This week: Watch Milton Glaser explain design; experience the Souls of a Million Light Years; see Heidi Duckler dancers in augmented reality; return to The Huntington Gardens and Hauser & Wirth; consider art and Black community formation.
Milton Glaser, in a still from an AIGA interview with Milton Glaser, 2018. Catch it on YouTube, here.
1) We ♥ Milton Glaser
One of the greats of graphic design and illustration has passed: Milton Glaser, on Friday June 26, his birthday, of a stroke. His numerous memorable images include the poster of Bob Dylan, with swirling, whirling, multi-colored hair springing from his silhouetted profile. Glaser was synonymous with New York, having lived and worked there from birth to his death at 91. He co-created New York Magazine and designed its title face, which somehow had the elegance and confidence of a New Yorker striding across Central Park. When the city was on a downer in 1977, he came up with the I ♥ New York logo. That logo, made of typewriter script and a red heart shape, became a global sensation, birthing our love of emojis, writes Carolina Miranda in the Los Angeles Times. In a 2018 interview for the AIGA (American Institute of Graphic Arts), Glaser summed up the astounding impact of that simple concept: "The most significant things are not verbal, they are not narrative, they are something else. They are in the realm of feeling, expression and art. It is one of the reasons the design profession is really worthwhile. Every once in a while you really get an opportunity to make things better than they were before." Take a few moments and watch Milton Glaser, here.
Kusama,
Infinity Mirrored Room –The Souls of Millions of Light Years Away
(2013). Courtesy of David Zwirner, New York. © Yayoi Kusama
2) Infinite Drone Series - A virtual experience of Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Mirrored Room
The Souls of Millions of Light Years by octogenarian Japanese artist Yahoi Kusama is one of six Infinity Mirror Rooms which are on permanent display - and the number one attraction - at the Broad since the exhibition opened in October 2019. The exhibition was so popular, that visitors were allowed only 30 seconds to experience the Instagram-worthy attraction. But since March 2020, the twinkling lights of the kaleidoscopic exhibition have been dark.
Thankfully, the museum has unveiled a new way to experience the artwork online. Infinite Drone: A Light and Sound Experience Inspired by Yayoi Kusama's Infinity Mirrored Room - The Souls of Millions of Light Years Away pairs footage of Kusama’s starry universe with musical selections by Los Angeles sound artists and musicians. The series presents a new, contemplative way of experiencing The Broad’s most popular artwork - and now you can take your time.
When: Available now
Where: The Broad From Home. Available online here .
Cost: Free
Photo: Heididuckler.org 3) Heidi Duckler Dance: Ebb & Flow
Heidi Duckler Dance Company is known for creating site-specific choreography that engages space and audience. This year's 4th Ebb & Flow Chinatown has a decidedly Covid twist: Instead of their usual festival activities which involve live performances and workshops, this year they are utilizing augmented reality to give 'audiences' a self-guided, site-specific, socially distant, dance experience.
Park visitors can go on a journey from Ebb to Flow. In the Ebb section of the park, you will encounter five static artworks representing the earth’s elements. With the use of an augmented reality App, you will be able to bring these images to life to watch HDD dancers Himerria Wortham, Keva Walker, Heidi Duckler, Lenin Fernandez, and Luke Dakota Zender. In the Flow section, you will experience Collateral Damage, an immersive installation designed by Snezana Petrovic that speaks of the damage and harm that we, humans, are causing unintentionally on nature.
When: Through Tuesday, June 30, 8am - 5pm
Where: Los Angeles State Historic Park, 1245 N Spring St, Los Angeles 90012
Cost: Free; click here for tickets and information.
There are 18 sculpted and meticulously designed gardens at the Huntington, including this Japanese Garden which dates back to the institution's' opening in 1928. Photo courtesy of the Huntington Library.4) Reopenings: Hauser & Wirth and Huntington Gardens
Using strict guidelines for safely accommodating patrons, some museums and galleries are re-opening or partially re-opening this week. The Huntington is opening most of their sculpted and meticulously designed gardens, while high-touch outdoor spaces - including the Children’s Garden and the Rose Hills Conservatory for Botanical Science, as well as all indoor galleries will remain closed for the time being. You can learn more about their gardens here.
Hauser & Wirth Los Angeles will also re-open this week. In accordance with LA County mandates, H&W has made some changes to ensure a safe experience, including timed and guided visiting appointments, reduced opening hours, designated routes through exhibitions, and digitized materials you can access on your smartphone. Additionally, they have extended the exhibitions ‘Lucio Fontana. Walking the Space: Spatial Environments, 1948 – 1968’ and ‘August Sander: New Women, New Men, and New Identities,’ created in partnership with the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
Advance purchase with timed entry is required for both venues.
When: Wednesday, July 1
Where: Huntington Gardens, 1151 Oxford Rd, San Marino 91108; Hauser & Wirth, 901-909 E 3rd St, Los Angeles 90013
Cost: Huntington Gardens: $25/$29 (weekdays/weekends); tickets for July 1-7, which are for timed entry and must be purchased in advance, will be released June 30 at noon. Book tickets and review Covid safety guidelines here. Hauser & Wirth also requires advance reservations, which you can make here. Review Covid safety guidelines here.
A large mural in Leimert Park Village section of Los Angeles. The mural was painted in memory of the Rodney King riots.
5) Community Space: "Multimedia Art and African American Community Formation in LA"
Since time immemorial human beings have drawn on walls to tell stories and connect communities -- sometimes for revolution. In these recent weeks of the cry for racial and social justice has been amplified through the explosion of art on walls and boarded up storefronts.
This week's Wende Museum lunchtime talk explores "Multimedia Art and African American Community Formation" in LA. The Zoom Webinar features Robeson Taj Frazier, Associate Professor of Communication at USC and Director of the Institute for Diversity and Empowerment at Annenberg (IDEA) in conversation with Joes Segal, the Wende Museum's Chief Curator and Director of Programming.
When: Wednesday, July 1, 12 pm
Where: Wende Museum (online). You can register for the Zoom webinar here.
Cost: Free; click here to register.