This Week @ Farmlab
News + Projects +
Salons + Exhibitions

June 27-July 4, 2007

Farmlab Public Salons
Friday, June 29, 2007 @ Noon
Deena Capparelli and Claude Willey | MOISTURE
Join Deena Capparelli and Claude Willey as they discuss their work on two multi-year projects: 'MOISTURE' and 'Invisible Trajectories: Passing Through the Inland Empire.' ..... full text

Friday, July 6, 2007 @ Noon
Lauren Bon | Bees & Myth
Join Lauren Bon, Farmlab project artist, for a discussion about the recent mass disappearance of bees, and what that means; as well as a look back through history and mythology ..... full text

News + Projects
Last two trees from former South Central Farm site
moved to Huntington
Finishing an unfortunate but necessary job that began last December, Farmlab and ValleyCrest Landscape moved recently the final two trees ..... full text

Farmlab Exhibition Center
How To Make A Junker Garden
Exhibition Runs June 4 - July 6, 2007
Sharing their process for turning a junker car into a garden, Farmlab presents an exhibition and demonstration of ‘How to Make a Junker Garden’. Junker Gardens grow from the ..... full text

Exhibition Extended
Farmlab Team | Garden of Brokenness
Farmlab's Garden of Brokenness celebrates Los Angeles as a broken paradise. The project is proposed for Confluence Park, a location that has been described as one of the ugliest ..... full text

 



 

Photos of Walnut Trees from
South Central Farm Site
En Route to Huntington

Click here for more info. on the move, and on Farmlab's proposed tree monument.







Caption info.:

Early in the morning of Wednesday, June 20, the final two trees were removed by Farmlab from the site of the former South Central Farm.

The California Black Walnut Trees had previously been tenderly dug up by our colleagues with ValleyCrest Tree Company and placed in enormous wooden planters. On Tuesday the 19th, the trees were then loaded onto flatbed trucks hung with oversized load signs. Following ceremonies and a late-night vigil, the trees were then driven from South L.A. to San Marino early in the morning (to avoid tying-up traffic), arriving around 4a.m. at the Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens, where they are being looked-after.

Farmlab Photos by James Goodnight

 



 

Last two trees from former South Central Farm site moved to Huntington

Finishing an unfortunate but necessary job that began last December, Farmlab and ValleyCrest Landscape moved last night and early this morning the final two trees from the site of the former South Central Farm over to the Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Garden.

Farmlab had purchased the 110 trees that hadn’t been bulldozed in July 2006 from the landowner of the former SC Farm site. The various fruit and other trees were boxed and brought for safe-keeping to the Huntington six months ago; the two largest trees – both California Black Walnut Trees – were kept on site and un-boxed for as long as possible. In order to accommodate the oversized truckloads, the trees had to travel the city streets after midnight. Curious onlookers, friends of the former farm, and Farmlab and ValleyCrest team members participated in various ceremonies and vigils marking the two trees’ departure. The trees begin their new lives at the Huntington early Wednesday morning.

More information and photos will follow in this space soon.

Also: Previous press release, from December and a list of trees.

 



 

Farmlab Public Salon
Park(ing) Day
Friday, August 17 @ Noon
Free-of-Charge



Park(ing) Day Los Angeles - Reclaiming Our Streets One Parking Space at a Time


About the Salon
Park(ing) Day Los Angeles is coming up on Friday September 21, 2007.

Come join the August 17, 2007 Farmlab Public Salon and learn about what is Park(ing) Day, and how to get involved.

Based on a successful event started by the ReBAR Group and the Trust for Public Land in San Francisco, on Park(ing) day, local folks reclaim public space by creating temporary parks in parking spaces throughout the city. Caravans of bicyclists deliver sod, potted trees, benches and chairs. Pedestrians stop and relax on their way through the city.

Park(ing) Day creates a dialog about cities, creativity, lack of open space, and how much real estate we give over to our cars. Salon will include showing the ReBAR group’s 16-minute Parking Day documentary.

