ArtRx LA
LOS ANGELES — This week, the Architecture and Design Museum reopens in its new home, a cross-country art tour is captured on film, two teams of artists take turns tearing apart and reconstructing a vacant retail space, and more.
LOS ANGELES — This week, the Architecture and Design Museum reopens in its new home, a cross-country art tour is captured on film, two teams of artists take turns tearing apart and reconstructing a vacant retail space, and more.
The Little House in the Cosmos
When: Tuesday, August 18—Thursday, August 20, Noon–6pm
Where: MAMA Gallery (1242 Palmetto Street, Downtown, Los Angeles)
The Little House in the Cosmos is a traveling art installation that houses a therapeutic sonic environment within a mirror-plated cabin. Created by Moral Turgeman and Rachel Conant, the project contains miniature dioramas, kinetic sculptures, even a crystal shrine, but the main attraction is a meditative sound bath reached through a tunnel in the structure’s side. MAMA Gallery is the first stop on a tour that takes the house to New York, Miami, Marfa, and Europe. The opening was last Saturday, but private viewings are available by appointment through Thursday.
The Adventures of Jamel: The Time Traveling B-Boy
When: Tuesday, August 18, 10:15pm
Where: The Cinefamily (611 North Fairfax Avenue, Fairfax District, Los Angeles)
In his “Art Thoughtz” videos, Jayson Musson — as his online alter ego Hennessy Youngman — insightfully and hilariously skewered art world pretensions and exclusions. His latest project is The Adventures of Jamel: The Time Traveling B-Boy, a web series about a Kangol and Adidas-clad B-boy who alters pivotal moments in history. Part Wild Style, part Bill & Ted’s, the show is inspired in part by a Louis CK bit about time travel being a white man’s game (“A black guy in a time machine is like ‘Hey, anything before 1980, no thank you, I don’t want to go.’”) The Cinefamily will be screening the first two episodes followed by the world premiere of episode three, as well as a Q&A with Musson, Director Scott J. Ross, and Producer Ted Passon.
Shelter: Rethinking How We Live in Los Angeles
When: Opens Thursday, August 20, 7–10pm
Where: A+D Museum (900 East 4th Street, Downtown, Los Angeles)
The A+D Architecture and Design Museum was forced to vacate its Mid-Wilshire location last year to make way for the Wilshire/Fairfax Purple Line subway station. Fortunately, the museum found a suitable new home in the Arts District, which will open this Thursday with the inaugural exhibition Shelter: Rethinking How We Live in Los Angeles. Addressing issues of density, diversity, affordability, and sustainability, the show will feature new residential design proposals from LA-based firms Bureau Spectacular, LA Más, Lorcan O’Herlihy, MAD, PAR, and wHY.
STS – Feature Film Trailer from Station to Station on Vimeo.
Station to Station Screening
When: Friday, August 21 — Thursday, August 27
Where: Nuart Theatre (11272 Santa Monica Boulevard, Sawtelle, Los Angeles)
In September 2013, artist Doug Aitken organized Station to Station, a traveling modern sideshow of sorts that traversed the country by rail from the Atlantic to the Pacific. On its 23 day journey, the project stopped in 10 cities where a rotating cast of artists, musicians, and performers contributed to collaborative, multi-media events. If you missed it the first time around, you’ll want to catch the Station to Station film, a series of 62 one-minute movies capturing some of the trip’s best moments, featuring Beck, Mark Bradford, Patti Smith, Ed Ruscha, and many others. A week-long run begins Friday with performances from No Age, White Mystery, and Sun Araw, as well as Aitken in person, at select screenings. Check here for details and showtimes.
4-Way, 2-Pack
When: Opens Saturday, August 22, 7–11pm
Where: 440 South Broadway, Unit M3, Second Floor (Downtown, Los Angeles)
Pair Shaped is an online platform for artistic collaboration and dialogue. For its first exhibition in the real world, 4-Way, 2-Pack, Pair Shaped invited two teams of artists — Adler & Edmark and Earl Gravy (Emma Kemp and Daniel Wroe) — to utilize a vacant retail space in a downtown mall. Each team took turns creating work, which could then be altered or incorporated into work by the other team. The results reflect this cycle of creation and destruction, not only of artwork, but of the physical space itself.
A Sublime Madness in the Soul
When: Saturday, August 22, 8pm & 10pm
Where: 6th Street Bridge (Downtown, Los Angeles)
It’s no secret that the real estate market in Los Angeles is on a rapidly rising trajectory, as many long-term tenants, including artists, are being displaced as the result of runaway speculation. In response to this situation, Susan Silton has organized “A Sublime Madness in the Soul,” a performance for four vocalists composed by opera singer and artist Juliana Snapper. The performance will take place in her studio building, which was recently sold, though viewers are invited to watch it from the soon-to-be-demolished 6th street bridge. Opera glasses or binoculars are encouraged.
