People Power: Arts Calendar October 6-12

Like the old song goes, the people have the power; and this week we are all going to be people persons as the arts take up big questions about humanity at a weirdly huge number of large scale community culture events across the region. From an outdoor evening joyfully examining tropes of masculinity, to poetry slam celebrating the bravado of the Beats, multimedia artists merging with and differentiating from artificial intelligence, an art-forward dockside installation for the oceans, a one-night immersive screening and performance that’s also a call to action for the oceans, a 10-day festival of art, activism, music and mutual aid, a new edition of the wild and wildly popular Tom of Finland arts festival, a two-day birthday party for Grand Park, and a landmark photography exhibition reimagining outdated images of Indigenous Americans.

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Freewaves: xa-MEN-ing Masculinities

Thursday, October 6

Freewaves presents Xa-MEN-ing Masculinities at LA State Historic Park (Outdoor). A night of art, video, and performance considering paradigms of masculinity, staged an interactive space where notions and expressions can be simultaneously challenged and expanded from a wide range of perspectives and through multiple mediums, under a full moon. Featuring Alex Donis, rafa esparza, Asher Hartman (with Tim Reid, Brian Getnick, and Arne Gjelten), Phranc, Austin Young, Cassils, Patty Chang and more. Curated by Anne Bray, Marcus Kuiland-Nazario, and Anuradha Vikram, the series will unpack male bonding rituals, trans masculinity, masculine models of care, and uses of power. 1245 N. Spring St., Chinatown; Thursday, October 6, 7:30-10:30pm; free; freewaves.org.

Skylight Books

Beat Not Beat Anthology Launch Party at Skylight Books. The dynamic anthology Beat Not Beat: An Anthology of California Poets Screwing on the Beat and Post Beat Tradition (Moon Tide Press) begins in the postwar American landscape — when Beat poets, the Vortex, Baby Beats, and their progenitors inspired one another through cultural, political, and humorous means to create new forms of consciousness weaponizing pen and paper to enact mighty forms of lyrical rebellion. The collection features the work of notable poets such as Wanda Coleman, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, and Charles Bukowski along with contemporary poets such as the book’s co-editors Rich Ferguson, Alexis Rhone Fancher, S.A. Griffin and Kim Shuck, plus Douglas Kearney, Brendan Constantine, Milo Martin, Kim Addonizio, David Ulin, Lynne Thompson, Derrick Brown, former United States Poet Laureate Robert Hass, and more. 1818 N. Vermont Ave., Los Feliz; Thursday, October 6, 7pm; free; skylightbooks.com.

Jessus Hernandez at Art Share LA

Friday, October 7

L.A. Abstracted at Art Share. L.A. Abstracted explores Los Angeles through a range of perspectives in artwork that conveys the complexity of the urban environment. Featuring artwork by Chenhung Chen, Jennifer Gunlock, Emily Elisa Halpern, Teale Hatheway, Jessus Hernandez, Kiara Aileen Machado, Caley O’Dwyer, Stephanie Sherwood, Essi Zimm, across painting, sculpture, and mixed-media. 801 E. 4th Pl., downtown; Opening reception: Friday, October 7, 6-9pm; On view through November 19; free; artsharela.org.

Ballet Hispánico at the Wallis

Ballet Hispánico: Noche de Oro at the Wallis. In its Wallis debut Ballet Hispánico presents an evening of dance that explores the diversity of Latinx cultures and brings innovative ways of experiencing and sharing a cultural dialogue. For 50 years Ballet Hispánico has been the leading voice intersecting artistic excellence and advocacy, and is now the largest Latinx cultural organization in the United States and one of America’s Cultural Treasures. 9390 N. Santa Monica Blvd., Beverly Hills; Friday, October 7, 7:30pm; Saturday, October 8, 2pm & 7:30pm; $79-$125; thewallis.org.