About the Speakers
TBA

Farmlab Location

Farmlab / Under Spring, 1745 N. Spring Street #4, LA, CA 90012
Across the street from the site of the Not A Cornfield project, in a warehouse colocated at Baker Street and N. Spring Street

Salons are always free-of-charge, all ages welcome.
Refreshments will be served.

 



 

Farmlab Public Salon
Deborah Kaufman & "Thirst"
Discussion & Documentary Film Screening
Friday, August 10 @ Noon
Free-of-Charge



About Deborah Kaufman

Deborah Kaufman, along with Alan Snitow, have produced and directed three films, including their latest, "Thirst." The pair, along with co-author Michael Fox, wrote the related book, "Thirst: Fighting the Corporate Theft of Our Water."

About "Thirst"

From the film's official website:

"Is water part of a shared "commons," a human right for all people? Or is it a commodity to be bought, sold, and traded in a global marketplace? "Thirst" tells the stories of communities in Bolivia, India, and the United States that are asking these fundamental questions.

"Over a billion people lack access to safe drinking water. Each year, millions of children die of diseases caused by unsafe water. The numbers are increasing.

"These facts drive a debate in the opening scenes of “Thirst” at the 2003 Third World Water Forum in Kyoto, Japan. Politicians, international bankers, and corporate executives gather to decide who will control global fresh water supplies. Their consensus for large dams and privatized, corporate water systems is challenged by experts and activists who assert that water is a human right, not a commodity to be traded on the open market.

"Oscar Olivera, a community leader from Bolivia, startles a panel of CEOs with his words, “Many of the companies represented here have stained the water with the blood of our compatriots.” The film briefly shifts to Bolivia where Olivera leads a full-scale insurrection against a water privatization contract with the US-based Bechtel Corporation. Tens of thousands of people battle police and the army to protect their water rights. After a sharpshooter kills 17-year-old Victor Hugo Daza, the government is forced to expel one of the world’s most powerful corporations.

"The central story in “Thirst” takes place in Stockton, California. Mayor Gary Podesto proposes to give control of the water system to a consortium of global water corporations. He is surprised by the reaction as Stockton residents create a new grassroots coalition to demand a say in the decision. They are worried about price hikes, water quality, and layoffs of public employees, who tend to be women or people of color. African American water plant supervisor Michael McDonald sees democracy itself at stake in this battle.

"In India, a grassroots movement for water conservation has rejuvenated rivers, literally changing the desert landscape. Led by Rajendra Singh, who locals call “a modern day Gandhi”, the movement opposes government efforts to sell water sources to companies like Coke and Pepsi. Singh journeys across India to organize resistance, finding millions eager to join his crusade.

"The water activists from Bolivia, Stockton and India all meet at the World Water Forum in Kyoto as part of a new movement against global water privatization. As the Forum reaches it final day, no one anticipates the explosive outcome."

Farmlab Location

Farmlab / Under Spring, 1745 N. Spring Street #4, LA, CA 90012
Across the street from the site of the Not A Cornfield project, in a warehouse colocated at Baker Street and N. Spring Street

Salons are always free-of-charge, all ages welcome.
Refreshments will be served.

 



 

Farmlab Web Site Back Up and Running

Dear Farmlab.org Visitors,

Our apologies! As many of you were kind enough to call or email and point out, the Farmlab.org and the NotACornfield.com websites were not operative on Sunday and Monday.

We believe that the problem has been fixed -- although we've lost a few of the graphics, at least temporarily, from our homepage.

Best wishes, thanks again for bearing with us.

-- Farmlab Team

 



 

Farmlab Public Salon
Leonard Aube
Friday, August 3 @ Noon
Free-of-Charge


Dolphin Tales: Portrait of a Troubled Sea


About the Salon

The San Pedro Channel -- the body of water between the Palos Verdes Peninsula mainland and Santa Catalina Island -- was once home to myriad and plentiful species of fish, sea birds and marine mammals. Today, the health of the Channel and its inhabitants is under continuous pressure from urban development, pollutants and other environmental pressures. But the story is not all 'doom' and 'gloom.'

