|
|
|
|
Special Hours
In honor of President's Day, the Wende Museum will be open on Monday, February 17, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.
|
|
|
History, Cultures, Identities: Lezley Saar, Sichong Xie, and Chelle Barbour discuss their works in the exhibition The Medea Insurrection: Radical Women Artists Behind the Iron Curtain
Sunday, February 16, 2020
2 p.m.: Reception
3 p.m.: Panel with Q&A
Hear from Lezley Saar, Sichong Xie, and Chelle Barbour, the Los Angeles-based contemporary artists in the exhibition The Medea Insurrection: Radical Women Artists Behind the Iron Curtain. The panel will be moderated by the Wende’s Chief Curator and Director of Programming Joes Segal.
Free with RSVP.
|
|
|
Culver City Happy Hour and Friday-Night Films at the Wende: The Killing of Mr. Devil
Friday, February 21, 2020
6 p.m.: Culver City Happy Hour Reception
7 p.m.: Screening
1970, Czechoslovakia, 87 minutes, directed by Ester Krumbachová. In Czech with English subtitles.
In conjunction with Culver City Happy Hour, the Wende Museum presents a hilarious and food-filled fantasy directed by Ester Krumbachová, an essential but overlooked figure of the Czechoslovak New Wave. Known for her bold creative vision, she worked as a screenwriter, set designer, and costume designer in collaborations with famed directors Věra Chytilová (Daisies and Fruit of Paradise), Jaromil Jireš (Valerie and Her Week of Wonders), Karel Kachyňa (The Ear), and Jan Němec (A Report on the Party and The Guests and Diamonds of the Night). Not long after the release of The Killing of Mr. Devil in 1970, she was blacklisted for her work on films deemed subversive.
“Krumbachová’s sole directorial effort puts a surrealist, satanic spin on the battle-of-the-sexes farce as a hot-to-trot Miss Lonelyhearts (Jirina Bohdalová) looking for a man gets more than she bargained for when she begins wooing the boorish Mr. Devil (Vladimír Mensík), an insatiable glutton who turns out to be (literally) the boyfriend from hell. A groovy mélange of ’60s lounge muzak, eye-popping art direction, and sumptuous Czech cuisine, The Killing of Mr. Devil is a subversive anti-rom-com that coolly cuts male chauvinism down to size and luxuriates in female pleasure, desire, and liberation” (Film at Lincoln Center).
The Killing of Mr. Devil is being screened as part of a series of films directed by women, in conjunction with the exhibition The Medea Insurrection: Radical Women Artists behind the Iron Curtain, on view through April 5, 2020. The film is presented courtesy of the Czech National Film Archive.
Free with RSVP.
|
|
Screening: Pērkons: A Virtual Reality Rockumentary
Sunday, February 23, 2020
2 p.m.: Reception
3 p.m.: VR screening begins
Experience the virtual reality short film Pērkons: A VR Rockumentary, presented by Fallon. Pērkons: A VR Rockumentary tells the story of how the Latvian rock band Pērkons shook the Soviet establishment with homemade instruments, a 2 KW sound system, and a hard rock sound. The band was banned by the Latvian government twice and many of their fans were arrested. But the harder the authorities tried to silence Pērkons, the more powerful their music became.
Inspired by Latvian and Russian art of the ‘80s (in particular the work of Andris Breže and Ilya Kabakov), the virtual reality film creates an immersive 3D collage that juxtaposes Soviet-era architecture, archival footage, cutouts from 1980s magazines, and a 3D model texture made out of the band’s original sheet music. Viewers will experience the 11-minute film via Oculus GO headsets.
Free with RSVP.
|
|
Art + Feminism Wikipedia Edit-a-Thon
Sunday, March 1, 2020
12 p.m. - 4 p.m.
As part of the global campaign Art + Feminism, this event is designed to address the inequality of gender, feminism, and the arts on Wikipedia. The Wende Museum’s Wikipedia edit-a-thon will help build a better record of the artists in the current exhibition The Medea Insurrection: Radical Women Artists behind the Iron Curtain, many of whom do not have Wikipedia pages in English. Wikipedia training for beginners will be provided, along with resources and refreshments. Bring a laptop and join us! People of all gender expressions and identities are encouraged to attend.
Feminism and Women’s Rebellion: A Discussion with Dr. France Winddance Twine
Sunday, March 1, 2020
3 p.m.: Discussion and Q&A
In conjunction with the Wikipedia Edit-a-Thon, Dr. France Winddance Twine will speak about women’s rebellion in Eastern Europe during the Cold War, and how that rebellion does and does not relate to the feminisms of today. The discussion will be moderated by the Wende’s Visitor Engagement Manager, Juli Sanders, and followed by a Q&A.
