Some Pretty Wild Exhibits, and a New Facility, Top the List of Museum Happenings Downtown
by Julie Riggott
DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES - Something wild is happening in some usually sedate places this fall: museums. A prime example is the California Science Center’s intriguing exhibit on illegal drugs, where kids can tour a crack house and go on a simulated drug bust. For those looking to celebrate Halloween in spirited style, the USC Fisher Museum of Art offers a ghostly exhibit of shadows and smoke. Rock ‘n’ roll and other musical forms get a new home when the Grammy Museum opens in December; visitors can explore 200 years of American music and politics in its inaugural exhibit. Other shows around Downtown Los Angeles put an eclectic array of items on display, including a survey of L.A.’s artistic talent at the Japanese American National Museum, motorcycles designed by African Americans at the California African American Museum and artifacts from ancient cultures at the Natural History Museum.
For a complete list of exhibits, see Museums on page 25.
Bigger Than the Hard Rock: Downtown is getting a new museum on Dec. 6, and this one’s dedicated to music. The Grammy Museum is part of the entertainment enclave known as L.A. Live, which also includes the Nokia Theatre, Club Nokia (opens Nov. 10) and the Conga Room (debuting in December). The first facility of its kind, the Grammy Museum will have four floors of exhibits and will celebrate all forms of music, the creative and recording processes, and the prestigious award for which the museum is named. Along with a slate of activities surrounding the opening, the Grammy Museum will present its first major exhibition, one covering 200 years of music and politics in America. In addition to music, photographs and films, Songs of Conscience, Sounds of Freedom will feature artifacts such as Grandmaster Flash’s turntables, guitars from Woody Guthrie and Bob Dylan, and even an 1816 copy of “The Star Spangled Banner.”
800 W. Olympic Blvd., (213) 765-6800 or grammymuseum.org.
Is There a Problem?: Walk into MOCA Grand Avenue and there’s a Santa Claus Lamp. The Styrofoam Saint Nick is not so jolly considering he’s impaled and has a red light for a head and brown paint streaming down his body. The rest of the gallery is filled with hundreds of paintings, drawings and installations and continues at the Geffen Contemporary location with “The Happy End of Franz Kafka’s ‘Amerika,’” a soccer field of tables and chairs. Welcome to the Martin Kippenberger retrospective. The Problem Perspective, named for one of the conceptual artist’s works, is as diverse as it is sprawling. It opened Sept. 21 and runs through Jan. 5, 2009.
MOCA Grand Avenue, 250 S. Grand Ave. and the Geffen Contemporary at MOCA, 152 N. Central Ave., (213) 621-2766 or moca.org.
This Is Your Brain on Drugs: There is an actual coca processing lab confiscated from the jungles of South America on display in an Exposition Park museum. It sounds bizarre, but it’s true. There is also a recreated Afghan heroin factory and a tenement crack house. The California Science Center’s latest exhibit, Target America: Opening Eyes to the Damage Drugs Cause, was developed by the Drug Enforcement Administration Museum. In addition to information about illegal drugs and the wreckage from a drug-related car accident, there are interactive exhibits called Hoop Nightmares, Wheel of Misfortune and Junior Special Agent: Drug Bust! (the exclamation point is theirs, but it seems like it’s warranted).
California Science Center, 700 State Drive, (323) 724-3623 or californiasciencecenter.org.
Ghostly Images: If you’ve been to Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion, you’ll have an idea of what Phantasmagoria: Specters of Absence is. Before there were films, 19th-century Europeans put on shows with magic lanterns and projected images of ghosts and skeletons onto screens or smoke. Contemporary artists have looked back to those times in the traveling exhibit at the USC Fisher Museum of Art. Perfectly timed for Halloween and the Day of the Dead, Phantasmagoria will be on display through Nov. 8. Curator Joe Roca has chosen artists from 12 countries who use immaterial mediums such as shadows, fog and mist to produce spectral images with somber subjects. In Colombian artist Oscar Munoz’s “Aliento,” a puff of breath briefly reveals images on seemingly ordinary mirrors. You can also disappear in a cloud of fog in Danish artist Jeppe Hein’s “Smoking Bench.”
USC Fisher Museum of Art, 823 Exposition Blvd. on the USC campus, (213) 740-4561 or uscfishermuseumofart.org.
Archaeology and Ecology: The Natural History Museum will open a semi-permanent exhibit on Dec. 19. Visible Vault: Archaeological Treasures From Ancient Latin America will literally open up the vault, actually a cavern-like structure, to show off more than 700 artifacts from ancient civilizations in Mexico and Central and South America. While you’re waiting for that exhibit, the Exposition Park institution has more than 35 million objects in its collection, and they have a new Sustainable Sundays series, with informative talks on conservation issues. On Nov. 9, learn about the ecology of food from chef Aaron French and pro-conservation businesses from Conservation International’s Jen Morris. Plus, check out information from bike groups and other green organizations. On Dec. 7, urban planner James Rojas and Conservation International’s Robin Moore are scheduled to appear.
Natural History Museum, 900 Exposition Blvd., (213) 763-3466 or nhm.org.
Three’s Company: The California African American Museum has a trio of exhibits this fall. Of Tulips and Shadows: The Visual Metaphors of Dewey Crumpler will feature bold, colorful paintings as well as sculptures, videos and installations by the Bay Area artist. The exhibit opens Oct. 9 and runs through April 26, 2009. Two other exhibits are already open. A Moment in Time: Bingham’s Black Panthers tells the public and private story of the Black Power party through the lens of Life magazine photographer Howard Bingham, who was granted extraordinary access to the group founded by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale in 1966 and active through the 1970s. It continues through April 5, 2009. Black Chrome, which closes April 12, 2009, is an exhibit presented in collaboration with the Automobile Club of Southern California, of photographs and restored and custom motorcycles documenting the influence of African Americans on bike culture - the extent of which might surprise you. For instance, did you know the motorcycles in Easy Rider were designed by an African-American man named Ben Hardy?
California African American Museum, 600 State Drive, (213) 744-7432 or caamuseum.org.
Honoring L.A. Artists: The latest exhibit at the Japanese American National Museum reveals the wide-ranging talent of California artists. 20 Years Ago Today: Supporting Visual Artists in Los Angeles is a retrospective of work by L.A. recipients of the California Community Foundation’s fellowships for visual artists. It opened Oct. 4 and ends Jan. 11, 2009. The Getty Foundation has helped fund the exhibit, which features artwork by more than two dozen artists, including sculpture by Betye Saar (1990) and daughter Lezley Saar (1996), photography by Todd Gray (2005), installation art by Haruko Tanaka (2005) and video work by Bruce and Norman Yonemoto (1995). The show, with its diversity of styles and media, can be seen as a survey of the city’s cultural scene from 1989 to 2007.
Japanese American National Museum, 369 E. First St., (213) 625-0414 or janm.org.
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