Jody Zellen’s PhotoNews at Wonzimer Gallery

a time to tear and a time to mend at Wonzimer. SUPERCOLLIDER’s 2022 Sci-Art Ambassador cohort explores the advent of wisdom collection through ecological, historical, somatic, and technological artifacts. In the age of hyper-digitization, how can one assess, metabolize, and grieve traumatic events flashing across their timeline? How can one navigate information in a way that is healing and beneficial, both individually and communally? How can non-human ecologies inform our understanding of time and listening? Artists in the exhibition utilize AI, video, sculpture, painting, and performance to explore these and other questions. 341 S. Avenue 17, downtown; Opening reception: Friday, October 7, 5-10pm; On view through November 19; free; wonzimer.com.

Mear One: Destroy Your Illusions (at Creative Resilience)

Saturday, October 8

Creative Resilience. A fortnight of art, ideas, music, spoken word, and mutual aid that amplifies community experience and the voices of BIPOC Angeleno workers sounding the call for economic justice. Celebrating a shared cultural history of unstoppable resilience, collective action, and rising up against oppressive, anti-progress systems, Creative Resilience is a curated space of safe expression, joy and uplift, systemic overhauls and reimagined futures — things which would perennially benefit everyone, but all the more so in this prolonged period of darkness, threats, struggles, and isolation. Ultimately the message is one of hope and change, the momentum of alliances, and the power of the arts to nurture these projects and gather everyone together to do the work. 1922 E. 7th Pl., downtown; Saturday, October 8 – Sunday, October 16, 5-10pm weekdays, 11am-11pm weekends; crla.art.

Taiji Terasaki at Blue Hour 3: The Warehouse

Blue Hour 3: The Warehouse at AltaSea, Port of Los Angeles. AltaSea’s annual benefit supporting its educational STEAM initiatives and championing the “blue economy” of ocean exploration and conservation, Blue Hour connects science, culture, art and technology. Blue Hour 3: The Warehouse celebrates the ocean through innovative art installations spread throughout Berth 60 at the Port of Los Angeles — a 60,000 square foot warehouse filled with dynamic visual experiences. Headlining the fundraiser will be famed oceanographer and explorer Sylvia Earle, who has logged over 7,000 hours underwater, as she accepts the Explorer Award. The art for its part reflects on humankind’s relationship with the ocean and its critical role in combating climate change.

Taiji Terasaki at Blue Hour 3: The Warehouse

A large-scale immersive installation by Taiji Terasaki & Parley for the Oceans, The Water Understands Civilization Well combines photography, video, and augmented reality into an immersive experience in a 50-ft shipping container. Special guest artist David LaChapelle is joined by a score of area artists and arts organizations, including AltaSea community partner Angels Gate Cultural Center and Otis College of Art and Design’s fashion program, plus Emma Akmakdjian, Maru Garcia, Ryan Graeff, Taylor Griffith, Blue McRight, Mason Rothschild, Debra Scacco, Jesse Small, Annie Sperling, Mason Rothschild, Sanna Bucht, Deedee Cheriel, Mary Pagone, Leslie Ross-Robertson, Rebecca Chamlee, and more. 2451 Signal St., San Pedro; Saturday, October 8, 5-9pm; $100+ (includes a drink, a meal, and a digital swag bag); altasea-project-blue.org.

Nora Rachel at the Tom of Finland Art & Culture Fair

Tom of Finland Art & Culture Fair at Second Home. Tom of Finland Foundation (ToFF) is presenting the 27th Tom of Finland Art & Culture Fair — Tom Unites. The Festival is ToFF’s yearly programming effort to bring together artists, galleries and patrons from all over the globe in a socially friendly setting, so that they can network as well as buy and sell works. Returning to Second Home, an indoor/outdoor space that offers a large garden campus, where art installations, performances, and presentations will occur in select glass salons and courtyards framed by lush landscape. This year’s event will bring together erotic artists, vendors, performers, DJs, and galleries. ToFF will also present its annual awards. 1370 N. St. Andrews Pl, Hollywood; Saturday, October 8, noon-7pm; Sunday, October 9, 11am-7pm; $20-$30; tomoffinland.org.

grand park House of Words by Jimenez Lai

Jimenez Lai: House of Words at Grand Park

Grand Park’s 10 Anniversary Celebration (Outdoor). Grand Park, powered by The Music Center, celebrates its yearlong 10th anniversary with a two-day festival of live music, DJs, innovative art installations, dance performances, wellness workshops, and more. The weekend celebration highlights the signature free events that laid the foundation over the past decade for Grand Park to become L.A.’s central gathering place and honors the legacy of performers, artists, community partners, audiences and park-goers who helped to shape Grand Park as “the park for everyone.” 200 N. Grand Ave, downtown; Saturday, October 8, 6pm-10pm; Sunday, October 9, 9am-4pm (in partnership with CicLAvia); free; grandparkla.org.

