Niños detenidos: LA Artists Respond to the Policy of Family Separation
Thursday, October 1, 1:00-2:30 p.m. PT
The program will screen the film La Historia de Mateo (2019, 23 minutes), which follows a family’s journey as they flee Central America to the US. Artists rafa esparza, Sandy Rodriguez, and Gala Porras-Kim (current GRI artist-in-residence) will join the film maker in conversation following the screening.

The year’s Gaehtgens Lecture, part of the Beyond the Borders, Beyond the Boundaries series, features Anne Lafont in conversation with Lyneise Williams on the materials, techniques, and challenges involved in 18th-century artistic representations of Blackness in works from across the Atlantic world. Lafont and Williams explore how European conceptualizations of African subjectivity were expressed through images, and how the artistic materiality involved in figuring Black bodies and subjects contributed to the visual construction of race during the Enlightenment.

Anne Lafont is professor (directrice d’études) at the Center for the History and Theory of Art at the School for Advanced Study in the Social Sciences (EHESS), Paris. A specialist of 18th- and 19th-century visual culture in the transatlantic world, Lafont is the author of numerous books including, most recently, L’art et la race: L’Africain (tout) contre l’œil des Lumières (2019).

Lyneise Williams is associate professor of art history at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In 2019, she published Latin Blackness in Parisian Visual Culture, 1852–1932, which explores the inextricable links between Blackness and Latin American identity in Paris from the mid-19th to early 20th century.

The conversation is moderated by Getty Research Institute Director Mary Miller.

Sponsored by the Getty Research Institute Council, the annual Thomas and Barbara Gaehtgens Lecture series is dedicated to highlighting leading research in the field of global art history.

The Beyond the Borders, Beyond the Boundaries lecture series brings together speakers whose work expands art historical scholarship beyond the intellectual and geographic constraints that have traditionally defined it. Presented by the Director’s Office at Getty Research Institute, the series’ topics range from depictions of race in 18th-century painting to participatory art about undocumented migration, provoking new ways of thinking about how practices of inclusion and exclusion have shaped the field.

The first in this series of conversations brings together artist Edgar Arceneaux and art historian Julian Myers-Szupinska, who will discuss how archives, histories, and lived experiences impact the social and political production of urban space.

Since its founding in 1781, Los Angeles has existed on contested land. Although long recognized as a diverse and multicultural city, its history is marked by segregation, racist city planning, and harmful urban redevelopment policies. Imaginaries of LA is a series of conversations between Los Angeles-based artists and curators that explores what is at stake in the various strategies that artists use to represent Los Angeles and provide a forum for debate about the past, present and future of the city.

Edgar Arceneaux is a Los Angeles-based artist working in the media of drawing, sculpture, and performance, whose works often explore connections between historical events and present-day truths.

Julian Myers-Szupinska is a Los Angeles-based art historian and editor who studies contemporary art, exhibitions, and the politics of space.

This program is moderated by Zanna Gilbert, senior research specialist, and was organized by Zanna Gilbert and Isabel Wade, research assistant at Getty Research Institute.

The event coincides with the launch of 12 Sunsets: Exploring Ed Ruscha’s Archive, an interactive website that allows users to discover thousands of photographs of Sunset Boulevard taken by artist Ed Ruscha between 1965 and 2007.

The Black Index: Artists in Conversation
Friday, January 15, 2021, 11:00 am – 12:30 pm PST
Visit https://www.getty.edu/research/exhibitions_events/ for more information

Join us for two conversations—between artist Lava Thomas in conversation with professor Leigh Raiford, and artist Whitfield Lovell in conversation with curator LeRonn P. Brooks—about The Black Index, an online exhibition curated by Bridget R. Cooks at the Contemporary Art Center Gallery, the University of California, Irvine. These conversations explore the significance of the artists’ work featured in the exhibition along with the role of Black artistic practice within our current moment of political and social turmoil.
Organized by the University of California, Irvine, in partnership with Getty Research Institute’s African American Art History Initiative, this event is made possible in part through the generous support of the University of California Humanities Research Institute. Experience the virtual exhibition The Black Index here starting January 9 through March 19, 2021, and purchase the related catalog here.

The Greek Trilogy of Luis Alfaro: Oedipus El Rey, Mojada, Electricidad
Available for streaming through January 20 at ctgla.org/LuisTrilogy

The J. Paul Getty Museum is proud to partner with the Center Theatre Group in premiering MacArthur Fellow Luis Alfaro’s Chicanx adaptations of Electricidad, Oedipus El Rey, and Mojada in readings filmed at the Kirk Douglas Theatre. Alfaro’s award-winning trilogy of plays transplant themes of the ancient Greek tragedies of Electra, Oedipus the King, and Medea into the 21st-century streets of Los Angeles, giving voice to the concerns of the Chicanx and wider Latinx communities. With performances around the world, including celebrated runs at the Mark Taper Forum, The Public Theater, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and the Getty Villa, Alfaro’s electric adaptations question the role that citizens and community play in the social issues facing us all today.

Performed in English with Spanish captions.
Please be advised that The Greek Trilogy of Luis Alfaro contain adult language and themes and are not suitable for children under 13.

Ancient Rome @Home
Available at https://www.getty.edu/education/college/ancient_rome_at_home/index.htmlExplore Roman daily life with recipes featuring a sweet ancient ingredient, a makeover inspired by a mummy portrait, print-at-home board games, and a brand-new tabletop role-playing game based on the Odyssey. Live events are no longer available.

Troubadour Theater Company Presents: The ODDyssey
Available for streaming at https://gty.art/oddyssey

Stay-at-home orders or not, nothing can stop the Troubadour Theater Company (aka: the Troubies) from giving us some much-needed comedy! The ODDyssey recounts Homer’s epic tale in five webisodes, offering a wild retelling of Odysseus’s adventure for audiences of all ages. “The ODDyssey is a family-friendly, seat-of-our pants, stuck-at-home mix of wacky and whimsical storytelling by a cast of kooky, colorful characters,” says Troubies’ artistic director Matt Walker. Encounter the cyclops, witches, sirens, angry gods, and multi-snake-headed creatures, gathering on Zoom from their respective dwellings. Inspired by Zoom’s low-resolution quality, The ODDyssey is retro-styled with a variety of music including sitcom song remakes and homemade props. So, get the family together and meet some of these beloved mythological characters as they struggle with communicating remotely—just like the rest of us.

Also available virtually (and for free) from the Getty: