5 Design Things to do This Week

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The role of participatory design in Los Angeles, a mid-century modern furniture sale, an epic shadow-puppet play and a documentary about fashion’s true costs. All this week in LA design events, courtesy of DnA.

Paticipatory Design 2
Stickies abound in participatory design. (The original image is no longer available, please contact KCRW if you need access to the original image.)

1.) How Participatory Design is Changing Los Angeles

From your local Park Advisory Boards (PABs) to full scale city infrastructure decisions, city agencies are tapping the public for their ideas to design the built environment.  Join the California Historical Society and panelists for a discussion on the role of participatory design. Presenters and participants will consider how public participation does, could, and should impact current projects in Los Angeles.

When: Tuesday, May 24, 6 pm

Where: Gensler’s Los Angeles Office, 500 South Figueroa Street, Los Angeles, CA 90071

Tickets: General Admission $10 (CHS and LA Conservancy members $5)   More Information and Tickets.  Parking $15 AFTER 5pm in Gensler downstairs lot (valet), $8 LAPL Lot after 4pm, if you have an LAPL library card it is $1.

True-Cost3
The True Cost documentary explores the impact the clothing industry is having on the world. (The original image is no longer available, please contact KCRW if you need access to the original image.)

2.) The True Cost

More than ever, on-trend fashions and the coolest looks can be found at bargain prices.  We might be getting a great deal, but what about the rest of the world? The documentary The True Cost explores what is the real price of getting a deal on our clothing. From the brightest runways to the bleakest slums, The True Cost provides an unprecedented look at the people and places behind our clothes.

When: Tuesday, May 24, 7:30 pm (arrive early to mingle and nibble, 6:30 pm)

Where: Skirball Cultural Center, 2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90049. FREE on-site parking

Tickets: General $10 (members $8, students $6).  Get tickets here.

Feathers of Fire
Feathers of Fire is the largest shadow-puppet play ever performed. (The original image is no longer available, please contact KCRW if you need access to the original image.)

3.) Feathers of Fire: A Persian Epic

Visual artist and 2014 Guggenheim Fellow Hamid Rahmanian has partnered with ShadowLight Productions and Mark Amin to present what they are describing as the largest shadow-puppet play ever performed: “Feathers of Fire: A Persian Epic,” based on the 10th-century classic Persian epic, Shahnameh.  The thousand-year old story is brought to life by over 160 shadow puppets and performers in elaborate, handmade masks and costumes and over 100 digitally animated backgrounds.

When: Friday May 27, 8 pm; Saturday May 28, 3 pm and 8 pm; Sunday May 29, 3 pm

Where:  The Ralph Freud Playhouse, 405 Hilgard Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90095

Tickets: $30-$70. Get tickets here.

671 La Tormenta Returns by Glugio Nicandro, 1998
Gronk is the pseudonym of Chicano painter, printmaker, and performance artist Glugio Nicandro (The original image is no longer available, please contact KCRW if you need access to the original image.)

4.) Gronk’s Theater of Paint, Opening Reception

Legendary artist Gronk will have a solo exhibit in Los Angeles for the first time in over two decades. “Gronk is a seminal Los Angeles artist, long overdue for a museum exhibition in this city. We are thrilled to recognize his work and shine light on his unique contributions to the world of theater and set design, both here in Los Angeles and worldwide,” says CAFAM Executive Director Suzanne Isken. In conceiving Gronk’s Theater of Paint, Gronk envisioned the installation as the theater set for an imaginary opera production based on a book of absurdist, science fiction poetry called Tomorrow You’ll Be One of Us (2013). Written by Gail Wronsky and Chuck Rosenthal, the book contains poems constructed from sci-fi and horror B-movie dialogue and was illustrated by Gronk.

When: Saturday, May 28, 6 – 9 pm.   Show runs through September 4, 2016.

Where: Craft and Folk Art Museum, 5814 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90036

Tickets: $12 (CAFAM members free). More details here.

Downtown Modernica
Photo from 2015 Downtown Modernism (The original image is no longer available, please contact KCRW if you need access to the original image.)

5.) Downtown Modernism

Modernica reprises its biannual sale of mid-century modern furniture, lighting, art, and decor designed by Hans Wegner, Eero Saarinen, Charles and Ray Eames, Harry Bertoia, and many more.  This time around, the event will feature local artist SHAG and a booth full of his original works.

When: Sunday, May 29, 8:00am-2:00pm

Where: Modernica Factory, 2901 Saco Street Los Angeles, CA 90058.  Parking: Free, on site.

Tickets:  Admission Adults $7, Children 12 and under free. Get tickets here.