Your week in design events for DnA.
1. Hello Kitty
To the shock of many, we recently learned that Hello Kitty is not a cat but, that she is, says the company that makes her, Sanrio, “a cartoon character. She is a little girl. She is a friend. But she is not a cat.” Even more surprising, she is British! Curator Christine R. Yano told the LA Times that “Hello Kitty emerged in the 1970s, when the Japanese and Japanese women were into Britain. They loved the idea of Britain. It represented the quintessential idealized childhood.”
An exhibit of Hello Kitty art, products and memorabilia opens this Saturday at the Japanese American National Museum; two weeks later, the Geffen Contemporary at MOCA will hold its first ever Hello Kitty Con.
When: Exhibition opens October 11, 2014 and runs until April 26, 2015; Hello Kitty Con takes place October 30 — November 2
Where: Japanese American National Museum; 100 N Central Ave, Los Angeles
Tickets: $20 for adults; $10 for kids
Click here for more information.
2. Architects on Show: Bryan Cantley and Unfrozen Music
Bryan Cantley, Form:uLA: Dirty Geometries + Mechanical Imperfections
Back in the late 1970s and 80s, some Los Angeles architects created wild, dreamlike, often mechanistic structures — on paper. Then the computer came along and changed form and how it was communicated. Bryan Cantley is a professor and principle of Form:uLA who came of age in that era of “paper architecture,” and now has an exhibition opening at SCI-Arc that challenges the “normative ‘current building practices’” and presents a body of [predominantly] new work that suggests alternative spatial discourse. The space itself is conceptually dissected into a series of graphical surfaces, with the manifestation of the ‘antiobject’ serving as both display [backdrop, organizational maneuver] and spatial delineator [object, anchor].” While you might need a translator for the architectural theory-speak, the drawings and models will doubtless be striking. Cantley will discuss the installation with SCI-Arc director Eric Owen Moss.
When: Exhibition opens October 10, 2014 and runs until November 30, 2014
Where: SCI-Arc Gallery; 60 E 3rd St, Los Angeles
Tickets: Free and open to the public.
Click here for more information.
Unfrozen Music: Architects in Concert
If you ever thought architects could be a little uptight sometimes, see them thaw at this charitable concert taking place for the sixth year; you’ll be astonished at the musical chops of some of L.A.’s smart designers. Architects Newspaper editor Sam Lubell emcees.
When: Saturday October 11, 2014 7:00-9:00 PM
Where: Martin Luther King Jr. Auditorium of Santa Monica Public Library.
Tickets: Free and open to the public.
Click here for more information.
3. The Art of Corita Kent Discussed/Pasadena Art Night
This Friday and Saturday head over to Pasadena for an art walk (Friday) taking in many of Pasadena’s art institutions and a panel discussion (Saturday) hosted by Alissa Walker that will explore the work of the celebrated nun, artist and teacher Sister Mary Corita Kent, who has a forthcoming exhibition on her work at the Pasadena Museum of California Art. This is a prelude to Someday is Now: The Art of Corita Kent—a full-scale survey of Kent’s work opening in June 2015.
In Dialogue at the Pasadena Museum of California Art
When: Saturday October 11, 2014 at 3:00 PM
Where: Pasadena Museum of California Art; 90 E Union St, Pasadena
Tickets: Free with admission to the museum.
Click here for more information.
Pasadena Art Night
When: Friday October 10, 2014 6:00-10:00 PM
Where: Various locations in Pasadena.
Tickets: Free and open to the public.
Click here for more information.
4. Indiecade/Aphrochic
And in Culver City this weekend you’ll find attractions for alternative video gamers and interior designers.
AphroChic began in 2007 when Jeanine Hays and Bryan Mason, above, founded a design firm that would encompass “Modern.Soulful.Style,” and their work will be on display this weekend at Helms Bakery. Meet the designers on Saturday, when they will host a conversation from 2:00 – 3:00pm about “The New Modern: Culture and Design in the 21st Century.”
When: Saturday, October 11 from 11:00am – 5:00pm; and Sunday, October 12. From 11:00am – 3:00pm. Panel discussion Saturday, 2:00 — 3:00pm.
Where: Helms Bakery, 8723 Washington Blvd., Culver City
Tickets: Free and open to the public.
Click here for more information.
Last time DnA was at Indiecade, a little game called Oculus Rift was getting some buzz. That was before it was sold to Facebook for a cool $2 billion. If you love gaming, but the standard shoot-em-up video games don’t do it for you, check out the latest in alternative virtual and physical gaming; it starts this Thursday and runs through the weekend.
When: October 9-12, 2014
Where: Downtown Culver City; Click here for detailed location info.
Tickets: Various prices; Click here for full ticket info.
Click here for more information.
5. New Orleans Under Reconstruction: The Crisis of Planning/MAK Games
New Orleans Under Reconstruction
New Orleans Under Reconstruction: The Crisis of Planning is a newly published book that contains ideas for a better New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Co-edited by Carol McMichael Reese, Michael Sorkin, and Anthony Fontenot, with a foreword by Mike Davis, the book gathers “a selection of projects undertaken by both professionals and architecture students in the United States. . . that “examine the future of New Orleans at all scales – from region to neighborhood to building – and offer proposals that range from practical and immediate to speculative and visionary.”
Come meet some of the editors hear about the book at a reception at the office of LA architect Michael Maltzan this Thursday evening.
When: October 9, 2014; 6:00 PM-8:00 PM
Where: Michael Maltzan Architecture 2801 Hyperion Ave, Studio 107 Los Angeles
Tickets: Free but RSVP to jhorner4@tulane.edu
Click here for more information.
MAK Games 2014
Anyone for tennis? One of the co-presenters of New Orleans Under Reconstruction (above) is the MAK Center For Art and Architecture; on Sunday they will hold a benefit at a pretty spiffy location: the John Lautner-designed Sheats/Goldstein residence in Beverly Hills. Architects Thom Mayne and Peter Zumthor are listed as Honorary Chairs.
When: Sunday October 12; 1:00-6:oo PM
Where: Sheats Goldstein Residence, Beverly Hills (directions will sent when you purchase tickets.)
Tickets: Various prices. Click here for tickets.