Felipe Dulzaides, “Water Runs” (detail) (1999–2017), photograph from mixed-media installation (image courtesy the artist)
During the 20th century, architects and planners throughout Latin America sought to express utopian ideals of social progress and egalitarianism in the design of government buildings, schools, housing, and even cities. As part of the Getty’s ambitious PST: LA/LA initiative exploring Latin American and Latino Art in Los Angeles, Condemned to Be Modern at the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery (LAMAG) features critical artistic responses to the legacy of modernist architecture of the region.
In conjunction with the exhibition, LAMAG will be hosting a gallery talk on Havana’s National Art Schools which were begun in the early days of the Cuban Revolution, but subsequently abandoned, their architects having fallen out of favor with the regime. Speakers will include John Loomis, author of the 1999 book Revolution of Forms, a chronicle of the schools’ history, and Cuban-born artist Felipe Dulzaides, whose Utopia Possible project attempts to complete some of these unfinished structures, which stand as the physical embodiment of the gulf between utopian modernism and contemporary reality.
When: Thursday, December 7, 7pm
Where: Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery (LAMAG) (4800 Hollywood Boulevard, East Hollywood, Los Angeles)
More info here.
