Shana Nys DambrotLast time it was water, this time it’s food. Three years ago the inaugural edition of the public art triennial series CURRENT:LA dealt with water as a force of nature, nurture, industry, community, geography, identity, allegory and place-making. Now the Department of Cultural Affairs is back with the second iteration, this time on the theme of food culture in all its bounty and scarcity, cultural investment, historical legacies, health, ritual, family, and metaphor.
CURRENT:LA FOOD’s free public art installations and citywide programs kick off October 5, but in advance of its month-long stint across all 15 city council districts, the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery at Barnsdall has just opened a most challenging appetizer — the group exhibition, Offal, exploring the practice of consuming innards. Taboo in some cultures, accepted or even elevated in others, eating the nasty bits of a butchered beast is both tantalizing and grotesque, equal parts Top Chef and Fear Factor.
Danial Nord, Sleeper (LAMAG)
Offal features work by 45 L.A.-based artists who use both nontraditional materials as a metaphor for reclaiming the marginal in form and content, and some whose work directly addresses the topic in a more on-point narrative. The exhibition is open through September 15, in advance of the October 5 debut of the CURRENT:LA FOOD proliferation. On that date, for one month, temporary projects by 15 local, national, and international artists and artists teams (one per council district) open to the public, each with a site-specific story to tell and partners from the food and public program sectors.
CURRENT:LA FOOD is organized by a curatorial team from the Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (ICA LA) as well as curatorial advisors with relevant public art and civic festival experience. DCA also commissioned a set of free public programs to activate the works and locations. They range from experiences from Latin American, Middle Eastern, and African traditions, solar cooking, veganism, and tea ceremony.
Ciriza, Nest Egg (LAMAG(
Offal at LAMAG, Barnsdall Art Park, 4800 Hollywood Blvd., East Hollywood; Thu, Aug. 15-Sun., Sept. 29; (323) 644-6269; lamag.org/portfolio_page/offal.
Artists Talk with Danial Nord and Alexandre Dorriz: Saturday, August 17, 2:30pm, free.
CURRENT:LA FOOD, Sat., Oct. 5-Sun., Nov. 3; citywide locations; culturela.org.
Jim Shaw, Dream Object: Digestive Tract Sculpture (LAMAG)
Victoria Reynolds, For Ambrosius Bosschaert the Elder (LAMAG)
Sydney Mills, Soft Tissue (LAMAG)
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