Shana Nys Dambrot
Last 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 kicked off October 5 and continue through November 3, with installations largely visible and accessible around the clock, and all activated by free public food, art-making, performances, and conversation events, mostly on the weekends. Organized by a curatorial team from the Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (ICA LA) as well as curatorial advisers, these events range from experiences from Latin American, Middle Eastern, and African culinary traditions, to solar cooking, veganism, urban gardening, food justice awareness, and Flamin’ Hot Cheetos Modernism.
Events coming up across all 15 local council districts for the final two weeks and weekends of the triennial can be found and mapped at the CURRENT:LA calendar page, as well as at the initiative’s Facebook Event Page. Asuka Hisa from the ICA LA (serving in DTLA as a hub for the project) has also been a Twitter champion, visiting, promoting, and documenting as much of the goings-on as humanly possible.
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