Your week in design events from DnA.
1) Ambulante
“It’s not every day that you get to watch a film on the banks of the L.A. River or at a Food Co-Op in Pasadena or the Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook. But it’s not every day that the Ambulante Documentary Film Festival rolls into town,” writes the LA Times Carolina Miranda, describing the roving film festival founded by actor-directors Diego Luna and Gael García Bernal, and producer Pablo Cruz.
For three weeks, beginning Sept. 19, Ambulante will screen films on topics as varied as Latin boogaloo and Haitian machete fencing, in locations around Los Angeles and beyond.
When: Saturday, September 15 — Sunday, October 4
Where: Multiple locations
Tickets: The program is free but welcomes donations to cover costs.
Click here for more information.
2) Billings Auction/Dan Ostroff at Herman Miller
The ritual of the auction is being upended by new kids on the block Billings, a new auction house in DTLA created by Lorca Cohen and Greg Wooten, co-owners of The Window, Joshua Kritzer of Rewire Gallery and LA dealer Rich Carmichael. Their inaugural sale on September 19 is intended to be “a design community happening” complete with “food trucks, cocktails, a live, improvised electronic “sound sculpture” performance by Megalon and an outdoor lounge area furnished by Modernica.”
Hearkening back to the early days of LA Modern Auctions, Billings says its goal is “to provide an affordable and accessible platform for the acquisition of quality, vintage modern furnishings, art, objects and accessories.” Preview and online bidding are also available on LiveAuctioneers.com.
And while on the topic of vintage modern furnishings, on Saturday, September 19th, Eames collector Dan Ostroff will talk about his book An Eames Anthology; that’s at the Herman Miller Showroom in Culver City, at 2:00-4:00PM. The event is presented by the Society of Architectural Historians.
Billings Auction
When: Saturday, September 19, 2015, 10am-5pm
Where: The Great Company, 1917 Bay Street, 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90021
Tickets: Open to the public; preview and online bidding available on LiveAuctioneers.com
Click here for more information.
3) DIAVOLO | Architecture in Motion
A few months back DnA was lucky enough to witness Fluid Infinities, a stunning performance — at The Broad stage — in which dancers leapt acrobatically in and around a large quarter-sphere with holes in it. Now that dance will be performed along with Foreign Bodies and Fearful Symmetries in a trilogy by the company called L’Espace du Temps, which the company’s founder and Artistic Director Jacques Heim describes as “a meditation on the space of time from creation to evolution and finally to an unknown destination.”
Music is by Esa-Pekka Salonen, John Adams and Philip Glass. The event is co-presented by Valley Performing Arts Center and Ford Signature Series.
When: Saturday, September 19 at 8PM and Sunday, September 20 at 3PM
Where: Valley Performing Arts Center, California State University, Northridge (CSUN), 18111 Nordhoff Street Northridge, CA 91330-8448, at the corner of Nordhoff and Lindley.
Tickets: Tickets range from $60 – $99 and can be purchased by visiting ValleyPerformingArtsCenter.org or calling (818) 677-3000.
Click here for more information.
4) IIDA Award Breakfast Honoring DnA’s Frances Anderton
LA is a hotbed of interior designers, for both private residences and the commercial sector. Of the latter, many are members of the Socal branch of IIDA (International Interior Designers Association) — it describes itself as having a proven history on “how Interior Design impacts the bottom line” — and will gather Friday morning for the annual Los Angeles Leaders Breakfast, at which they will honor DnA’s host Frances Anderton, for “significant contributions to the design industry” and feature a keynote speech given by Jonathan Perelman, Vice President of BuzzFeed Motion Pictures. He will “addresse how to create shareable, social content but also offers insights into how to maximize its reach and impact.”
When: September 18, 2015; 7:00 – 10:00 AM
Where: LA Hotel Downtown, 333 S. Figueroa Street, Los Angeles, CA
Tickets: Click here.
Click here for more information.
5) Ma Yansong/Conversations With Engineers
Ma Yansong
Beijing-born architect Ma Yansong is founder and principal of MAD Architects, one of China’s leading young architects who won the commission to build George Lucas’ museum in Chicago and has a condo building in the works in Beverly Hills. He will talk at LACMA Tuesday night about his work and his concept of “Shanshui City,” which is his vision to create a new balance between society, the environment and the city, through an integration of natural form and vegetation into the increasingly vast towers and developments that shape urban life. You can learn more about him from these DnA audio and print interviews.
When: Tuesday, September 15, 7:30PM
Where: LACMA, Bing Theatre, 5905 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles
Tickets: $15 general admission; $10 LACMA and AIA members; $5 seniors 62+ and students with ID; for tickets call 323 857-6010 or purchase online.
Click here for more information.
Conversations With Engineers
One of the lesser-known shapers of LA is the engineer Richard Bradshaw, who turns 99 this year. His contribution to the “brutalist” era of the LA cityscapewill be discussed at a panel entitled, After Bradshaw: Conversations with Engineers on LA Architecture co-hosted by the LA Forum and Arup engineers, at which Arups’ Russell Fortmeyer will talk with structural engineer Matthew Melnyk, of Nous Engineering; mechanical engineer Erin McConahey; and the façade engineer Jeff Vaglio, director of Enclos’ Advanced Technology Studio.
When: Tuesday, September 15, 2015, 6:30 to 8:30PM
Where: Main Plaza, Northeast Terrace (outside), Japanese American Cultural and Community Center, 244 South San Pedro Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012, 213.628.2725
Tickets: Free to members, $10 non-members/$5 student non-members
Click here for more information.
And of course, don’t forget that The Broad opens to the public this Sunday. We’ll report back after the press preview Wednesday.
