This week, you can: go to a car show; watch a doc about the ’90s hip hop scene; tour some modernist remodels; experience POPaganda; and learn from some very famous failures.
1) LA Auto Show
It’s that time of year again: the 110th LA Auto Show starts Friday with over 870,000 square feet of the newest models, the shiniest paint, the latest technology, concepts for the future and customs and exotics like you’ve never seen. Wear your walking shoes and bring your driving gloves. There are over 1,000 cars to see that you can test-drive and even buy! You can listen to last year’s coverage of the LA Auto Show on DnA here.
When: Opens Friday Dec. 1 and runs through Sunday Dec. 10. You can see complete show hours here.
Where: Los Angeles Convention Center, 1201 S Figueroa St, Los Angeles, CA 90015. Take the Metro Blue or Expo Line to the Pico Station, directly across from the Los Angeles Convention Center. To find the most convenient route for you, use the Metro Trip Planner
Tickets: General Admission from $12. You can get tickets here. Please review the event’s No Bag Policy here.
To help get ready for the Auto Show, check out this engaging discussion at AutoMobility LA: “Design’s Power to Shape the Future”, about how autonomous vehicles might shape the future. Beyond the practical considerations of features, safety and technology, this panel of visionary thinkers and designers moderated by DnA’s Frances Anderton, begins to examine what else our cars will do and how might a smart car interface with a smart city. Confirmed speakers include: Riccardo Giraldi, Principal Creative Director, Microsof NEXT Incubation; Mike Milley, Director, Foresight + Innovation, Designworks, A BMW Group Company; and Seleta Reynolds, General Manager, City of Los Angeles Department of Transporation. Wednesday, Nov. 29, 3:50 – 4:20 pm. AutoMobility LA Main Stage in the Technology Pavilion / LA Convention Center.
2) L.A. Documentaries at Union Station #3 | “This is the Life”
The third and final film in this series celebrating our city’s stories as told through film, This is the Life, a 2008 Ava DuVernay documentary, chronicles the alternative hip hop movement that flourished in 1990s Los Angeles and its legendary center, the Good Life Cafe. Open between 1989 and 1999, and located at the intersection of Crenshaw and Exposition Blvds, the Good Life Cafe became the epicenter for aspiring MCs, poets and musicians to hone their craft. Presented by Metro Arts Los Angeles.
When: Friday, Dec. 1, 8 – 10 pm (doors open at 7:15)
Where: Union Station, 800 N Alameda St, Los Angeles, CA 90012
Tickets: Free
3) MAK Architecture Tour 2017
What’s old is new — and remarkably modern — again. The MAK Center for Art and Architecture, the Los Angeles-based non-profit headquartered in the birthplace of Southern California modernism — architect R.M. Schindler’s landmark West Hollywood home — continues their tradition of annual architecture tours by highlighting three houses designed by Schindler to promote and redefine modern, affordable living in 1940s Los Angeles.
Five years before there were any Case Study Houses, Schindler, in collaboration with his draftsman E. Richard Lind, set out to develop a series of three small houses: flexible in both their open floor plans and easy indoor-outdoor circulation, designed to meet the universal needs of single-family housing.
This Saturday, join MAK in celebrating the restoration and renovation of these three historically significant houses previously unavailable to the public. The MAK Center and our generous homeowners invite you to a champagne reception and unique retail experience, created by the design collective Extended Family Projects.
When: Saturday, Dec. 2, 3 – 7 pm*
Where: Inglewood*
Tickets: GA $45. You can get tickets here.
*ticket holders will be assigned an approximately 1 hour itinerary between 3 and 7 pm.
4) TOYBOX: America in the Visuals
Ron English’s pop surrealism has been seen from the street to your television to world-class museums, and everything in between. His vibrant use of color and comic book mashups of both high and low culture earned him the self-coined title of POPagandist.
The exhibition “TOYBOX: America in the Visuals” features 36 ambitious and imaginative oil paintings, sculptures and installations demonstrating English’s playful yet biting look at society.
English has also co-produced a musical soundtrack to be performed by new character DJ Popaganda, painted an outdoor mural for the show and created a pop-up store selling limited-edition toys.
When: Opens Saturday, Dec. 2, 7 – 11 pm. Show runs through Jan 6, 2018.
Where: Corey Helford Gallery, 571 S Anderson St #1, Los Angeles, CA 90033
Tickets: Free
5) Museum of Failure
For every successful Fidget Spinner or Oreo Cookie ice cream, there are thousands of inventions that flop, some spectacularly. The Museum of Failure has decided not to let these blunders fade quietly into obscurity, but rather to highlight them to underscore the important role failure plays in successful innovation. Opened in June 2017 in Helsingborg, Sweden, a pop-up version of the museum is on international tour and comes to Los Angeles beginning Saturday.
The growing collection consists of over seventy failed products and services from around the world, each providing insight into the risky business of innovation. Some examples include: Apple Newton, Bic for Her, Google Glass, N-Gage, lobotomy instruments, Harley-Davidson Cologne, Kodak DC-40, Sony Betamax, Lego Fiber Optics, and Colgate Lasagna.
When: Opens Saturday, Dec. 2. Runs through Feb. 5, 2018
Where: A+D Architecture and Design Museum, 900 E 4th St., Los Angeles, 90013
Tickets: Tickets are $15. You can get tickets here.