Come join Leonard Aube at this Farmlab Public Salon and learn how increased public awareness and a renewed commitment to environmental stewardship are turning the tide for this vital aquatic resource.

About the Speaker

Leonard J. Aube is Managing Director of the Annenberg Foundation's Los Angeles office. The Annenberg Foundation, headquartered in St. Davids, Philadelphia, exists to advance the public well-being through improved communication. As the principal means of achieving its goal, the Foundation encourages the development of more effective ways to share ideas and knowledge. In his role as Managing Director, Aube provides leadership and support for the Los Angeles-based professional staff and trustees.

[Farmlab is in an initiative of the Annenberg Foundation.]

Immediately prior to joining the Annenberg Foundation, Aube served for 15-years as the Senior Vice President of Development and Marketing for the California Science Center, one of the largest contemporary science museums in the country. As a member of the senior executive staff, he was instrumental in assisting the organization with the phased implementation of an award-winning Master Plan, representing an investment of approximately $400 million from public and private sources.

Prior to joining the Science Center, Leonard held numerous management positions with Marineland of the Pacific, formerly located in Rancho Palos Verdes, CA. An avid SCUBA diver since age 17, boater, photographer, and writer, Aube's articles and photographs of whales and dolphins have appeared in national and international publications including the National Geographic book, "Dolphins", Sea Frontiers, BBC Wildlife, Westways and Reader's Digest books. Several of his images have been reproduced as lithographic prints as well as hang in public institutions such as the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

Aube resides with his wife, Robin, his daughter, Kaitlann, and son, Kyle, in Rolling Hills Estates.

Farmlab Location

Farmlab / Under Spring, 1745 N. Spring Street #4, LA, CA 90012
Across the street from the site of the Not A Cornfield project, in a warehouse colocated at Baker Street and N. Spring Street

Salons are always free-of-charge, all ages welcome.
Refreshments will be served.



Photo copyright Leonard Aube

 



 

Agbins on Skid Row
Information and Schedule
Saturday, June 16, 2007


[click map to enlarge]


Farmlab is committed to the preservation and perpetuity of living things.

Agbins on Skid Row brings a communal garden to the homeless community. Farmlab has produced a fleet of thirty bins seeded with vegetables and flowers. Several Skid Row hosts have been selected to foster and care for a bin during the summer months. This trial project aims to bring the joy of growing food to displaced people. Modeled on community gardens, our hope is that these agbins become like a single garden, in several locations, within this defined community.

Farmlab wishes to offer many thanks, in advance and in no particular order, the following participating organizations:

  • The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens -- for donating 2,000 oranges;

  • Urban Farming -- for donating seeds;

  • Each of the eight Skid Row agencies (see map for names) directly involved in the project -- for everything.

  • Ramon Gonzales

  • The Learning Garden, Venice High School

  • Cocoxochtl Flower Farm NHHS

  • LAUSD Nutrition Network

  • To learn about the delivery route, and to see which agencies are participating, please click the map above or below; the map will then enlarge for clearer viewing.

     



     

    This Week @ Farmlab
    May 30-June 5, 2007


    Farmlab Public Salons
    Friday, June 8, 2007 @ Noon
    SIMPARCH | Hydromancy, Gloom & Doom, and Dirty Water Initiative
    Join Steve Badgett and Matt Lynch of the art collective, SIMPARCH, along with their sometime collaborator Steve Rowell, as the trio discuss recent exhibits including ..... full text (coming soon)

    Friday, June 15, 2007 @ Noon
    Shannon Spanhake | Tangible Hacks of the Physical World
    Join artist Shannon Spanhake - renowned for her public interventions and media installations - as she sets out to provide answers to the following enigmatic questions ..... full text (coming soon)

