LUMINEX

City of Los Angeles

Los Angeles has always been a city of artists, and the light they shed supports our collective transition through the end of this pandemic and into the future. We feel that we have a responsibility, not only to ourselves and our loved ones, but also to our City, and our local artists. We have a responsibility to create space for the community, to provide a sounding board to experience the work and messages of these profound artists. This is a love note to Los Angeles. We want to address the need for cultural vitality, for residents and creatives alike, and come together collectively to heal ourselves with the power of art. The role of art in our everyday lives is much more vital than is realized. Whether it’s a pandemic, the growth of a city, or the nature of institutions, accessible public art has slowly eroded. Our hope is to change this. Our hope is to be a springboard for a new vision. Our hope is to be one part of the solution.

On the evening of Saturday, April 10, 2021, the Los Angeles community is invited to experience LUMINEX, an outdoor walkable digital art exhibition taking place in the South Park district of DTLA. The exhibition will run 7:30 pm to 11:30 pm and is free to the public. Curated by NOW Art Foundation, LUMINEX is an exhibition of six internationally acclaimed Los Angeles artists: Refik Anadol, Nancy Baker Cahill, Sarah Rara, Carole Kim, Luciana Abait, and Akiko Yamashita; supported by a collective of community sponsors. Using our Downtown buildings as backdrops, these Los Angeles artists will use cutting edge digital art to reflect upon the past year, re-inspire our cultural connection, and spotlight the healing power of art. This site-specific exhibition will feature six massive architecturally distinct walls within a 5-block walkable radius (W. Pico Blvd, S. Olive St, W. 11th St, S. Hope St, Flower St). Each local artist will transform their site, projecting a different story or “dialogue of light”, using video and sound. These digital installations speak to themes pivotal at this moment in time: voids and shattering realities, inclusion and diversity, the healing nature of water, sustainability and our environmental future, and local-global interconnectedness. Some installations will include live performances, augmented reality, multi-channel video art, and immersive experiences.

Pilot or new project, program, or initiative

Los Angeles is a city that is based around creativity, innovation and culture. With the pandemic and the closing of innumerable venues, galleries, and museums, our residents experienced a silence where there would otherwise have been a flurry of creation and excitement as is typical of the Los Angeles arts and culture scene. Our success will be bringing cultural vitality and access to public art back to the residents of downtown Los Angeles. We want to expand the scope of this initial project and to be able to continue to bring public art exhibitions to the citizens of LA free of charge, while promoting Los Angeles to the forefront of culture. Our intended impact is the recognition of this city, and it’s artists, and it’s communities, as part of a vanguard that prioritizes and supports the fundamental nature of creativity and it’s expression.

In terms of project success, with events that are freely accessible to the public, the greatest metric one can aspire is legacy; do people remember the event, were they inspired by the works, did it inspire even better works and even better projects, did it create discussion, did it create action, did it become part of the culture of the city, thereby turning into a event that is repeated or even emulated. If a person sees these works and thinks to themself, ‘maybe I can do that’, and ‘I can do that a bit better’. If it provides a sense of joy, pride, or thoughtfulness. If only one of these comes to fruition, then this event will have been everything that any artist could have hoped.

LA is the best place to CREATE