At the Broad, an Evening of Performances Inspired by Nico

Geneva Jacuzzi (photo by Sabina Bonde Jacobson)

When the Broad Museum opened in downtown Los Angeles almost two years ago, its goal was to give public access to one of the most formidable collections of modern and contemporary art in Los Angeles, if not the country. Last year, the museum began its Summer Happenings event series as a way to connect its offerings of mainly blue-chip visual artists to a broader spectrum of emerging musicians and performers. This year’s Summer Happenings program kicks off this Saturday with Warhol Icon, an evening of performances based around the iconic Pop artist and his muse, the actress, model, Velvet Underground chanteuse, and solo artist Nico.

Guest curated by Brandon Stosuy of the Creative Independent and Bradford Nordeen of experimental queer film platform Dirty Looks, Warhol Icon features performances throughout the museum’s interior and exterior spaces. In the Broad’s oculus space, Vaginal Davis‘s performance will play off a screening of Philippe Garrel’s 1972 film starring Nico, La Cicatrice Intérieure The Inner Scar(“”), while Nao Bustamante’s video installation in the lobby will invoke Nico’s crying performance from that film. In the galleries, Seattle-based musician Tiny Vipers will recall the more ambient, drone-like elements of the Velvet Underground; on the outdoor stage, synth queen Geneva Jacuzzi‘s theatrical, high-energy act will conjure Warhol’s multi-media “Exploding Plastic Inevitable.” Rounding out the evening will be Norwegian musician Jenny Hval, and downtown New York performance legend Kembra Pfahler, whose transgressive, feminist oeuvre reflects, to some extent, Nico’s legacy.