City of West Hollywood
Home Menu2023 Temporary Art Projects
HB7: Cruising, 2023
High Beams
Saturday, September 16, 2023, 5pm – 9pm
Plummer Park - North Parking Lot, 7377 Santa Monica Blvd.
Presented by High Beams, a Los Angeles-based curatorial collective, HB7: Cruising is a one-night only exhibition featuring sculpture, installation, painting, video, and performance artworks by twenty artists. Visitors will experience a temporary art garden that is wide-ranging and interactive, and that pays homage to West Hollywood’s legendary nightlife. Themes explored by the artists in show include trauma, an impending planetary crisis, body autonomy, and eco-feminism; while others leverage ideas around hedonism, pleasure, and comfort as distractions from the endless parade of anxiety-inducing news.
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Falling on Deaf Ears, 2023
Juilo Sims
September 11, 2023 – January 10, 2024
City Council Chambers Hall, 625 N. San Vicente Blvd.
Digital print on free-standing screen, 6' (H) x 22" (L) x 1" (W)
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Weaving Hope
Yeu Q Nguyen
June 25, 2023
Plummer Park, 7737 Santa Monica Boulevard
9’ (H) x 12” (W) woven tapestry
Weaving Hope is a temporary public art project with a mission to gather over 1,000 personal definitions of hope and to uplift community resilience through art. The artist created the work during the pandemic as a way for the community to interact and connect with one another safely. The Artwork has been installed in several different cities in LA County between 2021-2022.
The Artwork consists of a 9 x 12-foot tapestry of vibrant colors and textures woven from fabric remnants that would have gone to landfills. The Artwork symbolizes the artist’s vision of America: a dream woven from hours of intensive labor, a land of many colors, an idea made richer by its containment of multitudes. The art making process is an allusion to the act of “picking up the pieces” and creating a more hopeful, brighter whole for the future.
Participants will be invited to customize their own “hope” features with provided prompts. They will then add the feathers to the tapestry and will have an opportunity to read other’s responses. The artist uses the art of self-expression to encourage participants to be vulnerable, in sharing themselves, and empathetic, in reading each other’s responses, to build up a personal and community resilience with this project, as well as celebrate both our unique individuality and common humanity.
Yeu "Q" Nguyen is multidisciplinary artist and cultural producer based in Los Angeles, best known for her vibrant, interactive installations and intricately crafted objects rich in cultural symbolism and social empathy. Her expansive repertoire of works has appeared at notable venues such as the Autry's SouthWest Museum, the Orange County Center for Contemporary Art, the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, and the Armory Center for the Arts.
Born in Saigon and immigrated to the US as a teenager, her writing and art was also featured on the cover of the Inlandia Institute’s 2020 literary anthology titled “A Short Guide To Finding
Your First Home In The US.” Q has received grant awards from DCA Los Angeles, Eastside Arts Initiative, Puffin Foundation, and Santa Monica’s Art of Recovery for her art project “Weaving Hope,” which travels to communities in LA County to uplift local culture and resilience.
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Be the Change: A Jewishly Inspired Public Art Movement, 2023
Various artists presented by the Skirball Cultural Center
June 15 – September 30, 2023
Plummer Park Community Center, 7377 Santa Monica Blvd.
Six sculptures measuring 60” (H) x 32” (W) each
Be the Change: A Jewishly Inspired Public Art Movement is a public art initiative originally developed by the Jewish Arts Collaborative (J Arts) in Boston, Massachusetts and brought to West Hollywood by the Skirball Cultural Center. As the Southern California–based producer of Be the Change, the Skirball has identified five community partners who have collaborated with a wide range of artists to create artworks that illuminate issues of injustice and encourage community members to become agents of change. For the West Hollywood iteration of Be the Change, six sculptures meant to evoke large tzedakah boxes—vessels in which Jews traditionally collect money to be donated to charity—will be installed outside of Plummer Park Community Center. The goal of the exhibition is to elevate the concept of charity both physically and conceptually, and to use the tzedakah box as a sculptural form that can drive change in our community.
Participating organizations, artists, and themes include:
- Holocaust Museum LA with an eleventh-grade world history class at Whittier High School about the meaning and purpose of tzedakah.
- LA vs. Hate with interdisciplinary visual artist River T. Garza about indigenous communities.
- Nature Nexus Institute with several artists, including Azul Calderon, Diandra Dillon, Akari Johnston, Joanna Raucho, Stacey Vigallon, and Brian Young about environmental justice.
- The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles with artist and educator Marni Gittleman and muralist and creative engineer Bobby Z. Rodriguez about tikkun olam (heal the world).
- Pico Union Project with whimsical artist Mr. B Baby about the housing crisis.
- Additionally, the Skirball Cultural Center has partnered with self-taught American Lebanese artist Alex Ahmad Abli about religion and social justice.
The Skirball Cultural Center is a place of meeting guided by the Jewish tradition of welcoming the stranger and inspired by the American democratic ideals of freedom and equality. The Skirball welcomes people of all communities and generations to participate in cultural experiences that celebrate discovery and hope, foster human connections, and call upon the organization to help build a more just society.
