LA Art Beat: Exhibitions, Pop-Up Museums & Film Festivals
Now that your holiday decor is packed up and every last speck of glitter and tinsel has been swept away, it’s time to dive into the New Year with a fresh perspective! There’s nothing like a lively exhibition or thought-provoking film series to spark your creative energy for the busy days ahead. From major museum retrospectives, to pop-up spaces and intriguing film festivals, LA offers a kaleidoscope of inspiring options for you to experience now!
Did you know LA has Free Museum Days? Here’s a Cheat Sheet for January, courtesy of We Like LA.
Rauschenberg: The 1/4 Mile or 2 Furlong Piece
LACMA
5905 Wilshire Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90036
For the first time, Robert Rauschenberg’s monumental work The 1/4 Mile or 2 Furlong Piece will be exhibited in its entirety. One of the most pioneering artists of the last century, Rauschenberg (1925–2008) produced a diverse body of work characterized by experimentation, the use of varied mediums and methods, and cross-cultural exchange. Created over 17 years, The 1/4 Mile or 2 Furlong Piece (1981–98) is composed of 190 panels that, combined, measure approximately a quarter mile in length. An eclectic array of materials comprise the piece: textiles, mass media images, and photographs by the artist intermingle with bold passages of paint, while everyday objects such as chairs, cardboard boxes, and traffic lights add sculptural depth. Rauschenberg incorporated materials and photographs from the U.S., Asia, Europe, Latin America, and Northern Africa, including audio of ambient street sounds recorded during his travels. Plan your visit.
LACE (Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions)
6522 Hollywood Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90028
For its fourth presentation in the Emerging Curators Program, LACE presents Take My Money / Take My Body, curated by Narei Choi and Nicolas Orozco-Valdivia. The exhibition proposes a relationship between K-Pop and contemporary art. The productions and fan communities of K-Pop bring new critical vocabularies to bear on this discourse. Characterized by a dialectic of heartfelt engagement and cynical manipulation, K-Pop is a contested cultural stage where trans-Pacific choreographies of invasion, seduction, and disidentification unfold daily over live-stream. Grounded in works by an intergenerational group of artists from China, Cuba, South Korea, Spain and the United States, and supported by programming that reaches out to fans in Los Angeles, Take My Money / Take My Body adopts the verbs, exclamations, and affects of K-Pop and its constitutive communities as a theoretical framework to address the complexities of subjecthood, consumerism, and politics.
American Cinematheque 14th Annual Focus on Female Directors
Egyptian Theatre
6712 Hollywood Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90028
Discover the next wave of female filmmakers, many of whom will make their L.A. premiere. American Cinematheque’s annual shorts program celebrates the directorial work of Academy Award winners, cinema pioneers, actresses turned directors, animators, documentarians, music video directors and the brightest stars emerging from film schools and the film festival circuit. Discussion following with filmmakers Domee Shi (“Bao”), Hannah Kim (“Racoon & The Light”), Susan Bay Nimoy (“Eve”), Laurel Vail (“What Metal Girls Are Into”), Emma Westenberg (“Pynk”) and Rayka Zehtabchi (“Period. End of Sentence.”). There will be a drawing for a director’s empowerment bag and a post-screening reception in the lobby for all ticket holders. Complete schedule of American Cinematheque series and screenings here.
2019 UCLA Festival of Preservation
Billy Wilder Theatre
Courtyard Level, Hammer Museum
10899 Wilshire Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90024
The biennial UCLA Festival of Preservation emerged from the broad and deep efforts of UCLA Film & Television Archive to preserve and restore our moving image heritage. This year for the first time, the festival will be organized as a long weekend event featuring a mix of mainstream classic Hollywood, independent features, documentaries, and television work, reflecting the Archive’s many stellar collections of film and video material. New restorations include a number of classic film noirs and independent films. All restoration work is dependent on audience support. With funding becoming more scarce, donations from individuals, foundations, corporations and government agencies are vital to continuing this important work. Purchase All Access Pass here.
Pasadena Museum of California Art
490 Union Street
Pasadena, CA 91101
Wait, let me take a pic first! If you’ve ever heard those words or said them yourself before being allowed to dig into your meal, then you’re probably a foodie. The Foodie Space pop-up is the serial foodie photo-taker’s wildest dream come true. Imagine colossal glitter fries that you can marry, playing with a giant overflowing noodle bowl of phở, an over-sized tea set mad enough to make Alice jealous, and many more to interact with! Playfully poking fun at society’s obsession with social media and #foodporn, visitors will have a chance to take tons of glorious food pics to their heart’s content. Each interactive exhibit was made by hand by local artists. Buy tickets here.
A+D Architecture and Design
900 E. 4th St.
Los Angeles, CA, 90013
The Disgusting Food Museum is not just an exhibit, but a celebration of food from around the world, highlighting how different cultures may or may not view certain things as disgusting. First displayed in Sweden, the collection of 100 plus foods was conceived and curated by psychologist and innovation researcher, Dr. Samuel West, well-known as “Dr. Failure” after the runaway success of his Museum of Failure. Foodies, travelers, and the just plain curious can explore unfamiliar food creations, smell new and face-cringing aromas and take selfies at the far from usual grand finale tasting bar with select creations to sample! Amazing and bizarre Instagrammable moments are endless at the internationally known museum. Buy tickets now.