Art Los Angeles Contemporary (ALAC) is on again, running at Santa Monica’s Barker Hangar from January 26 to 29.
Set at the Santa Monica Airport — a centre for private air travel — the event is curated by writer and curator Marc LeBlanc and dedicated to what he calls “the present within the prismatic reverberations of the past.” With that, the programming, which includes performance, sound work, screenings and talks, will follow the theme of ‘ANYTHING YOU SOW’ and reinforces the notion of Los Angeles as “a city whose newness is contingent upon a continual retelling of the past.”
This includes a performance of new sound work by LA-based composer William Basinski with musician and producer M. Geddes Gengras, using old and ‘obsolete’ technologies, as well as an opening night performance by Huang Rui. The Beijing-based artist references the legacy of Chinese-American cultural and diplomatic relations via the ping pong trope.
The ALAC fair will feature over 60 local and international exhibitors, including the LA’s China Art Objects, San Francisco’s Alter Space, Bucharest’s Nicodim Gallery, Yautepec from Mexico City and many more. There will also be an exciting events programme running through the four days, from Thursday to Sunday, including ongoing marathon performances throughout the weekend by Puppies Puppies, care of Queer Thoughts, where the artist will wear readymade mascot costumes in an effort to expose “the jarring strangeness of perceiving the everyday from a radically different perspective.”
There is an on-site installation by local artists Rafa Esparza and Timo Fahler, hosted by Club Pro LA, and a conversation with Roger Corman and Mary Woronov led by Ian Birnie and presented by film screening collective VEGGIECLOUD.
The Reader Lounge this year will host Daata Editions and the third issue of the free Art Los Angeles Reader will be released for print with a new limited-edition fragrance made purely of synthetic compounds by Sean Raspet called ‘POOL.’ That, along with older issues of the publication, will be made available online at reader.la, along with its interviews, work and writing by the likes of Aria Dean, Samara Golden and Tracy Jeanne Rosenthal.
See below for recommended ALAC events and booths:
Thursday, January 26
– Puppies Puppies: Red Carpet performance @ Barker Hangar, ALAC Main Entrance, 7pm
– Huang Rui: Ping Pong performance @ ALAC Theatre, Barker Hangar, 7:30pm
Friday, January 27
– Away From The Studio: Kaari Upson & David Horvitz @ ALAC Theatre, Barker Hangar, 5pm
Saturday, January 28
– Jasmine Nyende: Lost Angles performance @ ALAC Theatre, Barker Hangar, 4pm
– William Basinski and M. Geddes Gengras performance @ ALAC Theatre, Barker Hangar, 5pm
Sunday, January 29
– For All, By All w Jamillah James, Keith J. Varadi &c @ ALAC Theatre, Barker Hangar, 12:30pm
Recommended booths:
Alter Space (San Francisco)
Cherry and Martin (Los Angeles)
China Art Objects Galleries (Los Angeles)
Club Pro (Los Angeles)
Anat Ebgi (Los Angeles)
Ever Gold Projects (San Francisco)
fiebach, minninger (Cologne)
Honor Fraser (Los Angeles)
Ghebaly Gallery (Los Angeles)
The Hole (New York)
Ibid Gallery (London / Los Angeles)
Jenny’s (Los Angeles)
Josh Lilley (London)
Martos Gallery (Los Angeles)
Nicodim Gallery (Los Angeles / Bucharest)
Night Gallery (Los Angeles)
Parisian Laundry (Montreal)
Park View (Los Angeles)
Peres Projects (Berlin)
Queer Thoughts (New York)
STANDARD (OSLO) (Oslo)
STARKWHITE (Auckland)
Steve Turner (Los Angeles)
VALENTIN (Paris)
Yautepec (Mexico City)**
