A 40th birthday party for the Triforium, a show and an auction of cool design objects, a drone convention and a tour of The Flats as seen through the lens of Jane Jacobs and the Lady of Guadalupe. Your week in design events from DnA.
1) Austere: Site Specific LA
Some of LA’s most delightful artist/designer/craftspeople will show their latest products and furniture in a show curated by online magazine Sight Unseen at Austere in downtown LA. AQQ Design, B.Zippy, Ben Medansky, Brendan Ravenhill and Tanya Aguiniga (all interviewed on DnA) join Eric Trine, Jonathan Zawada, Michael Felix, Only Love is Real, Ouli and Waka Waka in the historic district’s showhouse for Scandinavian design.
When: Through February 14, 2016; Tuesday – Saturday: 11AM – 7PM, Sunday: 11AM to 5PM
Where: Austere, 912 South Hill Street, Los Angeles
Tickets: Free and open to the public.
2) 70s Revival! The Triforium Birthday Party and Killer of Sheep
Killer of Sheep
Downtown LA’s gorgeous, historic Union Station has been hosting more and more free arts and cultural programs. Metro’s fall film series in collaboration with Echo Park Film Center wraps up this week with “Killer of Sheep,” director Charles Burnett’s 1978 masterpiece. The film tells the story of Stan, a sensitive dreamer who works in drudgery at a slaughterhouse. The bleak setting – an impoverished Watts in the mid-1970s – reflects the dismal nature of his life. Burnett will offer a rare introduction at this screening.
When: Wednesday, Dec. 9 from 7:30-9:30 pm
Where: Union Station’s Fred Harvey Room, 800 N. Alameda St, Los Angeles CA 90012
Tickets: Free and open to the public. Show Metro TAP card at check-in for preferential seating. Guests are welcome to bring food and drink, but no alcohol is permitted. Click here for more information:
The Triforium Birthday Party
If you’ve ever found yourself at the intersection of Temple and Main Streets in downtown LA, you might have noticed a giant, multi-colored, public sculpture called the Triforium, above, created by artist Joseph Young for the Los Angeles Mall Civic Center complex in 1975. Young said he built it as a tribute to LA’s unfinished, kaleidoscopic nature — fitting because the Triforium is itself an unrealized dream, a kinetic sculpture that would have used motion sensors to detect and translate the motions of passersby into patterns of colorful lights and music.
A group of young history nerds believes the Triforium deserves more attention, and is throwing a big 40th birthday party. On Friday, Dec. 11, there’ll be speakers, roving history tours of the Triforium’s usually off-limits control room by Tom Carroll of Tom Explores Los Angeles, dublab DJs, food trucks and a big birthday cake from Charm City Cakes. The event will kick off a fund-raising campaign to restore and repair the Triforium as well as install new interactive elements that would have been unimaginable back in 1975.
When: Friday, Dec. 11 from 4-9 pm
Where: Corner of Temple St and Main St, Los Angeles, CA
Tickets: Free and open to the public.
3) Billings’ Winter Modern Art and Design Auction
The art auction is by nature both open (usually anyone can attend and the drama of sales day can be very entertaining) and exclusive, as blue chip auction houses aim at the high rollers. So Billings’ Modern Art and Design Auction has entered the space vacated by LAMA, offering lower-end collectors a chance to get their hands on contemporary, modernist and postmodern design. This is their second outing following their fall launch; offerings include a Peter Shire cabinet (estimated at $5,000-7,000), a Tejo Remy “Rag” chair ($5,000-7,000), a Mario Botta “Shogun” table lamp ($700-900) and a Bill Sanders Bar Cart, circa 1964, made of maple and walnut with bicycle wheels ($900-1,200).
When: Saturday, Dec. 12th from noon-6 pm; Preview and reception, Friday, December 11 from 6pm–9pm
Where: 1919 Bay Street, Los Angeles, CA 90021
Tickets: Free and open to the public.
4) International Drone Expo 2015
If you are not getting a Hoverboard in your stocking this holiday season you might be getting a drone. They are expected to be high on holiday lists this year. But what are the rules that govern their use? What’s the latest technology. Those questions can be answered at the International Drone Expo 2015 taking place this weekend at the Los Angeles Convention Center Dec. 11 and 12. Industry followers can attend such cosy events as a “Fireside Chat “A State Of The Drone Union” and panels on drone usage in journalism, film-making, firefighting and much more.
When: Friday, December 11, 10 – 5:00PM; Saturday, Dec. 12th, 9:00 – 4:00PM
Where: Los Angeles Convention Center
Tickets: Register for tickets here
5) Lady Of Guadalupe and Jane Jacob’s tour of The Flats!
James Rojas is one of the leading proponents of “Latino Urbanism” and has a following for his community based, hands-on, urban design workshops utilizing colorful building blocks.
This Saturday he’ll lead a walking tour of the Pico Aliso neighborhood in East LA, on the feast day of our Lady of Guadalupe. In addition to taking a look at the shrines created by community members, “we will take a critical examination of the organic build environment of historic flats compared to the government inspired environment of the public housing projects.” Why has Rojas combined the Lady of Guadalupe and famed urban activist and critic Jane Jacobs? He says, “These two woman have had a big impact on my life and what better way to celebrate their work and influences than by a walking tour of the Pico Aliso, or better known as the Flats, and adjacent areas to kick off the holiday season.”
When: Saturday, December 12, 2015; 10:00 AM
Where: Meet at Mariachi Plaza at 10 am. We will walk to Pico Aliso and then take the Gold line to El Mercado
Tickets: Free and open to the public.