    News + Projects
    Armory Center for the Arts June 16th, 6-11pm
    American Symposium | Organized by Spencer Douglass and Matt Wardell
    Join Farmlab June 16th at the Armory Center for the Arts in Pasadena for an evening of lectures, performance, music and video, including a reading room of artists' books and publications ..... full text (coming soon)

    Recent Photographs
    From Farmlab and Under Spring
    See new shots of salon speakers, exhibition opening receptions, experiments in agriculture, blackboard art, and whatever else catches the eyes of our photo editors.... full text (coming soon)

    Farmlab Exhibition Center
    Exhibition Extended
    Farmlab Team | Garden of Brokenness
    Farmlab's Garden of Brokenness celebrates Los Angeles as a broken paradise. The project is proposed for Confluence Park, a location that has been described as one of the ugliest ..... full text (coming soon)

     



     

    L.A. Mayor Urges Water Use Cuts;
    What Farmlab is Doing

    Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa held a press conference this week where, citing the lack of rainfall in the city, he urged Angelinos to reduce their water consumption by 10%.

    Here's the first three paragraphs from the Associated Press story:

    The city's nearly 4 million residents were urged Wednesday to cut their water use by 10 percent as the West's lengthening dry spell raises concerns about future supplies.

    Record-low rainfall, a potentially hot summer and a disappointing snowpack in the Eastern Sierra, where the nation's second-largest city gets much of its water, could lead to future severe drought conditions, said Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa

    "Los Angeles needs to change course and conserve water to steer clear of this perfect storm," Villaraigosa said. "The combination of record-low rainfall, the second-lowest snowpack ever recorded and a potentially very hot summer is a perfect storm that could put Los Angeles into a drought."




    Farmlab is located in the historic core and geographic center of Los Angeles. City Hall -- here, lit in azure about 18 months ago by our team during the Not A Cornfield project's Blue Phase -- is visible from the side street that services our warehouse headquarters.

    What then, are we doing to conserve?

    We've installed low-flow toilets; we've set up catch basins -- admittedly, of little use when only a couple of inches of rain have fallen during the past year; and most significantly, the agbin planters that pepper the grounds Under Spring, filled with vegetables, fruits, flowers, and succulents, are expertly watered by Gerardo Vaquero Rosas, an agriculturalist and Farmlab Artist-In-Resident. Rosas takes care not to waste water, nor over-water.

    That said, what do we still need to do to further conserve, and not waste water?

    After reading the Mayor's remarks, we did a quick check of the half-dozen or so faucets in and around our facilities. Two are leaking slightly. Fixing a leak, according to the Mayor -- although presumably a more major one -- could save as much as twenty gallons of water daily.



    Readers of this blog -- please feel free to pass along via comment, phone call, or in-person, any other suggestions for how to better conserve H20, either at our warehouse, or in all of our lives in general.

    UPDATE: Farmlab Team member Jaime Lopez Wolters adds this information on August 1: "The water going down the sink in our indoor nursery is captured and reused to water the plants. The grey water going down one of the kitchen sinks is aptured in an agbin growing hops and other vegetables."

     



     

    New image from Farmlab


    For your blog-viewing pleasure, above is a photo of a woodcut print by Farmlab Team member Rich Neilsen.

    Stop by Farmlab to see the image printed out on handcrafted corn pulp paper -- the pulp was culled from crop left over from the Not A Cornfield project harvest.

    Paper-making and print-making are just a few of the various, and varied, activities that occur in the Farmlab workshop.*

    *Update: In fact, right now, this blog hears the shrill whine of a powersaw....

     



     

    Farmlab Part of American Symposium
    At Armory in Pasadena



    The Farmlab team will be participating in the upcoming American Symposium, to be held Saturday, June 16 @ 6-11pm, at the Armory Center for the Arts, in Pasadena.

    Organized by Spencer Douglas and Matt Wardell, the event, according to the postcard annoucning it, is intended as "an evening of lectures, performance, music and video, including a reading room of artists' books and publications."