Dr. France Winddance Twine is a professor of sociology at UC Santa Barbara, an ethnographer, a feminist race theorist, and a documentary filmmaker.
Free with RSVP.
|
|
Beth Morrison Projects Presents Nueva Canción: Songs of Protest and Resistance
March 6, 2020
7 p.m.: Museum tour and reception
8 p.m.: Concert
Nueva Canción: Songs of Protest and Resistance is a new, music-based multimedia event created by Sandra Powers and Timur, and performed by the glam rock band Timur and the Dime Museum. Produced by Beth Morrison Projects, the concert is rooted in the Latin American song movement that began in the 1960s and criticized political oppression and spurred sociopolitical change. These songs told multilayered stories about unequal distribution of wealth, corrupt politics, and abuses of power, evolving from folk to incorporate electronic, classical, and rock influences. Nueva Canción focuses on the songbook of Mercedes Sosa, the driving force behind the movement. In addition, Timur’s memories of being raised under communism and then witnessing the collapse of the Soviet Union will provide a personal perspective on the complexity of political regimes. Nueva Canción: Songs of Protest and Resistance is a National Performance Network/Visual Artists Network (NPN/VAN) Creation and Development Fund Project co-commissioned by Beth Morrison Projects in partnership with Miami Light Project and NPN.
About Beth Morrison Projects
Beth Morrison Projects (BMP) identifies and supports the work of emerging and established composers and their multi-media collaborators through the commission, development, production, and touring of their works, which take the form of music-theatre, opera-theatre, multi-media concert works, and new forms waiting to be discovered.
About Music at the Wende
Now in its second season, Music at the Wende is a new music series in which esteemed musical organizations present free concerts at the Wende Museum, with musical programs inspired by the Wende collection and mission. For the full schedule, click here.
Free with RSVP.
Series supported by the Music at the Wende Donor Group.
|
|
In Search of Our Times Lecture: Roads and Shortcuts to Utopia
Sunday, March 8, 2020
2 p.m.: Reception
3 p.m.: Lecture
The twentieth century has seen the devastating effects of a blind belief in ideological blueprints, from fascism and national socialism to “real existing” socialism. But can we survive without utopian ideas? Do we need an inspiring vision and sense of direction to take care of ourselves and our environment? How much dreaming is needed to shape our world?
Featuring Thomas Small, a member of the Culver City Council, architectural writer, and chair of the Board of Jacaranda Music; journalist Christopher Hawthorne, a former LA Times architecture critic and the first Chief Design Officer of Los Angeles; Enrique Martinez Celaya, a painter, sculptor, author on art and philosophy, and physicist, whose artworks are exhibited and collected by museums around the world; and acclaimed author Cornelia Funke, a writer of children's fiction with more than 20 million books sold worldwide.
Free with RSVP.
In Search of Our Times is presented as part of Wende Conversations: A Discussion Series Supported by Susan Horowitz and Rick Feldman. Click here to learn about the other discussions in the series.
|
|
FREE Morning Yoga in the Wende Garden
Taught by Jennifer Winther
Wednesdays, 9 a.m.
Culver City yoga teacher Jennifer Winther offers a FREE 50-minute yoga class in the Wende Sculpture Garden, with just the right amount of movement to strengthen a bit, get the blood flowing, stretch out the stress, and get centered.
Please bring water and a mat (if you have one). Free and open to all.
|
|
Medea: controversial archetype of female strength and passion from the East. In the years before the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, East European writers and painters often turned to ancient mythology to express their discontent with authoritarian rule. Their interpretations of mythological figures like Medea, Cassandra, and Penthesilea were crucial in shaping contemporary images for women, and sometimes they were straight-up punk. Working under the radar of the accepted art establishment, the artists in this exhibition provoked, protested, played with fire, and experimented while refusing socialist and bourgeois stereotypes. The Medea Insurrection was conceptualized and curated by Susanne Altmann for the Albertinum (Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden). It has been adapted by the Wende Museum for its Culver City appearance.
The Medea Insurrection: Radical Women Artists Behind the Iron Curtain is part of Wunderbar Together: The Year of German-American Friendship 2018/19, an initiative funded by the German Federal Foreign Office, implemented by the Goethe-Institut, and supported by the Federation of German Industries (BDI).
Running Man
Stas Orlovski’s Running Man transforms the Eva and Brian Sweeney East German Guardhouse from a symbol of surveillance and oppression into a magic lantern where disparate histories merge, intermingle and collide. Orlovski occupies the guardhouse with 3 projected, stop-motion animations that explore themes of loss, memory and migration. Drawing on the structure's Cold War past and its current proximity to Sony Picture Studios, the work references Russian children's books, Soviet era animation, Malevich’s Suprematism, Hans Richter’s experimental films and Eadweard Muybridge’s early motion pictures.
On view through April 5, 2020
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
