See also:

*Getty's Pacific Standard Time Series on L.A. Architecture: A Preview

*Our Calendar Section, Listing More Great Things to Do in L.A.

This week, a panel of architects and a performance at a science fiction conference imagine a high-tech future L.A. and an artist uses Pig Latin to title the work in his half-biographical, half-fantastical show.

5. Home for a wayward shopping cart

The lot on Traction between Third and Fourth Street, in Little Tokyo, used to be a gas station. Recently, it has become a pop-up art spot for street artists. Right now, there's a reshaped shopping cart angling up off a concrete slab at the center of the triangle and an eagle at the top of a found-object totem pole along the outskirts. Traction Avenue, between Third and Fourth streets.

4. Planning ahead not for the faint of heart

Syd Mead was the “visual futurist” who designed cars and cityscapes for the film Blade Runner. James Rojas, an urban planner, has rebuilt L.A. neighborhoods in miniature out of toys and trinkets. Architect Qingyun Ma consulted on the Beijing Olympics and built a community center on a lake in Qingpu, China. The three of them will try to answer the question, “Who Will Design Tomorrow's Los Angeles?” at the Getty Center on Sunday, as part of an afternoon conference on whether, how and why architecture matters. 1200 Getty Center Drive; Sun., April 14, 2-7 p.m.; free. (310) 440-7300, getty.edu.

3. When a teen terrorists turns on the charm

In the future, all marriage will be gay marriage. Or so it is in the future Los Angeles that artist Alex Segade imagines in The Holo Library, a performance he'll reprise at UC Riverside's Eaton Science Fiction Conference this week. Segade plays, among other roles, a detective seduced by a teenage, boy band-singing terrorist. Electronic music and a series of projected images also play into the performance, as do audience participation and guest performers. 900 University Ave., Riverside; Thurs., April 11, 7:30 p.m.; free. (951) 827-4787, culvercenter.ucr.edu.

2. Adolescence in a bodycast

Actress Frances McDormand, maybe best known for playing the wry, pregnant police officer in the film Fargo, is traveling with artist Suzanne Bocanegra this spring. Bocanegra talks — mostly about her early teen years (three of which she spent in a bodycast), life in small-town Texas, making art — while McDormand acts. The two will perform at the Hammer Museum. 10899 Wilshire Blvd., Wstwd.; Tues., April 16, 7 p.m. (310) 443-7000; hammer.ucla.edu.

1. Self-discovery in Pig Latin

The book you see on the table in Richard Telles Fine Art's foyer now says E-thay Inward-Yay Ourney-Jay on its cover, but it used to say The Inward Journey. Artist Dan Finsel rewrote the title in Pig Latin. Then underneath the title he inserted a photograph of himself, looking official but doing something strange with small sculptures that resemble kitchen supplies, and painted the same modish, pink and orange design from the book's cover on the divider wall that separates foyer from main gallery. It's tasteful and psychologically perverse at the same time, as are the other works in the show: hand-crafted tables with odd tableaux on their tops, portraits of Finsel with a tail coming out of his mouth, or paintings of what look like misshapen wrought-iron hearts. 7380 Beverly Blvd.; through April 20. (323) 965-5578, tellesfineart.com.

Follow me on Twitter at @cgwagley, and for more arts news follow us at @LAWeeklyArts and like us on Facebook.

Advertising disclosure: We may receive compensation for some of the links in our stories. Thank you for supporting LA Weekly and our advertisers.