    What follows below is a much more thorough description, as sent along by Wardell. Read it closely to discern what Farmlab's work that evening will be....

    Join us June 16th at the Armory Center for the Arts in Pasadena for an evening of lectures, performance, music and video, including a reading room of artists' books and publications. With an emphasis on duration, 'American Symposium' aims to unite some of the fractured elements of LA's diverse cultural production.

    Organized by Spencer Douglass and Matt Wardell.

    Come early and stay late.

    ****

    American Symposium
    June 16th, 6-11pm

    Armory Center for the Arts
    145 N. Raymond Ave.
    Pasadena, CA 91103

    *****

    2nd Cannons Publications
    Bedwetter
    Jason Brown
    Elk
    Falcon Eddy
    Farmlab
    Aaron Garber-Maikovska
    Roger Herman
    Gustavo Herrera
    Malisa Humphrey
    Ryan Lamb
    Julie Lequin
    Candice Lin
    Anna Oxygen
    Lawrence Pearce
    William Roper with Christina Linhardt
    Ben Shaffer
    Jim Skuldt
    The Speculative Archive/ Julia Meltzer and David Thorne
    Robert Summers
    Catherine Taft
    Wounded Lion

    ****

    Performances will include Julie Lequin performing her submission for This American Life, Ben Shaffer's attempt to heal something yet to be determined with transcendental meditation specialist John Briganti, and eight minutes of gestural sampling with Aaron Garber-Maikovska.

    Lectures will include Catherine Taft on the early video work of Skip Arnold, a sampling of Jason Brown's epic inter-disciplinary lectures, and Robert Summers will present a paper bridging the space between Jason Rhoades and erectile dysfunction.

    Music will include Anna Oxygen leading the audience through aerobic stretching and meta-physical didactics with synth pop beats, William Roper will present a work with soprano Christina Linhardt that was recently written in residency at the Oberpfälzer Künstlerhaus in Bavaria, the folk pop curiosity Falcon Eddy, and the tribal power pop of Wounded Lion.

    Following a day of siting their new mobile garden project in Downtown LA, Lauren Bon's post-Not A Cornfield project, Farmlab will conduct their weekly team meeting in the Armory’s studio; allowing insight into metabolic sculpture, sustainable urban farming, and the workings of a large-scale collaborative project.

    The video program will include work from Candice Lin, Malisa Humphrey, Ryan Lamb, Jim Skuldt, and The Speculative Archive’s ‘May You Choke on a Peanut’, which features an improvised curse delivered by Syrian performer Rami Farah.

    A reading room will include artists’ books from Gustavo Herrera, artist's publications from Brian Kennon’s '2nd Cannons Publications', Christopher Russell's 'Bedwetter', Jocko Weyland's 'Elk', and classics of Modern literature with hand-painted covers by Lawrence Pearce.

    Roger Herman provides eye candy that functions as good as television, or better.

    Come early and stay late.

     



     

    This Week @ Farmlab
    News + Projects +
    Salons + Exhibitions

    May 30-June 5, 2007

    Opening and Demonstration
    How To Make A Junker Garden
    Exhibition Opening and Demonstration: Saturday June 2, Noon – 3.30pm
    Sharing their process for turning a junker car into a garden Farmlab presents an exhibition and demonstration of ‘How to Make a Junker Garden’. Junker Gardens grow from the ..... full text

    News
    Three Farmlab Internships Available
    Topics: Public Programs; Research; Communications
    Farmlab has a trio of internship positions open for interested students. Two positions are slotted for both July and August; the third is ongoing. Read more and learn how to apply.... full text

    Farmlab Public Salons
    Friday, June 1, 2007 @ Noon
    Joe Linton | Down By The Los Angeles River
    Joe Linton will speak on the past, present and future of the Los Angeles River. Though Los Angeles was founded on our River, by the 1980's, the once scenic natural .... full text