Sounds of the Ocean (Photo by Noah Lipsitz)

Dome Fest West presents Sounds of the Ocean at Wisdome LA. Dome Fest West is a weekend film+ festival celebrating the cinematic potential of the projection dome format. Most of the events and screenings take place in Costa Mesa at the Orange Coast College Planetarium, but this special evening takes advantage of the Wisdome LA setting for a multi-sensory experience connecting people with life underwater for a meditation dedicated to raising environmental awareness. The film is augmented with live music on clarinet, handpan, piano, kalimba, singing bowls, and saxophone, in a collaborative effort from a global team of visual artists, underwater and environmental cinematographers, animators and visual FX artists. 1147 Palmetto St., downtown; Saturday, October 8, 8:30pm; $15-$325 (various event packages and passes); domefestwest.com.

Ever Present: Milka Djordjevich, Victoria Fu, and Matt Rich (Getty Center)

Sunday, October 9

Ever Present at the Getty Center. Ever Present is an ongoing experimental series that brings contemporary performance into the Getty’s architecture and gardens. For this new iteration, choreographer Milka Djordjevich and visual artists Victoria Fu and Matt Rich collaborate on an original site-specific performance, in which Djordjevich and dancers perform throughout the site with Fu and Rich’s wearable artworks. 1200 Getty Center Dr., Brentwood; Sunday, October 9, noon; free; getty.edu.

ARTBOUND: Arte Cosmico

Monday, October 10

Artbound: Arte Cosmico premiere screening at NeueHouse Hollywood. A new episode in KCET’s award-winning original series, directed by Antonio Diaz, the episode highlights Latinx artists rafa esparza, Beatriz Cortez, Patrick Martinez, Guadalupe Rosales, Gabriella Sanchez and Gabriela Ruiz. Each artist explores notions of identity, language, queerness, and the cosmos while establishing a new generation of Latinx artists in the history of American art. Following the screening, director Antonio Diaz and artists from the episode will join a conversation about Latinx stories in the lexicon of American art, moderated by Pilar Tompkins Riva, Chief Curator of The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art. The new episode airs Wednesday, October 12, 9pm on KCET. 6121 Sunset Blvd., Hollywood; Monday, October 10, 6pm; free w/ rsvp; rsvp.neuehouse.com/infocusartbound.

Matika Wilbur: Dr. Mary Evelyn Belgarde (Pueblo of Isleta and Ohkay Owingeh), 2014 (© Matika Wilbur)

Tuesday, October 11

Matika Wilbur’s Project 562: Changing The Way We See Native America at SMC Barrett Gallery. Photographer, writer, podcaster and public speaker Matika Wilbur from the Tulalip and Swinomish Tribes founded Project 562 ten years ago as a teacher at the Tribal school in her community. After experiencing the visceral and violent affects that one-dimensional racist Native imagery had on her students, Matika set out to make pictures of folks from over 562 federally recognized Tribes. Over the last decade, that goal has expanded as she’s trekked across Turtle Island and beyond, documenting and amplifying contemporary Indigeneity.

Matika Wilbur: Kumu Olelo Kaeo Izon (Kanaka Maoli-Independent Nation of Hawaii), 2013 (© Matika Wilbur)

Matika has now visited over 750 communities. Wilbur’s consciousness-shifting exhibition counteracts the relentlessly insipid, demeaning representation of Indigenous peoples littering mainstream media with an unprecedented repository of imagery and oral histories that accurately portrays the diversity and richness of contemporary Native America. 1310 11th St., Santa Monica; Keynote artist talk: 3pm; Reception: 6-8pm; On view through May 15, 2023; free; smcbarrettgallery.com.