Sunshine, the beach, the palms and ““ of course ““ what first comes to the minds of many when they think of Los Angeles is the city’s rich offerings in art and culture.
Beginning on Thursday and ending Sunday, Los Angeles Art Weekend gives the city’s residents and visitors alike a slew of opportunities to explore Los Angeles’ contemporary art scene. A diverse lineup of events includes book signings, film screenings, gallery walks and chances to navigate an exhibit guided by its very artist. Most of the events are free.
And if this upcoming weekend is bad timing for some, exhibits inclusive in the festival opened as early as mid-February (Dan Graham at the Museum of Contemporary Art) and will close as late as June 7 (Franz West at Los Angeles County Museum of Art).
“The idea behind the weekend,” said Bettina Korek, founder of ForYourArt, a producer the festival, “is to kind of intersperse special events and generally highlight what’s already going on in L.A.”
Los Angeles Art Weekend is only in its second year running.
Michael Stock of Part Time Punks, who’s set to DJ at the official launch party on Thursday at 9 p.m. at The Standard, recalled last year’s festival when friends who were art students at UCLA long ago returned from New York to participate in some of the shows.
“It was like a homecoming,” said Stock, who also graduated from UCLA with a doctorate in critical studies in film.
This year’s feature event at Los Angeles Art Weekend is Postopolis! LA, a jam-packed, near-non-stop five days of live discussions, interviews, films and more revolving around art, architecture and design. It will be hosted by the people behind six influential art and architecture blogs from around the world, and kicks off at 5 p.m. today at The Standard.
“Basically what we’re setting up for the bloggers to do is what they do on their computers in private, in public,” said Joseph Grima, director of Storefront for Art and Architecture, which together with ForYourArt is presenting Postopolis! LA.
The event aims to break the discussion from the impersonality of the virtual world into the immediacy of real-world interactions, giving a chance for bloggers to meet face-to-face with the artists they write about and for the public to meet in person with some of people they may read about on a daily basis.
The decision to bring the event to Los Angeles was made after the first Postopolis! in New York in May 2007 was considered a success with several thousand art enthusiasts in attendance.
“It really kind of left a lasting legacy,” Grima said. “And with L.A. Art Weekend, L.A. seemed to take the natural counterpoint in New York.”
Half of the blogs participating this time around, according to Grima, also took part in Postopolis! in New York. The newly invited participating blogs are intended to expand and diversify the discussion, with ArchDaily ““ written in both English and Spanish ““ adding a “Spanish dimension” according to Grima, the Paris-based We Make Money Not Art exploring the world of art production and Mudd Up! introducing music to the conversation.
Music will also enter into the equation with a myriad of parties and events scheduled for the weekend that incorporate music with art. Notable is Late Night Art of Berlin, 1945″“2009, an evening combining art, video and music with Berlin’s DJ/VJ duo Safy Sniper and Christine Lang, which begins at 8 p.m. on Saturday at LACMA.
“Music isn’t a self-contained world,” Stock said. “A lot of the records I’m into are people who are mostly inspired by visual art.” At the launch party, Stock will spin a mix of new bands, post-punk and indie pop. (For a sample taste, Stock hosts a Thursday radio show on kxlu.com.)
According to Korek, Los Angeles Art Weekend is “still a project in development, still just testing smaller projects,” with plans to expand from the current focus on contemporary art to incorporate more interdisciplinary designs in the future.
“We’re trying to get people excited about all these venues and programs,” Korek said, especially for the people who live here.
“There’s never been more attention on the cultural production of Los Angeles.”