This week, you can: consider the K-Pop model as a fascist tool; follow SCI-Arc’s charette on homelessness; experience 27 museums at one location; enjoy an immersive art experience at Sowden House; and get up close and personal with endangered species.
1) Take My Money / Take My Body
Can something as bubble gum as Korean pop music draw parallels to fascist strategies for controlling culture? Curators Narei Choi (New York) and Nicolas Orozco-Valdivia (L.A.) begin an eye-opening exploration of the global success of K-Pop, through the lens of how similar entertainment strategies – bright colors, infectious tunes, specialized lingo – can be and have been used by populist political movements or even big data consumer platforms to engender fanatical devotion. Take My Money / Take My Body surveys interdisciplinary works by artists from South Korea, China, Cuba, Spain and the U.S. to evaluate the relationship between popular media/entertainment and our willingness to pay big bucks to be a fan/user/subject in the very system that gradually starts to own/control us. You can read more about the exhibition here.
When: Wednesdays-Sundays through February 24
Where: LACE (Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions), 6522 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles 90028
Tickets: Free
2) SCI-Arc Initiative on Homelessness
From its inception, SCI-Arc has seen its role beyond that of design as a luxury and positioned itself as an explorer of design as a tool for advancing the human experience – at every level. So it is with this mission that SCI-Arc will turn the entire school’s attention to helping solve the problem of homelessness and supporting shelter as a human right. Beginning Friday, for four days, all 506 students and faculty will come together to tackle this issue through an intense, collaborative format known as a charrette, including lectures and panels which will be live-streamed for the general public. At the end of the final day, Monday, January 14, there will be an open exhibition of the work and ideas developed through this process.
When: Friday, Jan 11 – Monday, Jan 14. Exhibition Monday, Jan 14, 5- 6 pm. You can see the full schedule of events here.
Where: Livestream + SCI-Arc, 960 E 3rd St, Los Angeles 90012 You can learn more about the charrette and find the livestream links here.
Tickets: Free
3) Mobile Museum Fair
Rolling into a town near you, the first-ever Mobile Museum Fair comes to the LA Central Library. This event will highlight libraries on wheels, portable exhibits, and mobile museums from the greater Los Angeles area for an afternoon of surprise and discovery for visitors of all ages. With over 27 participating exhibits, including miniatures, straw art, marionettes, sneakers, candy wrappers, bicycles, sweet beats, wildlife, fish and much more, the collection is sure to offer something for everyone. You can see all the participating mobile museums here.
The 21 Collections: Every Object has a Story exhibition will also be open for viewing in the Getty Gallery on the 2nd floor of Central Library. Make sure to listen to this recent feature that aired on KCRW’s Press Play and produced by the Kitchen Sisters on the exhibition.
When: Sunday, Jan 13, 1 – 5 pm (Library Foundation members can arrive at noon)
Where: The Library Foundation of Los Angeles, 630 W 5th St, Los Angeles 90071
Tickets: Free
4) PASSAGES at the Sowden House
Designed by Lloyd Wright in 1926, the Sowden House had an open layout and dramatic features perfect for the artist-owners who loved to entertain. Just shy of a century later, the current owners, Jenny Landers and Dan Goldfarb, once again open the house for entertaining with philanthropic events in support of the arts, animals and social causes. This weekend, homeLA presents an immersive site-specific collaboration of architecture, history, choreography, music, film and performance art reflecting the passage of time represented by this significant house. The cave-like house was built using concrete textile blocks with Mayan themes similar to Los Angeles residences designed earlier in the 1920s by Lloyd Wright’s father, Frank Lloyd Wright. Through myth, transfer of ownership, renovation and redesigns, and association with the infamous Black Dahlia murder of 1947, the Sowden House is a portal full of artistic and humanistic ground. This notion of portal is the basis for PASSAGES. You can read more about the event here.
When: Sunday, Jan 13, 4:00 – 7:30 pm (Saturday tickets are sold out)
Where: Sowden House, 5121 Franklin Ave, Los Angeles 90027
Tickets: $35. You can get tickets here.
5) National Geographic Photo Ark
Showing the power of photography to make us aware and make us care, National Geographic Photo Ark is the work of photographer Joel Sartore, who has made it his mission to capture every living species before they disappear. Since 2005, Sartore has been to more than 40 countries and snapped close-up images of over 8,000 species, from the familiar to the exotic. The exhibit, with nearly 100 captivating large format images, brings viewers eye-to-eye with endangered wildlife. The exhibition – which also includes a short documentary film showing just how Sartore gets the shot, interactive games, a studio where visitors can be photographed with their favorite animal, and a gallery devoted to California’s indigenous species – comes with a hopeful message: to know these animals is to want to save them. You can read more about Photo Ark here and see more images here.
When: Closes Sunday, Jan 13. Open Wed-Sun, 11 am – 6 pm.
Where: Annenberg Space for Photography, 2000 Avenue of the Stars, LA 90067. Parking off Constellation Blvd: $4.50 (3 hrs) before 4:30; $1.50 after 4:30 – bring ticket to validate.
Tickets: Free