Have you ever wanted to ask an artist a question, but didn’t know how? You may soon have your chance.
“Office Hours,” a new program dedicated to connecting artists and audiences, starts this month at LAXART, a nonprofit contemporary art venue in Los Angeles. A play on the academic tradition of one-on-one student-professor meetings, “Office Hours” presents free opportunities to engage in 50-minute conversations with participating artists to discuss their work or other subjects.
The first participating artists are Edgar Arceneaux (Mar. 16), Tania Bruguera (Apr. 2) and A.L. Steiner (Apr. 5).
Arceneaux’s work includes drawings, installations and video that present implausible dreamscapes. His work has been exhibited at the Hammer Museum, L.A.; the Kitchen, New York; the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; and the Studio Museum in Harlem.
The Cuban-born Bruguera’s performance, installation and video art investigates the role of art in political discourse by creating forums for the public to engage in debate, challenging established roles of spectator and participant. Bruguera participated in Documenta in 2011, as well as multiple editions of the Venice Biennale.
As a faculty member at University of Southern California’s Roski School of Fine Arts, the Los Angeles-based Steiner has some experience holding office hours. Steiner’s works explore queer feminist androgyny through photography, video and installation, and have been exhibited at such venues as the Tate Modern, London; New York’s New Museum; MoMA PS1, New York; and Centre Pompidou, Paris. Among her other credits, she’s a founding member of Working Artists and the Greater Economy (W.A.G.E.), which advocates for compensation for artists.
Individuals can sign up for a meeting with these artists, held at LAXART, by emailing officehours@laxart.org with one of the available dates and times listed on LAXART’s website, where information on future participants will also appear.
