L.A. ART WEEKEND

A ridiculous amount of things are happening in Los Angeles this weekend (so many that I’m afraid I won’t be able to return to Mashti Malone’s for more faludeh & rose saffron ice cream).

In addition to ongoing POSTOPOLISMO, tweeted here , there is a wealth of For Your Art’s LA Art Weekend events. Like Lucky Dragons performing at LACE’s Resonant Forms festival!

plus a handful of art openings such as

Gallery Glue Paper Scissors

and this one

[Carolyn Castaño, Pablo and Virginia]

“These new works depict portraits of the amorous adventures of Latin American guerrillas, drug lords, presidential candidates and beauty queens.”

75% CUMBIA

cumbia is the spice

Apparently at the end of the DUNE series the protagonist (Leo Atreides II) has inhaled so much spice that he’s no longer human or even a mytho-dynast, but has transformed into a huge sandworm (presumably with telepathic powers). The worms are spice, spice is the worm. Dune is a crazy book, I could barely finish it, much less move on to the 5 or 6 other ones.

Point is, if cumbia is the spice i feel i may be approaching sandworm status — a long round in Tepito ‘barrio bravo’ in Mexico City followed by a few pre-Postopolis days in downtown Los Angeles in the shops here. The twin poles of best contemporary cumbia production, in other words…. I’ve been traveling for the last three or four weeks, and look fwd to return home, sit down, and properly listen… Also picked up some great promising books in D.F., but that’s another post.

Last night’s radio show is about 75% cumbia, 10% tribal guarachero, 15% unreleased material from friends…

Here are 3 breakout cumbia tunes from it.

Celso Pina also versioned this one. I can’t resist typing the lyrics in all caps. AMOR! AMOR ROMANTICO! AMOR DE CUMBIA!

[audio:http://lacongona.com/mp3/CHICO CERVANTES – CUMBIA DE LA PAZ.MP3]

Chico Cervantes – Cumbia de la Paz

love the female vox here. bittersweet love tune.

[audio:http://lacongona.com/mp3/MeOlvidaras.mp3]

Grupo Adixion – Porque Te vas

[audio:http://lacongona.com/mp3/Bailando Cumbia.mp3]

Grupo Kual – Bailando Cumbia

and this last one, a classic — Manu Chao bit this one hard; those male backing voices actually sound like him singing!

[audio:http://lacongona.com/mp3/AURITA CASTILLO Y SU CONJUNTO – CHAMBACU.MP3]

Aurita Castillo y Su Conjunto – Chambacu

POSTOPOLIS: day 1

pstpl1

[image from Storefront for Art and Architecture]

Engaging discussion on the role of the vernacular in contemporary architecture and considerations of public vs private space with an eye towards designing for negotiating flows within each… as 80s pop songs from the other side of this design hotel rooftop compete with Yo-Ichiro Hakomori’s voice, each occasionally interrupted by the blocky roar of news helicopters overhead.

Fritz Haeg chronicling the use of his geodesic dome home for an open-ended school. ‘Edible Estates’, we learn, began when he was looking at the 2004 US Presidential election map (blue edges, thick red center) and decided to do something in the center, in Kansas, that could work there and elsewhere. The lawn as a repressive space, a flatterer of architecture it frames. Talk of gardens.

Michael Dear on the Postborder City, fueled by personal vignettes. He drove 4000 miles, journeying along each side of the U.S./Mexico border. Dedication & long-term realness exposure. At some point Nguzu Nguzu arrives with stellar fish tacos. The conversation will have to continue from Dear’s book:

In Latin America, urbanism is also a rejection of discipline, a miracle of order in spite of everything, an uncertain combination of strength and fragility, eating itself from the moment of birth… The availability of physical space is declining because of the demographic explosion of people and poverty; in the social arena, the public and private are merging and, despite everything, they intensify the geography of exclusion and inclusion. Is there is a utopian sentiment, it is that of purchasing power…

… & lots more. come on up!

 

PRE POSTOPOLIS INFO

Postopolis will be streaming online as well (panoptipostopolismo!)

It begins in two hours. Here’s a complete SCHEDULE of the week’s speakers

Location of the event will take place at The Standard Downtown LA. The following lineup of speakers for Postopolis! LA was curated by the authors of the six host blogs.

