Los Angeles, the metropolis of the U.S. West Coast, was located in the second half of the 20th century far from the art centers of the time (New York, Paris, Cologne). The vast and untamed West, which had little prior artistic influence, fostered freedom of action and thought, leading to groundbreaking artistic expression. A prime example of this is CalArts (California Institute of the Arts), the art college founded by Walt Disney in 1970 near Los Angeles. CalArts developed a radical, pioneering educational model whose interdisciplinary approach drew on European and American institutions such as the Bauhaus and Black Mountain College. In addition to conceptual art, teaching programs by artists such as John Baldessari’s “Post Studio Program” and the “Feminist Art Program” by Miriam Schapiro and Judy Chicago were also groundbreaking. Driven by the spirit of the 1970s, legendary pool parties, and courses such as “Advanced Drug Research,” a unique cultural dynamic emerged: it transformed the West Coast and Los Angeles into a central hub for artistic production and contemporary discourse (a status that continues to this day).
In her lecture, Christina Végh (born in Zurich in 1970), director of the Kunsthalle Bielefeld, offers insights into the events of that time. She introduces individual protagonists and eyewitnesses through filmed oral history interviews. In 2019, Végh curated the exhibition *Where Art Can Happen: The Early Years of CalArts in 2019 (at the Kestner Gesellschaft in Hanover), together with Philip Kaiser (independent curator, Los Angeles), as part of a three-year research project in cooperation with Freie Universität Berlin (Prof. Dr. Annette Jael Lehmann) and metaLAB (at) Harvard, Boston (Prof. Dr. Jeffrey Schnapp, Kim Albrecht), and in collaboration with IMAGE and CONTENT, Zurich (Reto Caduff, documentary filmmaker).
Lecture as part of the exhibition’s accompanying program Mindset Los Angeles – Frank Gehry and the Cool School
Ticket:
Included with admission to the exhibition or 5 euros / reduced rate: 3 euros