It seems that hardly a week can go by without LACMA sharing something new. This time, on Sunday, the buzz-worthy exhibition The Presence of the Past: Peter Zumthor Reconsiders LACMA opens to the public (members have early access through Saturday). Take a look back at the environment and context that led to LACMA as we know it and gaze into a potential future currently being shaped in this examination by Swiss architect Peter Zumthor. You’ll see detailed drawings of fossils found on the grounds from eons past and a six ton, 30-foot wide model of what the campus could look like in the not-too-distant future. A proposition of this magnitude demands a lot of thought and consideration; take a look at Director Michael Govan’s rationale for this project on Unframed from earlier in the week and watch a discussion between Govan and Zumthor that took place on Monday in the Bing Theater.
Installation view, The Presence of the Past: Peter Zumthor Reconsiders LACMA
Kubrick and Co. continues this weekend at 5 pm and includes Red Desert and 2001: A Space Odyssey, both films sharing stark, minimalist composition and commentary on the unsettled relationship between man and machine. Kubrick and Co. runs through weekends in June, when the praised Stanley Kubrick exhibition ends its display at LACMA on June 30.
If you want to see (free) live music this weekend, LACMA is your one-stop shop for all things melodic. Latin Sounds bring the Aguabella Band to Hancock Park (directly behind LACMA) at 5 pm on Saturday; and Sundays Live hosts pianist Inna Faliks and her rendition on Schumann’s Davidsbündler.
Additionally, while you’re here you can also visit Henri Matisse: La Gerbe in the Ahmanson Building, showcasing for the first time together the large ceramic and the paper cut-outs that brought this piece to life. A few floors up you’ll find a special installation of elaborate Tibetan paintings in Pictorial Relationships in Tibetan Thangka Painting and Furniture, Part II: Animals. Visit the Pavilion for Japanese Art to see Japanese Painting: Okyo and His School in the Bird and Flower Tradition among other ornate works of art from East Asia in our collection. Families, make sure you take advantage of Andell Family Sundays too.
Maruyama Okyo, Cranes (detail), 1772 (An’ei period, 1772-1780), gift of Camilla Chandler Frost in honor of Robert T. Singer
Also happening this weekend further afield from the museum is the opening weekend of the LACMA9 Art + Film Lab, this month in Redlands at the University of Redlands. Generously funded by The James Irvine Foundation, the Art + Film Lab is a public outreach initiative designed to bring free art and film workshops, an oral history project, and free outdoor film screenings to the centers of nine communities around Los Angeles.
LACMA9 Art + Film Lab, 2013 © Jorge Pardo Sculpture, photo © 2013, Museum Associates/LACMA
The mobile lab, designed by Jorge Pardo, will spend five weeks at each of the nine cities and gradually make its way closer to LACMA. After the lab leaves each location, residents from those cities will be invited to visit LACMA on a special Community Day at the museum. The LACMA9 Art + Film Lab is just one example of LACMA's education team bringing art out of the museum and into the community. Visit the Redlands Art + Film Lab page for complete listings of free workshops, outdoor screenings, and more.
Roberto Ayala