TUESDAY 31

05:00 : Fritz Haeg Artist and Writer
05:40 : Patrick Keller Architect and Principal, Fabric
06:20 : Yo-Ichiro Hakomori Architect and Principal, wHY Architecture
07:00 : BREAK
07:20 : Dwayne Oyler Architect and Principal, Oyler Wu Collaborative
08:00 : Michael Dear Professor of Geography, USC
08:40 : Jeffrey Inaba Architect and Principal, Inaba Projects
09:20 : BREAK

The evening will end with brief back-to-back presentations by the organizers and host blogs:
09:40 : Joseph Grima Storefront for Art and Architecture / Bettina Korek ForYourArt
10:00 : Geoff Manaugh BLDGBLOG / David Basulto Plataforma Arquitectura / Bryan Finoki Subtopia
10:20 : Jace Clayton mudd up! / Dan Hill City of Sound / Régine Debatty we make money not art
10:40 : OPEN QUESTIONS

WEDNESDAY 1
05:00 : Mary-Ann Ray Architect, Writer, and Principal, Studio Works Architects
05:40 : David Gissen Theorist and Historian, CCA
06:20 : Whitney Sander Architect and Principal, Sander Architects
07:00 : BREAK
07:20 : Sarah Johnston & Mark Lee Architects and Principals, Johnston MarkLee
08:00 : Robert Miles Kemp Designer and Principal, Variate Labs
08:40 : Freya Bardell & Brian Howe Principals, Greenmeme
09:20 : BREAK
09:40 : Ted Kane Architect and Writer
10:00 : Stephanie Smith Founder, Ecoshack

THURSDAY 2
05:00 : Austin Kelly Principal, XTEN Architecture
05:40 : Orhan Ayyüce Architect, Blogger, and Senior Editor, Archinect
06:20 : Ava Bromberg Just Space(s)
07:00 : BREAK
07:20 : Ben Cerveny Strategic and Conceptual Advisor, Stamen Design
08:00 : Steve Roden Musician and Artist
08:40 : Gary Dauphin Writer and Critic
09:20 : BREAK
09:40 : Benjamin Ball & Gaston Nogues Architects and Founding Partners, Ball-Nogues Studio
10:00 : Mike the Poet Poet and Writer

FRIDAY 3
05:00 : Michael Downing LAPD
05:40 : Bryan Boyer Organizer, Helsinki Design Lab 2010
06:20 : Ari Kletzky Founder, Islands of LA
07:00 : BREAK
07:20 : Eric Rodenbeck Founder, Stamen Design
08:00 : Matthew Coolidge Director, Center for Land Use Interpretation
08:40 : Christopher Hawthorne Architecture Critic, Los Angeles Times
09:20 : BREAK
09:40 : David Burns, Austin Young & Matias Viegener Founders, fallen fruit
10:00 : Ken Ehrlich Artist and Writer

SATURDAY 4
04:20 : Benjamin Bratton Architect and Theorist
05:00 : Christian Moeller Artist
05:40 : Sean Dockray / Dan Goods / Daniel Rehn / Jay Yan
06:20 : Media Panel (Architect’s Newspaper, Curbed LA, Alissa Walker, Greg J. Smith, Christina Ulke)
07:00 : Photography Panel (Catherine Ledner, Misha Gravenor, Dave Lauridsen, Tom Fowlks, Gregg Segal)
07:20 : BREAK
08:00 : Paul Petrunia Founder, Archinect School Bloggers Panel
08:40 : Magazine Panel Sam Grawe DWELL, Zach Frechette GOOD & t.b.d
09:20 : CLOSING PARTY

& some more useful news::::

“The venue, as many of you will already know, is the Standard Hotel in downtown Los Angeles – but after 9:00pm each night, we will begin moving down from the roof deck to a conference room on the 2nd floor. To get there, just go up the escalator in the lobby… and it’s right there. Note that that is only after 9pm.

On Friday and Saturday, meanwhile, after 7pm, the Standard will begin charging $20 admission to their roof deck – leading to the unfortunate need to recommend that if you are coming on Friday or Saturday, then either show up before 7pm to avoid the $20 charge or after 9pm, to join us for free on the second floor (up the escalator on the right). Yes, it’s weird… and out of our control.

Finally, consider bringing a picnic blanket for the rooftop events, simply as something to sit on – and bring a coat! Or someone to hug. It could definitely get a bit chilly up there.