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We’ve Always Been Here, 2023
Britt Westveer
May 15, 2023 — May 15, 2024
City Hall, 8300 Santa Monica Boulevard
We’ve Always Been Here by Britt Westveer is a collection of three large, printed posters wheat pasted onto the side of City Hall featuring digital collages made from found imagery and the artist’s own archives depicting the long history of diverse LGBTQIA+ people who have "always been here". Westveer desires to highlight the many faces of the Queer community and show that LGBTQIA+ identifying people have and will always be here, especially during a time when the community is being erased and censored. Aside from the important message these artworks communicate, they are also a celebration of colorful, beautiful and fun imagery.
Britt Westveer is a queer Milwaukee-born and Los Angeles-based multidisciplinary artist with a focus on textiles and photography. Her work evokes both the past and the present, with a heavy emphasis on identity. She is currently exploring these themes by researching the erasure of women and non-binary people’s history during the ‘Old West’, as well as the erasure of LGBTQIA+ identifying people throughout history. Through the use of storytelling, photography and found imagery, Britt wants to demystify the fables of the west and give a voice to the unheard and unseen. As well as generate a discussion about people who identify as women/non-binary or LGBTQIA+ during a time that has been consistently populated with cis-male-centered folklore and glamorization.
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Photographs by Terry Konrath, 2023
Terry Konrath
May 1, 2023 — December 1, 2023
William S. Hart Park, 8341 De Longpre Avenue (along the Sunset Boulevard fence line, facing north)
Terry Konrath presents an exhibition of photographs printed on vinyl banners installed along the Sunset Boulevard-facing fence line of William S. Hart Park from May 1, 2023 to December 1, 2023. This body of work was created in 1988 during the second incarnation of the West Hollywood Halloween Street Celebration. Santa Monica Boulevard acted as a grand catwalk where Drag Queens strutted their stuff and broke out in spontaneous dance routines for people who lined the sides of the boulevard. Konrath was enthralled by their sparkles and glamour and took tips from the fabulous gals on how to shine. She was in total awe of their confidence and realized that she was witnessing pure female superpower—with no apologies. Konrath understood what Dolly Parton meant when she said that it was a good thing that she had been born a girl, because otherwise she would've become a Drag Queen.
Terry Konrath is a documentary photographer and former club kid who quietly photographed the city with her 35mm film camera during the late 1980s and early 1990s, while she was studying her craft with Joann Callis, Eileen Cowin, Peter Reiss, Mary Lloyd Estrin and Allen Sekula. She earned a BFA and an MFA in fine arts and photography from CalArts. Konrath considers her work Terry’s as part of the “slow” photography movement, which encourages thoughtfully building relationships with her subjects. Recently, she completed an artist in residency in Louisiana where she photographed farmers who are using sustainable methods in their practice. She continues to use her 35mm camera. Shortly before the residency she installed a mural for the arts council in Morganton, North Carolina.
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Poetry Walk, a public art installation
Collaboration of current and past City Poet Laureates
April 2023 - August 2024
Median of Santa Monica Boulevard at Doheny Drive
This temporary public art installation displays poetry next to pre-existing empty concrete plinths where sculptures are usually displayed. The poetry excerpts reflect on absence, longing, and that which is unseen or uncelebrated.
Contributing poets are current and former West Hollywood City Poet Laureates Brian Sonia-Wallace, Steven Reigns, Kim Dower and Charles Flowers; and Tonya Ingram, a young poet who passed away in December 2022. The Poetry Walk can be experienced as written word or by listening to audio recordings.
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LightWave, 2023
Jessica Goehring
April 17, 2023 — January 23, 2024
Aquatic and Recreation Center, 8750 El Tovar Place
72” (H) x 60” (W)
LightWave is a kinetic artwork that pays homage to the California Light and Space Movement and is comprised of two layers, together creating a geometric aesthetic. The artwork features a rainbow-hued abstract image digitally printed on aluminum, partially covered with an organza sheet printed with the same image. The combined double image plays with perspective resulting in a holographic quality, like the effect of lenticular photography in a sculptural form. The hanging chain screen is atmospheric, allowing for movement of the secondary layer.
Jessica Goehring lives and works in Los Angeles. Goehring’s practice explores the digital world through artworks that are both acidic and humorous, combining personal narratives, art historical references, and internet culture. Goehring has merged her love of painting and photography into digital works that are kinetic in nature. Drawing inspiration from the California Light & Space Movement, Goehring merges digital technologies with analog media creating holographic artworks that activate the space they are displayed in. She studied photography at the School of the Visual Arts in Manhattan, NY. Her most recent exhibitions include Epoch Gallery, Spring/Break LA Art Fair, Durden and Ray, and IDOLWILD.
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Acorn Treasure Hunt, 2023
Sophia Lee
April 29, 2023, 11am-2pm - meet the artist at West Hollywood Park to learn more about the treasure hunt.
