent off the grid together in a solar-powered Airstream trailer in the Santa Monica Mountains. You can also peek at footage of the vacation Zuspan and Dolly took to Thailand, where they frolicked through the streets of Bangkok and shared beers by the river. Zuspan is fully aware of how odd the project sounds, but her aim is to draw attention to issues including overpopulation and the ecological impact of tourism. And she got to construct some semblance of her perfect mate in the process.

The opening reception for "Eco Sexy" is Aug. 12 at 7 p.m. at The Lab, and the exhibit continues through Aug. 27. Admission is free.