In March, LASA considered the role of art in LA’s cultural landscape. We gathered at LACMA and met with Abigail Duckor, assistant objects conservator. She led us through the conservation lab. Sofia reflects, “You never really think about how they conserve the art pieces and what goes on behind the scenes and how much work goes into it.” Noah adds, “I never knew how much chemistry and thought was put into preserving and moving art exhibits.”
LASA students spent time in the museum as well. “Metropolis II” by Chris Burden, a kinetic sculpture, proved particularly captivating.
After lunch, Christopher Hawthorne, Chief Design Officer of the City of Los Angeles spoke with us about the mid-Wilshire area as a site of rethinking given a broad cultural shift to downtown, LACMA’s building plans, as well as the local Metro construction. After his description of the plans for the new building, many of the students expressed their interest in returning to see the progress.
Reflecting on the day as a whole, Anusha shares, “LASA this past Saturday gave me an entirely new perspective about how art influences people’s lives both directly and behind the scenes. Getting to see the work that goes into preserving artwork at LACMA’s conservation lab showed me how much goes on literally underground on a daily basis to ensure that history and culture is cared for and preserved so the public can experience high quality art. Even the artwork at LACMA reflected the themes we’ve been exploring of how interconnected a city is. The piece “Metropolis” demonstrated how many moving parts have to fit together to make a truly functioning and living city.”
