The Hammer Museum has announced that the Los Angeles biennial “Made in L.A. 2014” will be co-curated by Karin Higa and Michael Ned Holte, both independent curators and writers based in Los Angeles.
“Made in L.A. 2014” will be the second in an ongoing series of exhibitions focused on artwork created in the Los Angeles region and will be on view June through September 2014. The artist list will be announced in early 2014.
“Following the terrific success of ‘Made in L.A. 2012.’ we are very excited to announce our curatorial team for 2014. Karin and Michael will bring unique perspectives and rich knowledge of L.A.’s creative landscape to the next biennial,” remarked Hammer Director Annie Philbin. “We are thrilled to be working with them and looking very much forward to the summer of 2014.”
Higa was senior curator of art at the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles, where she curated a number of exhibitions, including “The View from Within: Japanese American Art from the Internment Camps, 1942-1945” (1992), “Living Flowers: Ikebana and Contemporary Art” (2008), and a retrospective on artists Bruce and Norman Yonemoto (1999).
She also co-curated with Melissa Chiu and Susette Min the national traveling exhibition “One Way or Another: Asian American Art Now” (2006-2008) for the Asia Society Museum in New York.
Higa has published widely, including contributions to the Hammer’s “Now Dig This! Art & Black Los Angeles” (Delmonico Prestel, 2011), the International Center for Photography’s “Only Skin Deep” (Abrams, 2003), and Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s “Reading California: Art, Image, and Identity, 1900-2000” (University of California Press, 2000).
Holte’s texts have appeared in numerous publications, including “Live Art in LA: Performance in Southern California, 1970-1983” (Routledge), “In the Shadow of Numbers: Charles Gaines Selected Works from 1975- 2012” (Pomona College Museum of Art/Pitzer Art Galleries), “Richard Hawkins — Third Mind” (Art Institute of Chicago/Yale), and “Roy McMakin: When Is a Chair Not a Chair” (Skira/Rizzoli), as well as print and online periodicals such as Artforum International, Art Journal, and East of Borneo.
He has organized such exhibitions as “Temporary Landmarks & Moving Situations” (2012) at Expo Chicago; “Support Group” at Thomas Solomon Gallery at Cottage Home (2010), Los Angeles; and “Laying Bricks” at Wallspace Gallery (2007), New York. He is a member of the art program faculty at the California Institute of the Arts.
The Hammer’s biennial exhibition series focuses exclusively on artists from the L.A. region with an emphasis on emerging artists. The Los Angeles biennial debuts new installations, videos, films, sculptures, performances, and paintings commissioned specifically for the exhibition and offers a snapshot of the current trends and practices coming out of Los Angeles, one of the most active and energetic art communities in the world.
“Made in L.A.” began in 2012 and followed the tradition of the Hammer Invitational exhibitions, which occurred every two years and included “Snapshot” (2001), “International Paper” (2003), “Thing” (2005), “Eden’s Edge” (2007), “Nine Lives” (2009), and “All of this and nothing” (2011).
The Hammer Museum, a public arts unit of UCLA, is dedicated to exploring the diversity of artistic expression through the ages. Its collections, exhibitions, and programs span the classic to the cutting-edge in art, architecture, and design, recognizing that artists play a crucial role in all aspects of culture and society.
For current program and exhibition information, call (310) 443-7000 or visit www.hammer.ucla.edu.
Hours: Tuesday–Friday, 11 a.m.–8 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, 11 a.m.–5 p.m.; closed Mondays, July 4, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Day.
Admission: $10 for adults; $5 for seniors (65+) and UCLA Alumni Association members; free for museum members, students with identification, UCLA faculty/staff, military personnel, veterans, and visitors 17 and under. The museum is free on Thursdays for all visitors. Public programs are always free.
The Hammer is located at 10899 Wilshire Blvd. at Westwood Boulevard. Parking is available under the museum. Rate is $3 for three hours with validation. Bicycles park free.