Geentanjal Khanna/Unsplash.
Los Angeles (and greater California) has a complicated relationship with water. Diminishing sources, droughts, and overuse have troubled the city since its inception. “Current: LA Water” seeks to address these issues through public art installations.
The project was born from a $1 million dollar grant from the Bloomberg Philanthropies Public Art Challenge, which, in June 2015, challenged cities across the country to create temporary public art projects that celebrated creativity, enhanced urban identity, encouraged public-private partnerships, and drove economic development. “Current LA: Water” was one of the projects selected.
[…]
“Los Angeles is the creative capital of the world, a place where we appreciate how art inspires us to see the world through new eyes,” said Mayor Eric Garcetti. “’Current: LA’ will make Angelenos rethink our relationship with water, and better understand how the L.A. River connects the diverse communities and cultures that make our city great.”
No. No, LA is not the creative capital of the world. American exceptionalism, it’s everywhere. And inside that exceptionalism, there’s state and city exceptionalism. Stop that.
Work will be available to view for one-month at 14 different sites throughout the city. “A narrative about our relationship to water and its allied systems will be demonstrated through the voice and visions of the ‘Current: LA’ artists, an exciting group of internationally recognized and emerging talents that are as culturally diverse as the inhabitants of Los Angeles themselves,” said Felicia Filer, DCA’s Public Art Division Director.
If you happen to be in this particular area of the world at the pertinent time, have a look. Via Out.
Thanks for posting this. I did not know of it. I will trek down the mountain and check it out.
Loss Angles is the shitestain of the world. It is one of the most polluted “cities” on the planet, it has on perhaps the most useless public transport on the planet, and it is notorious for its racism and bigotry. It is the fecking junkyard of the world.
(I used to live in the area, and went to school in the area. It is the worse place I have ever been! I despite the entire fecking cesspool.)
Yeah, I used to live in the area too, can’t say I’ve ever had a fondness for LA. Really can’t say I ever had any sort of regard for fucking LA cops. I was there in the bad old days, and I doubt things are much better.
I despise the entire fecking area…
Institution-wise, RTA (bus system) fecked me off the most (the
copsgoons being second-ish), but was / still is the pollution which I absolutely do not tolerate. Complete fecking cesspool.(The theft of water factors in here as well…)
I visited LA in 1968 or 1969.
I have a special memory of one bus driver.
He was answering questions for three different passengers, filling out a form and steering with his elbows.
and got us to our destination safely
…
The smog was yellow.
The next time I saw air like that was 20 years later in Tokyo.
That smog was grey.
Never been, but I’m pretty sure I know of at least two other cities that would protest at the label of ‘creative capital of the world’. Not that either is any more worthy of the title (that is to say, just as worthy as pretty much any other city with a thriving creative community).
Anyway, I saw the title of this, and considering your recent water photos, it seems like your type of event. :)
rq:
Yes and no. I’m a native Californian, born and bred, and I loved growing up there, but even within my lifetime, things changed radically, and water, well, California has always had a rather interesting relationship with water, generally, not having enough of it, massive droughts, and a history of stealing water whenever possible. What I will always miss the most (as SoCal killed off all the orange groves and other stuff)* is the ocean, and my love of water and SoCal is all about ocean.
*The day some asshole strip mall owner cut down the last remaining orange tree from one of the original groves was the day I left. I couldn’t take it anymore.
Ah, that makes a lot more sense. It’s a clear privilege when you can think of water-as-artistic-medium and completely forget about the water-as-sometimes-not-there part.
This is why I hate developers. Develop, sure -- but there’s got to be a way to do it while preserving the things worth preserving (I grew up in a marsh conservation area whose zoning was oh-so-conveniently changed to residential when the right amount of money came along).
To be clear, this part refers to me. :)