May 6, 2023 - Treasure Hunt begins, citywide
Acorn Treasure Hunt is an interactive public art installation. The artwork consists of approximately sixty “acorns” crafted from clay, papier-mâché, and individually hand painted. The artwork consists of two parts. The first is a one-day pop-up exhibition in West Hollywood Park at which all the acorns will be hung in an artificial tree created by the artist for public display. The exhibition is an opportunity for the public to see all sixty acorns collected together in one place, and to learn about the intent and rules of the Acorn Treasure Hunt.
After the conclusion of the pop-up exhibit in West Hollywood Park, the artist will remove the acorns and hide them at different publicly accessible locations throughout West Hollywood. Starting Saturday, May 6, the general location of each acorn will be geo-tagged and published on Google Maps with clues created by the artist to aid treasure hunters in finding each acorn’s precise location. Once found, the acorn will belong to the treasure hunter, or if they prefer, they can leave it back in its place for other participants to find!
Sophia Lee is a Taiwanese-American multimedia artist. She creates paintings on canvas, drawings, public art installations, and murals, finding her voice in modernizing the tradition of calligraphy and a positive re-contextualization of urban waste.
Her long-flowing stroke technique celebrates the graphic quality of calligraphy in deconstructed patterns and non-recognizable forms. She builds her artwork in layers through embroidery, collage, stitching, weaving, and different painting techniques—crafting dreamlike, abstract textures out of reclaimed seed pods, expired cosmetics, junk mail, and discarded plastic.
Sophia creates public installations to make art accessible to everyone. Her installations engage the public in collective and interactive experiences that center messages around community and a positively changed urban environment.
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Ain’t I A Woman (?/!), 2023
GOODW.Y.N.
May 19 & May 20, 2023
Plummer Park Great Hall, 7377 Santa Monica Blvd.
Ain’t I a Woman (?/!): The Woman is a performance artwork and poetic dedication to love, loss and intimacy that comes with the identity of womanhood. Throughout her performance, GOODW.Y.N. utilizes her body, an audio track, and few props, to create a social conversation surrounding issues within the realm of women’s bodies. This conversation begins with discussion of race and body politics—especially the favoritism that happens in cultures prone to body shaming, sexism and misogyny. Through the artist’s topless exposure, body art, and performance the precipice of body-shaming and body acceptance are pushed to the forefront. Each performance can be viewed as commentary on being demeaned and marginalized in the eyes of Western culture, representing the dehumanization of all women through the scope of unrealistic expectations and standards set upon them.
Nicole Goodwin aka GOODW.Y.N. is the author of Warcries, and the poetic sequel Warcrimes as well as the photographic essay book Ain't I a Woman (?/!): I Give of Myself. They are a finalist for the CUE Foundation’s 2022 Public Programs Fellowship, as well as the 2020 Pushcart Nominee, 2018-2019 Franklin Furnace Fund Recipient, the 2018 Ragdale Alice Judson Hayes Fellowship Recipient, 2017 EMERGENYC Hemispheric Institute Fellow and the 2013- 2014 Queer Art Mentorship Queer Art Literary Fellow.
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Honeycomb Harmonies, 2023
Keenan Hartsten
Plummer Park, 7377 Santa Monica Blvd. (Saturday, April 15 + Saturday, May 6, 2023)
City of West Hollywood Park, 647 N San Vicente Blvd. (Saturday April 29 + Saturday, May 20, 2023)
20’ x 20’ hexagonal pavilion, mixed media, percussive instruments of varying sizes
The art installation will include various hand-built musical structures for open participation including a 6’ hexagonal prism xylophone that serves as the centerpiece, a 6' baritone xylophone, 5' alto xylophone, 4' metallophone, a series of wooden structures that support glazed ceramic pots at various heights to produce bell tones, pan drums, and various handheld percussive elements. The wooden notes on the xylophones are all made of reclaimed wood taken from torn down homes, beachside hotels, green waste bins, and trash piles. All these instruments are tuned together to the scale of B flat Major, a scale known for its joyful, quaint, and cheerful sound, evoking a sense of aspiration and optimism for a better world.
Keenan Hartsten is an artist, musician, and designer living and working in San Diego, CA. He earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Sculpture from the University of California San Diego. Utilizing concepts, forms, and techniques across a spectrum of disciplines, Hartsten creates playful installations, objects, gardens, and collaborative community-based projects. A proponent of the re-useable, his work often focuses on the materiality of discarded objects and re-imagines worlds of texture, color, and sound that offer new temporal perspectives. Hartsten has exhibited at institutions including the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, Helmuth Projects, the San Diego Museum of Art, the Berkeley Art Museum, and Quint Gallery and most recently was commissioned by the City of San Diego's Commission for Arts and Culture for a temporary public artwork.
For questions, contact Marcus Mitchell, Public Art Administrator at (323) 848-3122 or mmitchell@weho.org. For people who are deaf or hard of hearing, please call, TTY: (323) 848-6496. To learn more information about the City of West Hollywood and its arts programs visit www.weho.org/arts.