5 Design Things To Do This Week

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Exploring the urban impact of the Expo Line, art you can (and should) touch, a ‘design and dim sum’ bicycle ride, a Hollywood pop-up park, and new work by Ed Moses. All in this week’s DnA event picks.

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(W)rapper Tower project site by Eric Owen Moss Architects (EOMA). (The original image is no longer available, please contact KCRW if you need access to the original image.)

1) L.A. Forum/ OTM 2016: La Cienega Station

Transportation may be the most obvious benefit of the Expo Line, but the design and development transformation it spurs has a significant relevance to our city as well.  The LA Forum for Architecture and Urban Design’s 2016 “On The Map” series follows the Metro Expo Line and its urban impact.  The first stop is Culver City station, adjacent to the forthcoming (W)rapper Tower project site by Eric Owen Moss Architects (EOMA).  At their office, EOMA will present and discuss (W)rapper Tower’s development and the city’s rapidly evolving urban fabric along the Metro Expo line.

When: Wednesday, June 23, 7:30 – 9:30 pm

Where: Eric Owen Moss Architects, 8557 Higuera Street, Culver City, CA 90232

Tickets: Free for Members, General Admission $10, Students $5.  Tickets

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‘Please Touch the Art’ features pieces from nearly 20 artists that are all meant to be caressed, handled, manipulated, tapped and otherwise touched.’ (The original image is no longer available, please contact KCRW if you need access to the original image.)

2) Please Touch the Art

STOP!  DON’T TOUCH!  Wait, wrong exhibit.  Art touches us, so why shouldn’t we be able to touch art?  And if touch is how you see, wouldn’t it be nice to surround yourself with art you can touch/see?  This is the mission of blind sculptor and furniture maker, George Wurtzel, who also works at the Enchanted Hills Camp for the visually impaired in Napa, and is in the process of creating a tactile gallery space and wood-working workshop. Now he has collaborated with Sam Cantor, co-owner of Cantor’s Fine Art in Los Angeles, and artist, Andrew Myers, to create Please Touch the Art, opening this week.  The works included in the exhibit are visual, tactile and interactive.  The opening reception will include the chance to meet Wurtzel and some of the other artists, and a performance from the Academy of Music for the Blind, to which 10 percent of all proceeds from the show will be donated. Watch the documentary short, Please Touch the Art.

When: Opening Reception Thursday, June 24, 6 – 9 pm. On display through August 31.

Where: Cantor Fine Arts designLAb at the Pacific Design Center, 8687 Melrose Avenue Suite: B 274, West Hollywood, California 90069

Tickets: Free.  Register Here.

‘Knitspace’ by Matt Gagnon

3) LA Design Festival continues; Dwell on Design Opens

A TURF mini-golf tournament (hosted by Materials + Applications and featuring designs by Ball Nogues, Ordinary Architecture and more), a Silver Lake Neighborhood Design Tour,  a panel discussion honoring the “mothers” of LA’s women designers and the 8th annual Design-n-Dim Sum Ride, including a stop  at the studio of  artist and furniture designer Matt Gagnon (see his knitspace, above) are among the many attractions at the ongoing LA Design Festival. It culminates with Dwell on Design, the three-day exhibition and conference that might inspire you to remodel your home.  It comprises one trade day (Friday) and two consumer days (Saturday and Sunday) and features the annual smorgasbord of speakers, product demonstrations, and seminars for Modern design enthusiasts.

When: Thursday-Sunday, June 23 – 26.  Thursday, June 23, 7 – 9pm Meet the Architects Night, Friday, June 24, 7 – 8pm Opening Night Reception

Where:  Los Angeles Convention Center, 1201 S Figueroa St, Los Angeles, CA 90015

Tickets: $20-$749. Register Here.  Check the full schedule of events, here.

Hollywood Pop!, courtesy Sunset & Vine Business Improvement District
Hollywood Pop!, courtesy Sunset & Vine Business Improvement District (The original image is no longer available, please contact KCRW if you need access to the original image.)

4) Fuzzy Urbanism: Ideas for Blurring the Lines Between Public and Private

It’s one thing to say you want to change the urban fabric of Los Angeles, but it’s another thing to do it. Money is usually the sticking point. The nonprofit design organization LA-Más recently completed ‘Hollywood Pop!’, a yearlong park installation funded by the Sunset & Vine Business Improvement District. The group convened this forum to look at how public-private partnerships and small scale investments can impact neighborhoods.

This discussion features Nat Gale (LA Department of Transportation), Elizabeth Timme (LA-Más), Daveed Kapoor (utopiad.org), Mimi Zeiger (critic), Matthew Severson (Hollywood Property Owners Alliance), Priscilla Fraser (LACMA). The moderator is Helen Leung (LA-Más).

When: Wednesday, June 22, 7 – 9 pm

Where: Space 15 Twenty, 1520 N Cahuenga Blvd, Los Angeles, California 90028

Tickets: Free and open to the public. Please RSVP at info@mas.la.

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5) Reception and Preview of New Works by Ed Moses

New works made by Ed Moses are being added to theMoses@90 survey exhibition currently on show at William Turner Gallery at Bergamot Station. Moses will be present at a reception of his new works this Saturday.  The gallery writes that “At 90, Moses continues his dogged search for the elusive metaphysical power of painting, creating works that are about the expression of temporality, process and presence, beyond the physical limitations of surface.”

When: Saturday, June 25, from 5 – 7 pm

Where: William Turner Gallery, Bergamot Station, 2525 Michigan Ave, E–1, Santa Monica, CA 90404 (Expo Line has a stop at Bergamot Station)

Tickets: Free and Open to the Public