This week: explore the charged relationship between Los Angeles and nature; understand your brain on color; learn how to design for the good life; celebrate 20 years of SASSAS at Schindler House; and check out the visions of tomorrow's architects.
1) L.A. Against the Mountains
In his 1988 essay, Los Angeles Against the Mountains, John McPhee declared that, "it is not always clear which side is losing," referring to the often fraught relationship between Los Angeles and the natural world. This is the inspiration for Los Angeles Against the Mountains, a mixed-media event taking place Tuesday evening at Second Home Serpentine Pavilion at the La Brea Tar Pits. Christopher Hawthorne, LA’s Chief Design Officer, will helm an evening of music, readings and conversations with writers and scientists including Lori Bettison-Varga, president and director of the Natural History Museum; Nicola Twilley, author of a recent New Yorker magazine article on California megafires; Joshua West, associate professor of Earth sciences at USC Dornsife; and William Deverell, director of the Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West (heard recently on this DnA episode). The event will also be celebrating the Natural History Museum’s new book Wild LA.
When: Tuesday, Sept 24, 6:30 - 8:30 pm
Where: Second Home Serpentine Pavilion, 5801 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles 90036
Tickets: Free; click here for more information
Careful where you put that pink wall...Courtesy Gillian C. Rose2) What hue are you?
"Our responses to color are written into our DNA," says Gillian Rose, "they are not learned." The aptly named Rose is an environmental designer and founder of The Science of Color and consults for designers and companies on the impact of color, which forms 80% of our visual perception. But those feelings differ, she says, depending on whether we are outgoing or reserved, extrovert or introvert. She will explain why at a talk Wednesday evening at Cosentino's showroom.
When: Wednesday, Sept 25, 6 - 9 pm
Where: Cosentino Los Angeles City Center, 8674 Beverly Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90048 US.
Tickets: Free. Click here to reserve a seat.
Paul Fortune Design Studio: Photograph featured in his new book Notes on Decor3) PRACTICAL MAGIC: Elevating Our Lives with Design
Paul Fortune has brought to a career in interior design an innate sense of how to create a comfortable environment (no spotlights, no cold whites or primary colors, and tablecloths a must). He also has a delicious acerbic wit, and both talents are on display on his new book "Notes On Decor, etc." He will sign books and participate in a conversation about "curating the good life" with Interiors editor-in-chief Erika Heet and designers Natasha Baradaran and Thomas Lavin -- at the Pacific Design Center this Thursday. It's all part of Fall Market 2019 at the PDC. Catch Fortune on this DnA episode.
When: Thursday, Sept 26, 3 pm
Where: Pacific Design Center, 8687 Melrose Ave, West Hollywood 90069; panel takes place on the 5th floor atrium, Paul Fortune book-signing follows at Thomas Lavin's showroom, Suite B310
Tickets: Free, however RSVP required. You can RSVP here.
Clockwise from upper left: Kelan Philip Cohran, Joseph Jarman, Mike Kelley w/Extended Organ, Mark Trayle, Rod Poole w/Voice of the Bowed Guitar, Pauline Oliveros
4) SASSAS: 20 Years of Sound
There are few lovelier refuges from the megalopolis than the quiet, bare concrete rooms and lush gardens of the MAK Center's Schindler House. In a nod to the experimental soirees of Rudolf and Pauline Schindler, this weekend the house will come alive with videos and ephemera marking 20 years of sound., the flagship concert series of the Society for the Activation of Social Space through Art and Sound (SASSAS). The installation features premieres of full length documentation from concerts by Glenn Branca, Kelan Phil Cohran, Extended Organ featuring Mike Kelley, Joseph Jarman, Pauline Oliveros, James Tenney and more. On Sunday the 29th, a closing event will include a performance of Rod Poole’s Voice of the Bowed Guitar, the first work presented at the Schindler House when sound. relocated from San Pedro in 2000.
When: Friday - Sunday, Sept 27 - 29
Where: Schindler House, 835 N Kings Road, West Hollywood 90069
Tickets: Free for supporters of the MAK Center; $10 Admission / $7 for Students & Seniors; click here for more information.
5) Visions of tomorrow at SCI-Arc and A+D Museum
See how tomorrow’s city builders envision the future at two exhibitions in close proximity. The best of SCI-Arc thesis projects are on display for a week at the e xperimental design school on Santa Fe. Meanwhile, at nearby A+D Museum you can find The Los Angeles Schools, an exhibition of student work from four of the Southland’s architecture schools, ranging from the upstart SCI-Arc through to USC, whose architecture school was founded a century ago. UCLA and Cal Poly SLO_LA Metro are also represented. Watch this space for upcoming programming around this exhibition.
When: SCI-Arc Selected Thesis: through September 29 at 6 pm / The Los Angeles Schools at A+D Museum, through November 24.
Where: SCI-Arc Selected Thesis: SCI-Arc Gallery, 960 East 3rd Street Los Angeles, CA 90013/The Los Angeles Schools at A+D Museum, 900 E. 4th Street, Los Angeles, CA 90013.
Tickets: Free. Read more about SCI-Arc Selected Thesis here; and more about The Los Angeles Schools at A+D Museum, here.