BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//The Los Angeles Center of Photography//NONSGML PDA Calendar Version 1.0//EN
CALSCALE:GREGORIAN
BEGIN:VEVENT
UID:9dff59cc54b41a7baf33db5dee356f3e
ORGANIZER:info@lacphoto.org
DTSTAMP:20260609T194433Z
LOCATION:5240 Lankershim Blvd\, North Hollywood\, California\, 91601\, United States
SUMMARY:The World’s Greatest: Photography On and Off Stages - Opening Reception RSVP
DESCRIPTION:Join us for the In-Person Opening Reception on Thursday\, May 29\, 2025\, 6-8pm\, at Laemmle NoHo 7 theater\, 5240 Lankershim Blvd\, North Hollywood\, CA 91601\, RSVP Below.\n\n\nFeaturing Artists\nCandace Biggerstaff\, Ryder Collins\, Thouly Dosios\, David Hanes-Gonzalez\, Kevin Salk\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCurator\n\n\n\nRotem Rozental\, Ph.D.\, Executive Director and Chief Curator\, Los Angeles Center of Photography (LACP) \nOrganized by the Los Angeles Center of Photography and Laemmle NoHo \n\n\n\nAbout\nThis exhibition is interested in vernacular spaces of entertainment that created\, reflected and amplified collective traditions and cultural interests. With particular relevance to the Laemmle Theatres\, a beloved space for cultural consumption and production in Los Angeles\, this exhibition regards the relationships between communities and their entertainers\, traveling forms of spectacle and amazement\, and the people who turn such spaces into reality.  \nThe participating artists capture the shifts in the lives of the events and the people behind them\, focusing on the human experience that defines what live shows\, fairs\, boxing matches and circus arenas might have in common. These projects also speak about the formation of alternative families and tightknit communities\, which would not have existed without performative spaces. Perhaps this is also a way to consider family life as a performative space\, which exists in different ways in public and private spaces. These stories\, in essence\, are stories of belonging. \nCandace Biggerstaff found herself at the circus because of her father-in-law\, who was a circus historian. She and her husband traveled with him for two years in the mid 1970s\, starting with Circus Vargas when she was 20 years old. The experience of not only running away with the circus\, but also capturing traveling companies became integral to her photographic practice.  She has been following them ever since\, capturing the animals and the humans entrusted with their well-being\, witnessing the formation of nontraditional family structures behind the scenes. Biggerstaff’s work begins with life in the circus outside the big top\, processing her own views about what a family is\, or what it could be. \nFor David Hanes-Gonzalez\, the discovery of Mexican boxing style was an entry point to his own cultural genealogy\; a way to overcome the frustration he felt about his lack of connection to his Mexican roots\, as a first generation Mexican American. What began as a short project turned into years-long preoccupation\, which also led him to move to Mexico while capturing an intimate story about the prominence of the sport within local culture and its diasporic communities.   \nKevin Salk began documenting punk bands while barely in high school. They were his friends\, and they were emerging right in front of him as cultural heroes of the underground scenes in Southern California. Decades later\, he picked up his camera again and went back to chronicle the energies\, dedication and reach of his friends and their peers in the metal and punk domains of California. His work provides both a glimpse into the origins and a look toward the present and future of these sub-cultures and their veteran protagonists.  \nWhen Ryder Collins documents county fairs in the state of Washington\, he observes shifting economic circumstances and the demise of a form of entertainment that was once vital for agricultural communities across the country. County fairs became part of the American landscape in the early eighteenth century\, after having emerged as agricultural markets in 1765. In that sense\, the fair predates the union. Elkhana Watson from New England is often credited as the “Father of US agricultural fairs\,” after introducing a hybrid event: An exhibit of animals that included a competition. Collins’s extended documentary project takes such histories into account\, while considering his family’s own agricultural histories and the impact of shifting financial circumstances. \nThouly Dosios have been capturing the streets of Los Angeles\, her adoptive home\, for nearly a decade. Taken by the city’s openness and cultural tapestries of traditions\, cultures\, traditions\, approaches and lived experiences\, Dosios captures contradictions and the constant pivots that define this place. In that sense\, the county fair amalgamates these loose ends into an unexpected meeting point\, of performativity and entertainment\, collective experiences and individual impressions.  \nBack to In-Person Show page HERE.\nTickets\nAdmission is FREE. Please RSVP below. Suggested Donation HERE
STATUS:CONFIRMED
CATEGORIES:Events
URL;VALUE=URI:https://lacphoto.org/events/worlds-greatest-reception-rsvp/
DTSTART:20250530T010000Z
DTEND:20250530T030000Z
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR