Walking by a small room on the third floor of the Hammer Building at LACMA, you may hear the voice from this video calling out to you with a series of questions that all start off “hey you, wanna buy…?”. The choices range from the more abstract ideas of “a second chance” or “a piece of the American dream” to the more practical, like “a set of encyclopedias with a four color atlas”, to the more ominous options of “a judge” or “the mayor’s ear”.
The video was created by the team of Elizabeth Diller and Ricardo Scofidio working together as Diller+Scofidio. Soft Sell was originally displayed in the windows of an abandoned porno theater on 42nd Street in NYC in 1993 and is currently part of LACMA’s photo exhibition titled Lens Work: Celebrating LACMA’s Experimental Photography at 50.
Diller and Scofidio added Charles Renfro as partner in 2004 to form Diller Scofidio + Renfro,“an interdisciplinary design studio that integrates architecture, the visual arts, and the performing arts”. They have designed many high profile projects including the first mile of the High Line in NYC, the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston, and the Broad Museum, soon to be opened in Los Angeles.
MOCA Grand Ave is having a panel and book signing in conjunction with the release of Both Sides of Sunset: Photographing Los Angeles, with artists Zoe Crosher, Bettina Hubby, Michael Shields, and Ed Templeton and moderated by David L.Ulin of the Los Angeles Times. The artists will “share their distinct visions of the city’s visual landscape”. (free)
Lolipop Records and the Echo present Lolipalooza 2 with a list of bands that includes White Fence, Cosmonauts, Corners, Winter, So Many Wizards and more
Roses, Dunes, Sandlot, and DYGL are all playing a house show downtown for $5 with free beer
Chinatown Summer Nights returns with live music from The Janks as well as other bands, cooking demonstrations, acrobatic shows, a beer garden, DJs, and more
Tijuana Panthers are headlining Summer and Music a free festival in Long Beach
Sunday
Basement Jaxx are at the Hollywood Bowl with Bootsy’s Rubber Band featuring Bootsy Collins and Tuxedo opening
For the panel discussion Photography and Composition at the Hammer Museum, Thomas Demand, Elad Lassry, and Catherine Opie will discuss themes in the exhibition Perfect Likeness with curator Russell Ferguson
Devendra Banhart is talking with Zach Pennington, the head writer of the awesome LA app 5 Every Day, at LACMA’s Art Catalogues. There will be a DJ for the reception and a performance with Banhart’s band as well as a book signing (free)
All weekend–
The BET Experience is taking place at LA Live with a mix of free (including a Janelle Monae performance) and ticketed events-
Los Angeles Nomadic Division (LAND) has events all weekend to celebrate the culmination of The Manifest Destiny Billboard Project, which had different artists putting up billboards along Interstate 10. Events include film screenings, artist talks, bus tours of the city, workshops and more
Things to do in Los Angeles this weekend (6/11-6/14/15)-
Thursday
June’s DTLA Artwalk has a film and video theme- stop by the Regent Theater for a short film festival (free) in between checking out the galleries
Writer Claudia Rankine is reading at MOCA Geffen (free with RSVP)
The LA Film Fest has begun (running til 6/18) and tonight at LACMA they are showing Too Late, “a dark love letter to Los Angeles”, which stars John Hawkes and includes a conversation with the filmmakers
Neon Trees are at the Fonda Theatre with Alex Winston
Friday
Downtown Dark Nights returns to LA Live with $5 food and drink specials, live music, art installations and live painting by several street artists
Producer and DJ Peanut Butter Wolf is kicking off the Music Center downtown’s Bring Your Own Dance Moves, their free weekly dance party
MOCA Grand Ave is having a book launch at their store for Architectones: Art In the Living Environment which will feature a roundtable conversation with François Perrin, Maura Lucking, Jan Tumlir, Bryony Roberts, and Mark Hagen; a performance by Veilhan and James Goldstein; music by DJ Vincent Tajan, and a book signing
Friday through Sunday
It’s LA Pride and the festival goes all weekend with a parade (Sunday), Thunderground Roller Disco, and live music from artists including Kesha and Tinashe
Saturday
Mystic Braves are the headliners of a four band show at the Troubadour that also includes So Many Wizards
NELA Art Gallery Night is a great way to check out the galleries in the Highland Park area
The Autry in Griffith Park is having a movie night on their south lawn- this week it’s The Grand Budapest Hotel with Mansions on the Moon playing before the show
Sunday
Rob Forbes, creator of Design Within Reach along with Eric Heiman, creative director of the San Francisco design studio Volume Inc., will discuss Forbes’s new book, See for Yourself: A Visual Guide to Everyday Beauty, with a book signing afterwords at LACMA (free)
Ink-N-Iron, a festival celebrating hot rods, tattoos, 50′s fashion and burlesque returns to the Queen Mary in Long Beach (also Friday and Saturday) and tonight the live music includes Fishbone, Gary Numan, and Peter Murphy among others
MOCA is screening Marlon Rigg’s documentary Tongues Untied in conjunction with his new exhibition
Saturday and Sunday
If you like the idea of being in a horror movie, The Great Horror Campout is back in Griffith Park with different levels of intensity, including a Chicken Zone where you just watch horror movies without creatures disturbing you throughout the night
Ooga Booga has cool stuff and this weekend is having a warehouse sale
Catcon describes itself as ComicCon for cat people ($25)
The biannual Parachute Market which focuses on design is downtown at One Santa Fe ($10)
Nick Brandt is at Art Catalogues at LACMA to talk about art and activism with Kathryn Bigelow, and to sign books (free)
Cinespia is showing Disney’s Fantasia and Fantasia 2000 to benefit the Los Angeles Historic Theater Foundation at the TCL Chinese Theater (formerly Grauman’s Chinese Theater) with drinks in between shows ($35)
Things to do in Los Angeles this weekend (5/21-5/24/15)-
Thursday
Audiodrome at Cinefamily (co-presented by WOAH and Tigerbeat6) combines live music,“forward thinking A/V remixes” and this time will feature a record release party for Kid606
Fahrenheit Gallery downtown is screening a Len Lye film retrospective (free)
Honor Fraser Gallery is presenting ATTACK, SUSTAIN, RELEASE, DECAY, a performance collaboration joining performance and media collectives Mutant Salon, Experimental Half Hour, and Project Rage Queen
In December The Autry Museum held a contest for artists to submit designs for a banner for the back wall of the museum and tonight they are having the High Five Art Launch Party (free with reservation) to celebrate the artists and winner
Friday
Wallburds are opening for Girl Tears and Crocodiles at The Satellite– my vote for best show of the weekend and it’s only $12
Artist and musician Dorian Wood will be performing for the closing of his and Craig Calderwood’s exhibition at Last Projects in Hollywood
It’s the first ever night for The Odd Market, on The Autry Museum’s south lawn, with cocktails, shopping, crafts, DJs and food
Gothic Tropic, Crown Plaza, and Life Size Maps are at the Echo
Saturday
LACMA is offering a free printmaking workshop inspired by the current exhibition The Language of Xu Bing– advanced tickets are sold out but there will be a standby line
Electric Dusk Drive In downtown is showing Rear Window (only astroturf seating is available, no tickets left for cars)-
Ceremony are headlining at the Echo with a list of bands that includes Mrs.Magician
Sunday
Artists from Pasadena City College and Art Center College of Design will be selling their work at the annual Art+Design Open Market at One Colorado in Old Pasadena
It is the final weekend for Experience 15: SPARK! Explore SPARK at ESMoA museum in El Segundo, which creates a world of fantasy with interactive exhibits that are great for kids- especially today as there is a family fun day with art making projects and a fairy tale scavenger hunt. There is also a talk with Jeff Guess, the current artist in residence
LA Weekly’s event Artopia takes place at the Container Yard and promises art, street art, performances, DJs, drinks and more ($40)
At MOCA Grand Ave, Bruce Hainley, author of Under the Sign of [sic]: Sturtevant’s Volte-Face (Semiotext(e), 2013), joins MOCA’s Chief Curator Helen Molesworth for a discussion on Sturtevant: Double Trouble or you could go to MOCA Geffen for a performance of Migrant (2015) made for the William Pope L. exhibition
Artist Thomas Heatherwick is speaking at the Hammer
If you missed Coachella but still want to go to a festival out in the desert, this weekend is Desert Dazewhere $55 gets you a lineup that includes Dan Deacon, Warpaint, DIIV, RJD2, Fever the Ghost, Mini Mansions, and more
John Zorn is performing at LACMA for free (with museum admission)
Things to do in Los Angeles this weekend (4/23-4/26/15)-
Thursday
Eternal Summers are opening for Turbo Fruits at The Roxy
Tonight is the last screening of Matthew Barney’s Cremaster series with Cremaster 3 (2002) at the Hammer
Friday
Matthew Barney and composer Jonathan Bepler will discuss their recent collaboration River of Fundament (premiering at UCLA on Saturday) with professor Kenneth Reinhard at the Hammer Museum. Free but get there early
LACMA is having a community day to celebrate their 50th Anniversary with free admission (even to ticketed exhibits) and events
Artist Vincent Lamouroux is painting Silver Lake’s deserted Sunset Pacific Motel, also known as the “Bates Motel”, and its surroundings (including trees) white with lime wash to turn it into a temporary art installation that will be completed today for the opening (3-6pm)
Reptar will be playing a free in-store show at Origami Records
The Live Read series at LACMA continues this week with Major League, guest directed by Joe Manganiello (Magic Mike). A limited number of tickets will be sold at the door two hours before start time
Friday
Bad Religion are playing at the Fonda Theatre with OFF!
