A collaborative celebration of one of Southern California’s most lasting contributions to post-World War II cultural life, Pacific Standard Time Presents: Modern Architecture in L.A. continues the momentum of Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A., 1945–1980, the sweeping initiative in 2011–2012 that included exhibitions and programs at more than 60 arts institutions across Southern California. Pacific Standard Time Presents: Modern Architecture in L.A., is smaller in scope, comprising eleven exhibitions and accompanying programs and events in and around Los Angeles continuing through July 2013.
“We wanted to expand our exploration of the region’s postwar visual arts and culture, but obviously we can’t do an initiative on the scale of Pacific Standard Time every year,” said Cuno.
“Pacific Standard Time Presents is smaller in size and geographic reach, but again spurs original scholarship and maintains the collaborative spirit of Pacific Standard Time.” Pacific Standard Time Presents: Modern Architecture in L.A. provides a wide-ranging look at the region’s modern architectural heritage, as well as the significant contributions of L.A. architects to national and global developments in architecture. It examines a broad array of practitioners, from pioneering modernists like Richard Neutra and Pritzker Prize winners such as Frank Gehry and Thom Mayne, to other visionary architects who have been critical in shaping the region’s distinctive profile, including A. Quincy Jones, Whitney Rowland Smith and Eric Owen Moss. Exhibitions and related programming explore a range of building types, from iconic modernist homes and civic landmarks such as Disney Hall, to the whimsical coffee shops and vast freeway networks that made Los Angeles the unique megalopolis it is today.
“I commend Pacific Standard Time Presents for celebrating Los Angeles’ art and heritage through its exhibitions and programs,” Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said. “By continuing to showcase the best of the L.A. region, Pacific Standard Time allows Angelenos the opportunity to discover the history of their great city.”
Exhibition partners include Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA); the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA); Hammer Museum; the Getty; A+D Architecture and Design Museum, Los Angeles; Art, Design & Architecture Museum, UC Santa Barbara; W. Keith and Janet Kellogg University Art Gallery at Cal Poly Pomona; MAK Center for Art and Architecture; and Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc). Additional programming partners include the Center for Land Use Interpretation; Community Arts Resources, Inc.; The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens; the Los Angeles Conservancy; the Los Angeles Philharmonic; Machine Project; Pasadena Heritage; and UCLA Architecture and Urban Design.
“Los Angeles is primarily known for its experimental residential architecture, but Modern Architecture in L.A. demonstrates that the region’s design innovations extended to its infrastructure, civic and commercial buildings, and much more,” said Deborah Marrow, Director of the Getty Foundation, which has made $3.6 million in grants to 16 organizations for exhibitions, publications, and programming. “We are very pleased with the caliber of exhibitions, publications and related programming that make up Pacific Standard Time Presents: Modern Architecture in L.A. This initiative reveals the city’s architectural legacy and ongoing impact in new ways.”
Among the exhibitions are Overdrive: L.A. Constructs the Future, 1940–1990, co-organized by the J. Paul Getty Museum and the Getty Research Institute, the first major museum exhibition to survey Los Angeles’s built environment and rapid postwar evolution into one of the most populous and influential industrial, economic and creative capitals in the world. The J. Paul Getty Museum also presents In Focus: Ed Ruscha, offering a concentrated look at Ruscha’s engagement with Los Angeles’s vernacular architecture, urban landscape, and car culture.
Exhibitions open on staggered dates from April through July 2013, with much of the related programming, including lectures, films, tours, and panel discussions, taking place during L.A. Architecture Month, mid-May to mid-June 2013.
Exhibitions supported by Getty Foundation grants
- A New Sculpturalism: Contemporary Architecture from Southern California (MOCA) $445,000
- Quincy Jones: Building For Better Living (Hammer) $430,000
- The Presence of the Past: Peter Zumthor Reconsiders LACMA (LACMA) $320,000
- Stephen Prina: As He Remembered It (LACMA) $20,000
- Technology and Environment: The Postwar House in Southern California (W. Keith and Janet Kellogg University Art Gallery, Cal Poly Pomona) $300,000
- Everything Loose Will Land (MAK Center for Art and Architecture) $340,000
- Windshield Perspective (A+D Architecture and Design Museum) $260,000
- A Confederacy of Heretics: The Architecture Gallery, Venice, 1979 (SCI-Arc) $260,000 (and $200,000 for the SCI-Arc Media Archive)
- Outside In: The Architecture of Smith and Williams (Art, Design & Architecture Museum, UC Santa Barbara) $265,000
Support for related public programs has also been provided
Center for Land Use Interpretation for On-Site Office Trailers: Invisible Architecture of the Urban Environment, an exhibition of original photography and related construction site tours. $79,000
Community Art Resources, Inc. for CicLAvia: Modern Architecture on Wilshire Blvd, an architectural guide and special programming as part of their June 2013 car-free/open streets event. $100,000
The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens for the online exhibition, Form and Landscape: Southern California Edison and the Los Angeles Basin, and public programming. $100,000
Los Angeles Conservancy for Curating the City: Modern Architecture in L.A., an interactive online resource as well as tours, public programs and print material. $246,000
Los Angeles Philharmonic for The Mozart/Da Ponte Trilogy Conversation, a discussion with Pritzker Prize-winning architects who are designing sets for this unique interdisciplinary series. $20,000
Machine Project for The Machine Project Field Guide to L.A. Architecture, a performance series at architectural sites across the city. $108,000
Pasadena Heritage for Pasadena 1940 Forward: Residential Architecture of the Recent Past, a tour of modernist homes in the Pasadena area along with a related lecture and oral history project. $41,000
UCLA Architecture and Urban Design for Extreme IDEAS: Architecture at the Intersection, a series of discussions about the dynamic and interdisciplinary future of architecture. $165,000