The Hammer Museum and the Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens have announced that Aria Dean, Kahlil Joseph, Nicola L., Diane Severin Nguyen, and Ser Serpas are among the thirty artists who will participate in the upcoming biennial Made in L.A., which will take place from June 7 through August 30, 2020.
Co-curated by Paris-based curator Myriam Ben Salah, LA-based curator Lauren Mackler, and the Hammer’s Ikechukwu Onyewuenyi assistant curator of performance Ikechukwu Onyewuenyi, the fifth iteration of the exhibition will be staged across both venues to generate dialogue between the west and east sides of the city. The curators will also showcase common threads between the artists’ works including the notion of entertainment as both a subject and material; the genre and aesthetic of horror in contemporary practices; and the film/theater convention of the fourth wall, a device through which fiction is built and dismantled.
“I continue to marvel at how different and eye-opening each iteration of Made in L.A. can be,” said Hammer Museum director Ann Philbin. “Through nearly three-hundred hundred studio visits, Myriam, Lauren, and Ike have assembled a group of artists who delve into fascinating and often overlooked histories, subcultures, and communities of LA.” She added, “Once again, the exhibition has illustrated the strength and vision of the here and now of contemporary art in our city.”
Among the many highlights of the exhibition will be newly commissioned works by Jacqueline Kiyomi Gordon and Ser Serpas; performances by dancer and choreographer Ligia Lewis and artist, archivist, filmmaker, and dancer Harmony Holiday; a sculptural installation comprising two-way mirrors by Aria Dean; and off-site projects such as Larry Johnson’s five billboards in MacArthur Park and Kahlil Joseph’s BLKNWS, a conceptual news program that blurs the lines between art, reporting, entrepreneurship, and cultural critique, which will be broadcast at multiple venues.
Commenting on the initiative, Karen R. Lawrence, president of the Huntington, said, “With every artist represented at both The Huntington and the Hammer, visitors will have two unique experiences that comprise one whole biennial. I’m particularly excited to see the ways in which the artists’ work will activate our galleries and highlight the collaborative energy that characterizes our Centennial Celebration.”
The 2020 Made in LA artists are:
Mario Ayala
Aria Dean
Hedi El Kholti
Buck Ellison
Niloufar Emamifar
Christina Forrer
Harmony Holiday
Patrick Jackson
Larry Johnson
Kahlil Joseph
Ann Greene Kelly
Jacqueline Kiyomi Gordon
Nicola L.
Brandon D. Landers
SON. (Justen LeRoy)
Ligia Lewis
Monica Majoli
Jill Mulleady
Diane Severin Nguyen
Alexandra Noel
Mathias Poledna
Umar Rashid
Reynaldo Rivera
Katja Seib
Ser Serpas
Sonya Sombreuil / COME TEES
Jeffrey Stuker
Beyond Baroque by Sabrina Tarasoff
FultonLeroyWashington (aka MR. WASH)
Kandis Williams