This Week In Art

October 30, 2008 - November 05, 2008

While people seem ready for the election to be called, there is a sense of community that can be felt from encountering the same conversation wherever you turn.

It might not be surprising that at different events this week I keep having the same conversation about building momentum for culture in L.A., a subject I am most passionate about. We talked at a “closed” session on public art in Los Angeles called by two relative new-comers to the city (but certainly not new-comers to the art world) as well as at a press conference at the Chateau Marmont where the Getty Foundation announced an additional round of funding for Pacific Standard Time, an initiative beginning in 2011 that includes our major L.A. museums and grew out of concern that the role of Los Angeles in Post-World War II art has not been told. Finally, at a dinner at Lucques, Lari Pittman was sharing his insights on Los Angeles with Murray Moss (of MOSS, which recently opened on Melrose) and seemed to tie it all together, as only artists can do. If L.A. is a series of sequential events, or as Pittman said, “a sequence of suburban episodes,” then is the problem one of perception or the lack of common conversation?

Another common thread that continues to surface as more and more of the New York art world settles in Los Angeles is this idea of New Yorkers trying to understand how Los Angeles functions – applying the structures, platforms and systems from the “traditional” city perspective just doesn’t work in our sprawling metropolis. While the theme of how best to create “impact” was also echoed in London at the Manifesto Marathon, these conversations must be had on a regional level.

At the PST press conference, in the company of the directors from LACMA, MOCA and the Getty, the Hammer Museum's director Ann Philbin gave me the sense that this is on all of our minds when she said, “It is highly unusual for this many institutions to collaborate on this scale and one of the very exciting things about this project is exploring that model of creating a solid institutional network across the region, a very large Southern California Museum, if you will, in which our freeways are like the hallways connecting the galleries.”

I ran into Libby Harrison, who was pivotal in starting LACMA Muse, at the museum for a meeting of the Avant-Garde subcommittee. Again, philanthropy was on everyone’s minds and on the way out she mentioned not having the time to do all of the things on our “plan” (who does?!). I found myself thinking that whether or not she realizes it, her participation in this broader conversation is crucial.

Conversation is a pillar of the cultural world. Whatever is said about the parties and empty schmoozing, we are still a community that constantly challenges itself.

This coming week ForYourArt debuts a new column, "Confessions of an Art Outsider," featuring candid dispatches on the always colorful New York art scene from correspondent Lindsay Feldman.

Lastly, the new issue of MAP ForYourArt: 2008 California Biennial issue is now online. With info about off-site events and exhibitions taking place from Tijuana to San Francisco, we encourage you to use this issue as a guide to your art road trip.

Filed Under: See Events Greater L.A.

Posted by: Bettina Korek on October 31, 2008

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