For those of you not in Los Angeles, or simply hoping to watch things from home, a live web feed of the proceedings will also be available through the Storefront website and ForYourArt. And we’ve now got a public Flickr pool through which we can all share images of the event. Reminders and such like will be coming up as things proceed! Hope to see many of you soon. “

LA DAY & NIGHT

I can’t believe I’m A) back in America B) back in LA and C) still awake.

But all these things seem to be true.

Postopolis kicks off today, and tonite I’m playing WILDNESS. BOTH EVENTS ARE FREE, LA.

Today’s ‘Postopolis pick’ is Fritz “Edible Estates” Haeg, who will be our very first speaker, at 5pm. Fritz’s long story made frightfully short: imagine if American lawns were transformed into food-bearing community gardens?

ee-logo-new

him & more… to come.

Then from 10pm-2am. join us @ Wildness! myself, Tammie Brown, and the Wildness crew @ SILVER PLATTER 2700 W. 7TH. They say: “Wildness is a self sustaining event. our mission is to invent new ways of visualizing, physically experiencing, and talking about complex identity politics that surround our queer lived experience through late night art-making and party having.” free forever libre para siempre

WILD03-31-09

POSTOPOLIS LOS ANGELES

a quick reminder: starting next Tuesday…

Join us (6 bloggers on a roof) in Los Angeles for a series of discussions, interviews, slideshows, panels, talks, and presentations about architecture, landscape, urbanism, art and space. Speaker schedule now online!

all events are FREE and open to the public, happening of the roofdeck of the Standard hotel in downtown LA.

Picture 1

Picture 2

I’m still caught in the delicious whirlwind of Mexico City but expect multiple Postopolis posts (live blogging, a city made of blog posts) next week, no doubt interspersed with recollections of Mexico and bucketloads of music I’m discovering here.

Is there an English word for nostalgia for a place or situation which you haven’t yet left? Some language must have a word for that…

A MOVER EL BOTE

you’ve got 2 options tonite, Americans.

Mexico D.F.: El Hijo de la Cumbia, Rupture, & Andy Moor DJing! last minute fiesta total.

mx party

NYC. Brooklyn, New York Tropical with special guest vocalists Esau Mwamwaya (The Very Best/Radioclit) and La Yegros (Buenos Aires),. alongside Matt Shadetek, Uproot Andy, Kingdom, Geko Jones. info.

MEXICO CITY SOUNDTRACK

This Thursday Andy Moor & I will provide live soundtrack/accompaniment to:

Manifiesto DF. Films by Jem Cohen.
Salón Juárez, Centro Cultural Universitario Tlatelolco.
Flores Magon 1, Colonia Nonoalco – Tlatelolco. México DF.
26 march 21:30hrs. 150 pesos

sections of the film(s) will also be accompanied by Guy Picciotto (Fugazi), and T Griffin, and Sonido Changorama.

mx

Como resultado de la residencia artística de Jem Cohen en la ciudad de México, se proyectará el retrato fílmico de nuestra ciudad realizado por este singular cineasta. Dj Rupture, Guy Picciotto (Fugazzi), T. Griffin, Andy Moor (The Ex) y Sonido Changorama, se encargarán de musicalizar en vivo dicha proyección.

ANTICIPATORY MIXING

This month I am spending more time in transit (airplane, bus, taxi, car, subway) or waiting for transit than in my apartment… Nettle @ Brandeis was a blast — a very full schedule too. Bostonist review of live show .

threefifthsofnettle

[three fifths of Nettle @ an impromptu concert, from W&W flickr]

Filastine, who joined us on percussion, plays in Boston tonite. Free!

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thanks to all who ordered K-K-Kumbia. there’s been a bit of a lag, but CDs will be sent off today if they havent already gone out.

+ + +

& elsewhere, my dutty associates have been upping mixes nonstop, all in prep for a party we are throwing with weekend. I’ll be in D.F. but the rest of the gang is uniting @ Glasslands in Williamsburg for:

and here are the various mixes, all of these DJs will be @ the Dutty ARtz party this friday:

Matt Shadetek – Get Drunk & Lose Your Phone

+ + +

Kingdom – mix 4 Lower End Spasm

+ + +

Geko Jones – La Nueva Guaracha