WAND and Dunes are playing along with two other bands for $8 at The Smell
Saturday
Record Store Day is back and there are lots of venues doing something special to celebrate. Origami Vinyl is having DJ sets, bands (including Fever the Ghost), giving gift bags to the first group of customers and there will be a free ice cream truck. Permanent Records is also having performers including John Doe and Exene from X. Amoeba Records isn’t on the list but is having events at the store as well as one across the street at Space 15 Twenty. The official list of venues is here.
You may not have heard of many of the bands playing Brokechella, BUT it is an annual event that gets bigger every year, just like its namesake, and it’s a pretty good deal. For $20 you get art shows, bands, comedy and variety, giant jenga puzzles, a vendor fair, Puppychella for dog owners, and more- all in Downtown’s Warehouse District
Always wanted to see the inside of the Magic Castle but never scored an invite from a magician? One way to get a peek is to check out their Swap Meet taking place 9am-3pm (from the Terrace to the Peller Theatre) where you can also shop around for a variety of magic related items ($8)
If you are around WeHo and see people dressed in black with bowler hats and wearing artistic looking sandwich boards, they are part of the 100 Walkers performance piece. More info here
Saturday and Sunday
The Los Angeles Times Festival of Books is back with a huge list of free and ticketed (many only $1) events and readings- authors include Tavis Smiley, Billy Idol, Octavia Spencer, Kate Mulgrew, Amber Tamblyn, Patton Oswalt, Vikram Chandra, Roy Choi and many, many, more
Sunday
CAFAM (Craft and Folk Art Museum) is hosting a gallery tour and conversation with exhibition juror Cat Jimenez, Executive Director of the Lucie Foundation, and a group of exhibiting artists from the show Focus Iran: Contemporary Photography and Video (free with RSVP)
Today (3/23) is the last day to see Variations: Conversations in and Around Abstract Painting at LACMA.
From the press release:
In an attention-compromised age when images are instant and prevalent, abstract painting serves as a contradiction, acting as a conduit for the mark of the original, individual artist. While most of the work in the exhibition has been recently created and acquired, additional paintings culled from LACMA’s collection illustrate how artists have reanimated techniques and forms using other sources that are appropriated from popular culture, photography, and collage, essentially creating a new variation of abstract painting.
It’s also a good day to visit LACMA because they are having a full day of activities and performances to celebrate Nowruz, the Iranian New Year and the first day of spring.
Things to do in Los Angeles this weekend (3/19-3/22/15)-
Thursday
The first of the four Venice Art Crawls this year is tonight and will have art, live painting, music, performances and more
Jason Reitman’s live read at LACMA for tonight is Dazed and Confused. Advanced tickets are sold out but there will be some available at the door two hours before showtime
Thursday and Friday
The members of The Both return to Largo for Aimee Mann and Ted Leo’s One Way Mission to March: a Springtime Variety Show along with Jonathan Coulton and Tim Heidecker
Friday
Tijuana Panthers are playing with Oxnard band Sea Lions at the Echo
Saturday
The Million Dollar Theater downtown is showing Bonnie and Clyde with live jazz/ragtime before the screening ($10)
Church Sessions is hosting an evening with John Doe and Exene from X and Robyn Hitchcock at the First Unitarian Church
LAXART gallery in Hollywood is having another panel discussion on photography titled Remembering Forward from 4-6pm (free)-
Heidi Duckler Dance Company’s newest piece explores the intersection of dance and architecture as the audience moves around Mayne’s Morphosis in Culver City for Space Opera– discounted to $15 if you are a Culver City resident, or $25 if not
Artist William Pope.L and MOCA Senior Curator Bennett Simpson discuss Pope.L’s Trinket at the MOCA Geffen (free with RSVP and museum admission)
Ciclavia is taking over the San Fernando Valley this time
