Metabolic Studio Public Salon
Luis Ituarte
Friday, July 30, 2010 @ Noon
Free Admission


The Transformation of Tijuana Through the Arts
How artists and independent art centers are making a difference
The role of Southern California
Consequences in the rest of Mexico

A founding member of Canada’s Artists at City Hall and the street art coalition Alley Art, artist, designer and curator Luis Ituarte has been Director of Cultural Activities for The Olvera Street Merchants Association; art teacher at Plaza de la Raza, and The Junior Arts Center in Hollywood; Programs Coordinator and curator at the Lankershim Art Center and Director of Art in the Park with the City of Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department (LACAD).

In addition to being a founding member of the Graffiti Arts Coalition and Urbanos L.A., he is a member of Tijuana Cultural Think Tank El Foro Cultural Ciudadano (FOCUC) and a member of San Diego-based arts organization Public Address. Now retired from LACAD, he consults with organizations on both sides of the border, Luis serves as President of COFAC Mexico and Co-founder/Director of Tijuana’s La Casa del Tunel Art Center.

 



 

Metabolic Studio Public Salon
Rick Miller
Friday, July 23, 2010 @ Noon
Free Admission


The LA Forum for Architecture and Urban Design: A Metabolic Pecha Kucha

The pecha kucha format (20 seconds per slide X 20 slides per presentation) tends toward a rapid-fire staccato of diverse ideas, interests, and projects. In our Metabolic Studio salon, we plan to retain the volume of new thoughts and concepts thrown before us, but to slow the pace at which they are digested by providing greater time and space in which audience and presenters can discuss the material. We are effectively blurring the line between presenter and audience as presenters are drawn from the long-standing audience of Metabolic salon attendees.

Rick Miller is a cultural geographer researching urban landscapes, both abroad, in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia as well as locally in Los Angeles. The LA Forum for Architecture and Urban Design has been operating pecha kucha events in LA since 2004.

 



 

Metabolic Studio Public Salon
Frances Dinkelspiel
Friday, July 16, 2010 @ Noon
Free Admission

Towers of Gold: How One Jewish Immigrant Named Isaias Hellman Created California

When Isaias Hellman arrived in Los Angeles in 1859, it was more Mexican pueblo than American city. Hellman started as a dry goods clerk and rose to become Los Angeles's most successful banker and businessman. He lent Harrison Gray Otis the funds to gain control of the Los Angeles Times, Edward Doheny the money to find oil, and Henry Huntington the backing to build the region's extensive trolley service. Hellman donated the land for the founding of USC and controlled the city's private water company until 1901. By the first decade of the 2oth century he was president of Wells Fargo Bank and controlled more than $100 million in capital. Come hear the story of the man who indelibly shaped Los Angeles.

Frances Dinkelspiel is an award winning journalist who writes frequently for the New York Times. The Los Angeles Times called her bestselling book, Towers of Gold: How One Jewish Immigrant Named Isaias Hellman, "impressively researched and engagingly told."

Image: Isaias Hellman, courtesy of Frances Dinkelspiel

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Metabolic Studio Public Salon
Michael Wilken
Friday, July 9, 2010 @ Noon
Free Admission


Native Peoples of Baja California and the Creation of New Spaces for Cultural Revitalization

Baja California, Mexico is a land of remote and rugged coasts, mountains, and deserts only a few hours from downtown Los Angeles. For thousands of years, native peoples have made their homes in the peninsula’s unique landscapes; hunting, gathering and fishing in annual cycles of movement. Through knowledge of the natural world passed on over generations, they have learned to interact with local plants, animals and natural habitats in ways that have provided them with food, medicine, tools and shelter. They have developed technologies for the production of basketry, pottery, bows and arrows, cordage and carrying nets, stone tools and housing.

Today, Baja California’s artisans and environmental specialists are finding new value in the expertise inherited from previous generations, as they are invited to teach their skills at US reservations, museums, state parks and universities. Traditional arts, originally made for use in daily life, have evolved into valuable art objects and prized trade items that embody the region’s indigenous culture and history. This multi-media presentation uses photographs, music and lively narrative to show how Native Baja Californians are creating new spaces for the revitalization of the original cultures and languages of this land. Learn about how Mexican and US volunteers are collaborating in the creation of the Tecate Community Museum, an innovative new space for indigenous culture.

Michael Wilken is an anthropologist specializing in indigenous peoples and the native environments of Baja California. He has documented traditional lifeways of the Kumiai and Paipai peoples, and has developed lifelong collaborative relationships with many indigenous artists and cultural authorities, helping to promote sustainable livelihoods and cultural revitalization. His writings have been published in both academic journals and popular magazines such as News from Native California. Wilken lectures in American Indian Studies at San Diego State University where he is also a student in the Masters program in Anthropology. He is currently collaborating with the non-profit organizations Corredor Histórico CAREM and Fundación La Puerta to create the Tecate Kumiai Museum, set to open in fall of 2010.

Image courtesy Michael Wilken

 



 

Metabolic Studio Public Salon
Robby Herbst & Katie Bachler
Friday, July 2, 2010 @ Noon
Free Admission

A Map For An Other LA: Post-Politics or Otherwise

This past winter the Llano Del Rio Collective released it’s first Guide, “A Map For An Other LA”. This guide highlights projects within Los Angeles that act as if they constitute an other possible city; one whose ethics are based on sharing, cooperation, creativity, land economic and food justice. Post-politics by some is described as the progression from party based, policy driven, activity towards action based autonomous action. This Salon will explore Llano Del Rio Collective map and the ideas which inspired the project, as well as the remaining questions concerning autonomy within public space.

Robby Herbst is an agent of the Llano Del Rio Group who recently produced A Map For An Other LA. This is the first guide published by the Llano Del Rio Group in what will be a series of provisional publications aiming to instigate the expansion of the social and political imaginations of Los Angeles. The next Llano Del Rio Guide will look at attempts by individuals to intervene in the functioning of the city through the creation of temporary or permanent “scores”. He is a recipient of a Warhol Foundation Artist Writers Grant. Currently his artwork can be seen in the Berlin at the NGBK in a group show, titled in German, Theater of Peace. He is an adjunct professor of New Genres Art at USC and a faculty member in Goddard College’s MFA in Interdisciplinary Art.

Katie Bachler drew the Map For An Other LA. She is an educator focused on the intricacies of nature and possibilities of alternative economies in Los Angeles. She recently co-curated a beet-in (celebration of the beet) at her studio space in Highland Park. She makes gardens, dances with Bodycity, and just received her Masters from USC's Art in the Public Sphere program.

Visit the Llano Del Rio website
Image: Another LA Map, courtesy Llano Del Rio Collective