selected CLIENTS :
Occidental College
Blum and Poe Gallery
High Desert Test Sites
Ben Medansky Studio
Three Sheep Studio
Machine Project
MAK Center for Art and Architecture
Institute of Contemporary Arts Los Angeles
Bestor Architecture
USC Fischer Gallery
ColdCocked Coffee
Stumptown Coffee
Danish Design Store
Michael Maltzan Architecture
Fiona Connor Studio
Taylor Kibby Studio
Minjae Kim Studio
Ross Hansen Design
Sunnylands
wHY
+ more
My work exists in the gray area between art and design, with decorative objects that stretch the limits of practicality but always with a sense of humor. Formerly the Director of the Objects Workshop at the design and architecture firm, wHY, I designed exhibitions, furniture and decorative objects.
My ongoing project, Secret Restaurant, explores food as an activating agent. The project rests in the space between catering and sculpture.
It’s an experimental, irregularly scheduled, and impossibly small underground 'restaurant' that explores current trends in the underground food movement in the US. Billed as the world’s tiniest restaurant, it is only 16 square feet. Drawing inspiration from ‘secret’ menu items, underground dinner clubs (like Wolvesmouth and the invitation-only Totoraku), and the work of Rirkrit Tiravanija, the project speaks to what Mission Street Food’s Anthony Myint and Karen Leibowitz called the “sportification of food.”
CV
Biography
Bob Dornberger (b. 1975 Erie, PA) is an artist and designer who lives and works in Los Angeles and Pioneertown, CA. He received his BFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. His sculptural works are often activated by the act of making or sharing food, such as Full Moon Ramen, an underground secret restaurant deep in the desert that invited diners to eat noodles under a full moon. His furniture and decorative objects playfully balance between function and humor .
Group Exhibitions
2018
Staying in Shape, Art Catalogues at LACMA, Los Angeles, CA Oct 28-Nov 11, 2018
POWER BRUNCH!, Hammer Museum Gift Shop, Los Angeles, CA Jun 24, 2018
Blue Roof Studios Arts Festival, Curatorial Hub Pop-Up, Los Angeles, CA Jun 21-23, 2018
FOUND!, Curated by Emily Silver, Flamingo Heights, CA, March 17-September, 2018
OUT LINE, BKB Design, Palm Springs, CA, May 7-July, 2018
RETURN OF THE LIVING DUDD, Brooklyn, NY, May 18, 2018
2017
Second Extended Family, Los Angeles, CA Dec. 3, 2017
High Desert Test Sites, Joshua Tree, CA, Oct 21 and 22, 2017
The Panacea Project, Curated by Bettina Hubby, Presented by Klowden Mann, September 9-30, 2017
Knowledges, Mount Wilson Observatory, June 3 and 4, 2017
Joshua Treenial: Event Horizon, March 31-April 2, 2017
Spaceness, Curated by Alison Jean Cole, Julia Barbee and Matt Suplee, Seaview WA, February 24-25, 2017
Note to self, Curated by Bettina Hubby, Elephant Art Space Feb. 4 2017
A kind of mayor, GAIT LA, Los Angeles, January 15, 2017
2016
Curate Joshua Tree Presents: Surveying The Land, October 22, 2016 - March 18, 2017
Snorkel Dreams, Annenberg Community Beach House, Santa Monica, CA October, 2016
LA CURRENT: Water Public Art Biennial, Public Programs, Los Angeles, CA, July-August, 2016
Jonald Dudd House Party, The Parlour Bushwick Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, June 2016
Solarc Pilot Series, Secret Restaurant: Automated Taco Machine, Highland Park, CA May 12, 2016
Spaceness, Curated by Alison Jean Cole, Julia Barbee and Matt Barbee, Seaview WA, February 19-21, 2016
2015
Wildflower Sound Cannon, with Adrienne Adar, High Desert Test Sites, November 2015
EAT IT: Film Night, 428 Collective, Healdsburg, CA June 11, 2015
Joshua Treenial, Site-Responsive Art and Performance in the Hi Desert, BOXO House, Joshua Tree, CA
Jonald Dudd, City Bird Gallery, New York, NY, May 15-17, 2015
