Dear ICA LA Community,

ICA LA's fall exhibitions, Barbara T. Smith: Proof and Infinite Rehearsal with Chris Emile and No)one. Art House, celebrate the incredible history of performance art in Los Angeles and the rich community of artists who are creating new pathways for movement practice today. This newsletter features a number of ways in which you can learn more about what inspires of our featured artists in Infinite Rehearsal and where you can experience performance beyond ICA LA’s walls. This including the Live Arts Exchange (LAX) Festival featuring a number of performances at spaces and institutions all across the city and togetherfire, a site-specific interdisciplinary performance event curated by taisha paggett and meital yaniv and presented by homeLA.

Also this month, Art21 will premiere the latest episode of Art in the Twenty-First Century. Titled “Friends & Strangers,” the episode features the work of Christine Sun Kim, whose Bounce Back mural remains on view at ICA LA, along with other artists whose work facilitates collective responses to hardship, builds and sustains communities, and works to bring us closer to one another. The subjects of this episode have an especially poignant relevance today and speak to what is at the very heart of ICA LA’s mission to support art that sparks the pleasure of discovery and challenges the way we see and experience the world, ourselves, and each other. As an institution committed to upending hierarchies of race, class, gender, and culture, we are a place of community, and in community. Scroll down for more ways to engage with our ICA LA community below!

Earlier this week, artists Qwenga and Cody Perkins presented a preview of the works that they are developing over the course of the Infinite Rehearsal exhibition. We asked them to share with us a behind-the-scenes glimpse into what inspires them and their work—visually, spiritually, narratively, and otherwise.

Working with sound as his primary medium, Cody Perkins is using the rehearsal space to experiment with sound to honor his ancestry, with a specific emphasis on honoring the Black women in his life. Here’s what Cody’s reading and listening to:

Books
Bandoneon: Working with Pina Bausch (2017), Raimund Hoghe with photography by Ulli Weiss, translated by Penny Black
The Coldest Winter Ever by sister souljah
Holler If You Hear Me by Michael Eric Dyson
The Color Purple by Alice walker 
The Wisdom of Insecurity by Alan watts

Music
You Forgot It In People by Broken Social Scene
Kaleidoscope by Kelis
Ballades by Ahmad Jamal
Chelsea Girl by Nico
Köln Concert by Keith Jarret
Jaguar 2 by Victoria Monet

Qwenga?is working on his ongoing project titled Monolith. Drawing inspiration from the mystifying monolith in 2001: A Space Odyssey, Qwenga’s Monolith delves into the powerful allure of these towering structures and their capacity to ignite introspection and evolution. As part of Infinite Rehearsal, he is specifically exploring the Monolith character of Nyx Seraph, a maverick who is held in a holding cell—punished, tested, and pushed to his bodily limits after being charged with taking pieces of the monolith unlawfully. Here’s what Cody’s watching and reading to:

Films
Fantastic Planet (La planete sauvage) (1973), dir. René Laloux
The Holy Mountain (1973), dir. Alejandro Jodorowsky
Fire and Ice (1983), dir. Ralph Bakshi
Timemaster (1995), dir. James Glickenhaus

Books
Patternmaster (1976), Octavia Butler
Parable of the Sower (1993), Octavia Butler
Parable of the Talents (1998), Octavia Butler

More To Watch

Live Arts Exchange Festival
Performances through November 3
Tickets Required

The Live Arts Exchange (LAX) Festival features electrifying new work in contemporary dance, theater, music, and cross-genre performance across cultural institutions and venues in DTLA. Since 2013, LAX Festival has fostered a platform for ongoing artistic exchange and collaboration. Each edition encourages artists, curators, and organizations to partake in performance presentations, discussions, and creative encounters aimed at nurturing mutual exploration and long-lasting connections.

|  Purchase Tickets  |

Art21 | Friends & Strangers
Premieres Friday, October 20 at 10pm on PBS

Art21 presents the latest episode of Art in the Twenty-First Century. Titled “Friends & Strangers,” the episode features the work of Christine Sun Kim, whose Bounce Back mural remains on view on ICA LA’s building façade, along with other artists whose work facilitates collective responses to hardship, builds and sustains communities, and works to bring us closer to one another. Tune in for the episode premiere and visit our YouTube channel for a recording of an earlier ICA LA program that included a preview of the episode and a conversation with the director about Christine Sun Kim’s practice. 

|  Watch live on PBS or on Art21  |

togetherfire
Saturday, October 28, 3:30–7:30pm
Curated by taisha paggett and meital yaniv
Presented by homeLA
Riverside, CA

On October 28th, homeLA presents 
togetherfire, a site-specific interdisciplinary performance event with artists Crystal Sepúlveda, Latipa & Camilo Ontiveros, Justin Morris, Estrellx Supernova/EHQS, María Regina Firmino-Castillo & Tohil (Fidel Brito Bernal), Ray Anthony Barrett, Nohely Gomez, and meital yaniv & taisha paggett. togetherfire contemplates home as a hearth, an archetype of fire, and an alchemist of private and social realities, and takes place during a full moon at a time when the veil separating the worlds is at its thinnest.

|  Tickets  |

Click Here to view the Institute Of Contemporary Art Museum News - October 20, 2023