    Friday, June 8, 2007 @ Noon
    SIMPARCH | Hydromancy, Gloom & Doom, and Dirty Water Initiative
    Join Steve Badgett and Matt Lynch of the art collective, SIMPARCH, along with their sometime collaborator Steve Rowell, as the trio discuss recent exhibits including ..... full text

    Farmlab Exhibition Center
    *EXHIBITION EXTENDED*
    Farmlab Team | Garden of Brokenness
    Farmlab's Garden of Brokenness celebrates Los Angeles as a broken paradise. The project is proposed for Confluence Park, a location that has been described as one of the ugliest ..... full text

     



     

    Farmlab Public Salon
    Lauren Bon
    Friday, July 6 @ Noon
    Free-of-Charge


    Bees & Myths

    About the Salon
    Lauren Bon discusses her new cycle of works focusing on Bees and Meat, and based on the Greek myth of Aristeaus.

    Related Reading
    Here's one of the many current news stories about the recent disappearance of bees in California, and beyond.

    About Lauren Bon
    Artist and Annenberg Foundation Trustee Lauren Bon has produced large-scale art works in challenging sites around the world for over twenty years. Her current work, Farmlab, is an initiative of and collaboration with the Annenberg Foundation. Farmlab, located in a warehouse in downtown Los Angeles, is a "social sculpture," a human-scale, interactive, interdisciplinary, research- and presentation-based art object, the mission of which is to investigate ways and means to support people and living things. Farmlab's collaboratively-developed projects are studies into the nature of public space; they operate at the intersection of urban ecology, civic engagement, contemporary visual art, and proactive philanthropy. Founded and led by Ms. Bon in 2006, Farmlab emerged from Not A Cornfield, a metabolic sculpture that dramatically transformed 32 acres of brown field just north of downtown Los Angeles to a green field over a single agricultural cycle.

    Bon's art projects and her role as an Annenberg trustee make her uniquely poised to build the capacity of the Foundation in site-based philanthropy and to make historic contributions to the field of contemporary art. Bon resides in Los Angeles and holds a Masters of Architecture degree from MIT and a BA from Princeton.


    Farmlab Location
    Farmlab / Under Spring, 1745 N. Spring Street #4, LA, CA 90012
    Across the street from the site of the Not A Cornfield project, in a warehouse colocated at Baker Street and N. Spring Street

    Salons are always free-of-charge, all ages welcome.
    Refreshments will be served.

     



     

    Farmlab Public Salon
    Claude Willey and Deena Capparelli
    Friday, June 29 @ Noon
    Free-of-Charge



    "Native Plants and Dusty Paths: Experiments in the Inland Empire
    (2002-2007)"


    About the Salon
    Join Deena Capparelli and Claude Willey as theyl discuss their work on two multi-year projects: 'MOISTURE' and 'Invisible Trajectories: Passing Through the Inland Empire.' The MOISTURE project is an on-going experiment (since 2002) taking shape on a 15-acre site in Mojave Desert. Involving native plant re-introduction, remote sensing technology, DriWater, and water-diversion strategies, the project has been funded by the LEF Foundation and The Beall Center for Art and Technology with generous assistance from the Center for Land Use Interpretation and the Rain Bird Corporation. Invisible Trajectories, a project partially funded by the California Council for the Humanities and recently featured as an exhibit at the Wignall Museum in Rancho Cucamonga, is a layered tale about the hidden paths, access dilemmas, and personal accounts of mobility within the Inland Empire. More info here
    and here.

    About The Speakers
    Claude Willey is an artist, urbanist, and educator, teaching in the Urban Studies and Planning Department at California State University, Northridge and at Art Center College of Design. Willey’s activities have merged ecology, renewable-energy technologies, and urban transportation history. He defines himself as a professional bicycle commuter, clocking 230 miles per week on the roads of L.A. County.

    Deena Capparelli, an artist and educator, has taught full-time at Pasadena City College for 18 years, initiating numerous multi-disciplinary programs involving art, design, and science. Her interests range from sculptural installation to ecological/native plant design.