AX Mina is an artist and culture writer exploring contemporary spirituality, technology and other sundry topics. She co-produces Five and Nine, a podcast about magic, work, and economic justice, and serves on the board of the Rabkin Foundation.
Art
LOS ANGELES — Just a few miles from the concrete jungles of Los Angeles are its beaches, miles and miles of sand and silt. And just a few feet past those beaches is salt. Take a dip in the oceans of Los Angeles, and you'll inevitably notice it, whether it stings your eyes or touches your tongue. Sal
Opinion
Chinese artist Jody Xiong, who's collaborating with the China Environmental Protection Foundation, placed large white canvases on 132 crosswalks in 15 cities in China. As each person crossed, they picked up a small amount of green paint on their shoes, which they left as trails on the canvas.
Art
LOS ANGELES — High above Los Angeles on a hill near Silverlake and Los Feliz, Barnsdall Art Park has played an important role for many emerging artists in the city as a site for both education and exhibition. Its Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery is a fitting locale for Made in LA, the Hammer Museum
Opinion
LOS ANGELES — A couple of years ago, new-media performance artist Marc Horowitz submitted his life to the audience. Dubbed "The Advice of Strangers," his Creative Time–commissioned performance was determined entirely by opinion polls and votes from the audience. Horowitz is at it again, as he turns
Art
LOS ANGELES — The image of the Chinese manufacturing plant is quickly becoming a 21st century icon of production, just as the car plants of Fordism were in the 20th century and Victorian coal mines were during the Industrial Revolution. They're frequently portrayed as sites of high efficiency, but r
Opinion
LOS ANGELES — I'm a sucker for skyscraper photos. Ever since I first set foot in downtown Los Angeles and then Manhattan, I've loved looking up at buildings. Tall ones, fancy ones — almost every major city has at least one interesting one, and in a place like China, there are more tall buildings tha
Opinion
LOS ANGELES —Travel around East and Southeast Asia enough and you'll invariably come across at least one big Buddha. Cut from stone or marble or any other substantive material, they dominate the room with their presence. Then there's Kobe-based sculptor Yuji Honbori.
Opinion
LOS ANGELES — I meet a lot of artists these days who have big goals. Some of the most successful ones even write them out, with specific numbers like a solo show and such-and-such gallery within three years. In a competitive art environment, it's great to have goals, and it's great to make progress
News
LOS ANGELES — As the Asian art market grows, so does the need for archiving the growing bodies of work being exhibited across the continent and beyond. Last month, I received word that the Asian Art Archive (AAA), the leading organization working on just that goal, has launched its collection online
Art
LOS ANGELES — Circles are endemic to the art world. Who you place in your circle — and who places you in theirs — is an act of social currency, particularly important in a world often run by social relations. But circles are also beautiful, forming iconic architecture like the Guggenheim in New York
Opinion
LOS ANGELES — Did you play with Legos as a kid? I did, and so did a lot of other former kids who are now grown-ups. Some of those grown-ups have become artists, and it's been fascinating to see what they've been up to.
Art
SANTA FE, New Mexico — Two weekends ago, I had the privilege of visiting and speaking at Currents, Santa Fe's annual festival of new media art. Situated in the Railyard district, a growing gallery community that hosts SITE Santa Fe, Zane Bennett Contemporary and others, the majority of the festival