“You Self Help Me” by award-winning choreographer and M.F.A. candidate Pearl Marill.
The UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture will present more than 150 public events this winter. Featured in exhibitions, lectures, screenings and performances are artists, designers, architects, dancers, writers, musicians, policymakers and cultural critics whose diverse work and perspectives will enliven the campus — and the Los Angeles area — and will offer insight and context for our current cultural climate. Many of the events are free, thanks to the support of donors, and all are open to the public.
A selection of UCLA Arts events follows. For more details and a complete listing of events, see the UCLA Arts calendar.
Exhibitions
Jan. 17–Jan. 31: The UCLA Department of Design Media Arts presents “Breaking the Rules,” a dynamic exhibition featuring work in a variety of media by its undergraduate students.
Feb. 10–May 12: “Allen Ruppersberg: Intellectual Property 1968-2018” is a major retrospective on the work of conceptual artist Allen Ruppersberg, on view at the Hammer Museum at UCLA this winter. The artist’s first comprehensive U.S. survey in more than 30 years, the exhibition includes many works that have never before been exhibited in U.S. museums. On opening day, Ruppersberg will join Walker Art Center curator, Siri Engberg, who organized this major retrospective, in conversation.
Feb. 17–July 28: “Inheritance: Recent Video Art from Africa” features video works by contemporary African artists who are contending with inherited political, social and environmental realities in their respective countries. The Fowler Museum at UCLA presents an opening program during which exhibition artists will introduce their work and join exhibition curator Erica Jones, in a conversation about the artist’s role as observer, commentator and activist. Opening party to follow, from 7 to 9 p.m.
March 7–May 11: The UCLA Department of Art kicks off its series of four final exhibitions of work in various media by graduating M.F.A. candidates. The first M.F.A. exhibition presents work by Jantsa Erdenebayar, Emily Nelms Perez, Maccabee Shelley and Shevaun Wright.
Performances
Feb. 22: The UCLA Department of World Arts and Cultures/Dance MFA3 Upstarts Series presents “You Self Help Me” by award-winning choreographer and M.F.A. candidate Pearl Marill. In this work, Marill uses dance, comedy and improvisation to examine different methods for dealing with “stuckness.”
Feb. 14: In “Kaleidoscope Concert” at the Hammer Museum, a conductor-less orchestra performs a program of works by living L.A. composers Ted Hearne, Sarah Gibson, Billy Childs, Julia Adolphe, Juhi Bansal and Andrew Norman.
Feb. 16: The Soul Rebels expand upon the pop music they loved on the radio and the New Orleans brass tradition they grew up on, blending funk and soul with elements of hip-hop, jazz and rock all within a brass band context. The band has built a career around an eclectic live show that harnesses the power of horns and drums in a deep pocket funk party-like atmosphere. On Feb. 16, UCLA’s Center for the Art of Performance brings The Soul Rebels to The Theatre at the Ace Hotel.
Mar. 2: Meredith Monk has spent more than five decades exploring and expanding the capacity of that most essential instrument — the human voice. CAP UCLA presents “Cellular Songs” at Royce Hall, Monk’s newest work in a series of her music theater pieces that explore our interdependent relationship with nature while seeking to evoke the ineffable.
Mar. 15 and 16: One of the world’s preeminent dance companies Batsheva returns to Royce Hall with a new evening-length work, “Venezuela,” in which choreographer Naharin and the dancers explore the dialogue and conflict between movement and the content it represents. A signature of Batsheva’s dancers is their visceral physicality combined with the depth and consistency of their Gaga training. Presented by CAP UCLA.
Lectures, symposia and workshops
Jan. 4: Fowler exhibition co-curators Patrick Polk and Jeri Williams lead a walk-through of Pableaux Johnson’s photographs of Second Line parades and discuss the pageantry and public performance the images document. The discussion will also explore Second Lines in the broader context of Black Atlantic festival traditions, drawing cultural connections to Brazil, Haiti, Cuba and East and Central Africa.
Jan. 9–11: “Depth of Field” is a three-day dance-video symposium exploring collaborations by filmmakers and choreographers. It features screenings of dance-for-camera works by award-winning filmmakers Margaret Williams, of the United Kingdom, and Mitchell Rose, from the United States, by current and recent world arts and cultures students and historic footage by some of the most influential artists in the field.
Jan. 12 and 26: The Fowler Museum invites artists featured in current exhibitions including Anna Boyiazis and Pableaux Johnson to the Fowler to speak with the public about their work.
Jan. 19: Processing Community Day @ Los Angeles is an inclusive conference that will bring together people of all ages to celebrate and explore art, code and activism. Presented by Processing and the design media arts department.
Jan. 22 and Feb. 19: This winter, the design media arts department will present two UC Regents’ lectures: Lars Müller, the graphic designer and renowned publisher of books on architecture, design, photography, contemporary art and society; and Astra Taylor, a writer, documentarian and organizer known for exploring philosophy, politics and culture.
Jan. 24: Los Angeles-based artist Candice Lin works in large-scale installation and draws from multiple disciplines to unearth largely forgotten or disregarded histories and to highlight practices that have been marginalized or discredited. Lin is an assistant professor in the art department.
Feb. 1: The UCLA Department of Architecture and Urban Design’s cityLAB presents “I'm Rarely Home: A Note on Micro-Units in Downtown,” an installation that will encourage a re-evaluation of the body occupying space and the rituals that take place throughout the city. A panel discussion featuring Dana Cuff, professor of architecture and urban design and director of cityLAB, among other architects, designers, historians, critics and policy experts will explore the myriad issues around smaller, denser urbanization in Downtown Los Angeles.
Feb. 6: The UCLA Visual and Performing Arts Education Program presents “The Butterfly Effect: Activism & Transformation through the Arts,” a conversation about how art can empower and enlighten people about the migration experience in Los Angeles, featuring artist and activist Favianna Rodriguez. Co-presented with the world arts and cultures/dance department and the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies.
Feb. 25: The architecture and urban design department presents a distinguished alumni lecture by Alice Fung. Fung is a practicing architect and artist, principal of FUNG + BLATT Architects and professor at USC Roski School of Art and Design. Raised in Hong Kong, Fung studied art and urban studies at Oberlin College and received her master of architecture from UCLA in 1986. In 1990, she co-founded FUNG + BLATT, an award-winning and internationally published firm that prioritizes connection to place and investigations into diverse patterns of habitation
Mar. 26–28: “Her Dream Deferred” at the Hammer Museum. Co-presented with the African American Policy Forum, this series offers substantive analysis on the status of black women and girls in the United States and exploring multifaceted solutions to social injustice. Organized by Kimberlé Crenshaw, professor in UCLA School of Law and Columbia University.
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