Incognito, Santa Monica Museum of Art, Santa Monica, CA, May 2, 2015
Off-Road Expo, High Desert Test Sites+Machine Project, Undisclosed Location, March 28-29, 2015
2014
Dumb Taco Bell, Pomona College Studio Art Hall Opening Ceremonies, Claremont, CA
Machine Project Field Guide to the Gamble House, AxS Curiosity Festival, The Gamble House, Pasadena, CA (Curated by Mark Allen)(catalogue)
Get on the Train, Santa Monica Museum of Art, Santa Monica, CA
Thanks for the Mammaries, For Your Art, Los Angeles, CA
2013
High Desert Test Sites 2013, Joshua Tree, CA (catalogue)
Solo Exhibitions
2013 Full Moon Ramen, High Desert Test Sites, Wonder Valley, CA
Awards/Grants/Fellowships
2014 Art Herradura Barrel Art Program, Third Place Award, Los Angeles, CA
Education
1997 BFA, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL (Presidential Scholarship)
Bibliography
BKB Handcrafted brings Joshua Tree area artists to Palm Springs, Kristen Scharkey, Desert Sun, Jan 29, 2018
Modern Rustic Mojo, Kristin Scharkey, Desert Magazine, February, 2018
This is Not a Test, Trinie Dalton, Artforum
Gamble House
A Secret Restaurant Hatches Outside the Iconic Gamble House in Pasadena, Marissa Gluck, New York Times T Magazine
Secret Restaurant by Bob Dornberger Artist Encourages Diners to Eat not Shoot, Will Georgl, Frame Magazine
FAST FOOD: SECRET RESTAURANT WHERE FOOD MUST BE EATEN BEFORE IT DISAPPEARS, Alex Jordan, Seed Magazine
Machine Project Takes Over the Gamble House, Maxwell Williams, Artbound KCET.org
Machine Project and Gamble House Continue the Trend of Artists Taking Over Historic Homes, Catherine Wagley, Public Spectacle, LA Weekly
Machine Project's art treasure hunt at the Gamble House, Carolina A. Miranda, LA Times
Full Moon Ramen
Full Moon Ramen: Traveling 4,000 Miles to Eat a Bowl of Noodles in the Middle of Nowhere, Perrin Drum, Mold
Full Moon Ramen, Michelle Hedgecock
Full Moon Ramen at Secret Restaurant, Sarah Scheideman, The Coachella Valley Art Scene
Slurp 'Secret' Ramen under the full moon, Lynn Lieu, The Desert Sun
Itinerary | Joshua Tree’s Artful Excursions, New York Times T Magazine
Secret Restaurant (High Desert Test Sites 2013)
High Desert Test Sites, a Diary, Huffington Post
If You've Ever Wanted to Take an Art Road Trip Through the Desert, Do It This Week, Marissa Gluck, LA Weekly
High Desert Test Sites 2013, Scarlet Cheng, Artillery
High Desert Test Sites: Free Range Art in Joshua Tree, Kim Stringfellow, KCET.org
High Desert Test Sites hits the road, Matthew Irwin
Lectures and Presentations
2018 Public Art Class, Guest presenter, Cal State University, Northridge
2018 FOOD TDS Class, Art Center College of Design
2017 FOOD TDS Class, Art Center College of Design
2016 'But is it Edible?' Foraging Workshops with Professional Wildcrafters, Sepulveda Basin Recreation Area, July-August
2016 FOOD TDS Class, Art Center College of Design
2015 Native Seed Bomb Workshop, Sky Village Swap Meet, Yucca Valley, CA November 21-22
2015 Building Bridges with Park Studio, wHY Architecture + SMMOA, Culver City CA, April 2.
2015 Assemblage Sculpture Workshop, Sky Village Swap Meet, Yucca Valley, CA March 21-22
2015 "Making Miso at Home, Letting Mold Do the Work," Machine Project, Los Angeles, CA, March 1.
2011 "Welding for Architects," wHY Architecture, Alhambra, CA, November 15.
Volunteer Work
2018-2019 Bar Fund LA, Volunteer Bartender and Grant Panelist, Los Angeles, CA
2012–15 Art Installation Volunteer, High Desert Test Sites, Joshua Tree, CA
2013 Art Installation, Emilie Halpern, Shoka, Pepin Moore Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Affiliations
American Association of Museums (AAM)
The American Radio Relay League (ARRL)
Materials and Applications, Foundational Member