Hammer Museum

In early 2011 we visited artist Betye Saar in her studio. Saar was part of the unique support system of African American artists, curators, scholars, and gallerists in Southern California from 1960 to 1980. She began her career in interior design, but later discovered printmaking through a program at Long Beach State. Her investigations in assemblage soon followed. (Run time: 4 min.)

On September 24, 2011 the Hammer honored two remarkable creative forces---artist and UCLA faculty member Lari Pittman and cartoonist, writer, and creator of The Simpsons, Matt Groening. Darren Star and Rosette Delug chaired the event. Art critic Christopher Knight paid tribute to Pittman and actor Neil Patrick Harris toasted Groening. (Run time: 2 minutes, 36 seconds, no sound)

10/18/11 --- Oregon-born architect Brad Cloepfil's work, which includes the Museum of Arts and Design in New York, the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, and Wieden+Kennedy's world headquarters---has been described as "by design anti-spectacular." Cloepfil sits down with friend and filmmaker Gus Van Sant (Milk, Good Will Hunting) to discuss the inspiration that drives them and their shared beginnings in and continued love for the Pacific Northwest. Cloepfil's new book is Allied Works Architecture: Brad Cloepfil - Occupation. (Run time: 1 hour, 10 min.)

10/19/11 --- Without any formal training in fashion, California-raised sisters Kate and Laura Mulleavy, known as Rodarte, are among the most celebrated American designers at work today. The Mulleavy sisters join Catherine Opie and Alec Soth in a discussion about their recent book, Rodarte, Catherine Opie, Alec Soth. Created with two of the art world's most acclaimed photographers, this is the first publication to examine the world of Rodarte. (Run time: 54 min.)

Harrell Fletcher and Adam Moser, in collaboration with the UCLA yearbook staff, will document the span of an academic year at the Hammer with a yearbook dedicated to the museum's visitors, programs, and staff. Come to the Hammer between now and March 2012 to be a part of the project. (Run Time 3 min.)

10/13/11 --- Mona Eltahawy is an Egyptian American award-winning columnist and international public speaker on Arab and Muslim issues. Her columns appear in the Toronto Star, the Jerusalem Report, and Politiken. Her opinion pieces have been published frequently in the Washington Post and the International Herald Tribune. Gloria Steinem is a writer, activist, and co-founder of Ms. magazine who became nationally recognized as a leader of the women's liberation movement in the late 1960s and 1970s. The author of numerous best-selling books, she is currently working on Road to the Heart: America as if Everyone Mattered, a book about her more than 30 years as a feminist organizer. (Run time: 1 hour, 26 min.)

9/29/11 --- Jerusalem-based curator Jack Persekian is the founder and director of the influential Gallery Anadiel and the Al-Ma'mal Foundation for Contemporary Art in Jerusalem, and former director of the Sharjah Biennial. He recently curated Disorientation II: The Rise and Fall of Arab Cities at Manarat Saadiyat, Abu Dhabi; Never-Part, Bozar, Brussels; Dubai Next, co-curated with Rem Koolhaas at Vitra Design Museum, Weil am Rhein, Germany; and The Jerusalem Show, Al-Ma'mal Foundation, Jerusalem. Q&A moderated by Renaud Proch, deputy director of Independent Curators International (ICI). (Run time: 1 hour, 8 min.)

10/21/11---Veteran New York Times Pentagon correspondent Eric Schmitt and national security studies scholar John Mueller join us to discuss how the U.S. military, spy agencies, and law enforcement are fighting terrorism at home and abroad. (Run Time: 1 hour, 30 min.)

9/13/11 --- Actor turned photographer/folk anthropologist Leonard Nimoy discusses his photographic project, Secret Selves. Inspired by the Greek mythological idea that ever since Zeus split humans in two each person has been searching for his or her other half to feel complete, Nimoy asked subjects to reveal their hidden halves in front of his camera. The result is a collection of more than 100 portraits and interviews that explore humanity's alternate self. Nimoy will discuss what was revealed about his own secret self while capturing others'. Q&A with Zach Quinto. (Run time: 1 hour, 3 min.)

10/6/11 --- British artist Mark Leckey has exhibited widely, including solo shows at the Serpentine Gallery, London; Gavin Brown's Enterprise, New York; Kolnischer Kunstverein, Cologne; and Le Consortium, Dijon. He is a 2008 Turner Prize recipient. (Run time: 1 hour, 42 min.)

10/4/11 --- John Baldessari is a Los Angeles-based artist known for his conceptual work that often intersects artistic genres and media. Christopher Knight is the art critic for the Los Angeles Times and a three-time finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. (Run time: 1 hour, 20 min.)

10/26/10---When the Fair Housing Act became law in 1968, residential segregation had already become entrenched. In the 40 years since the act was passed, these segregated housing patterns have continued through government decisions and private actions. Exploring race from a spatial perspective while paying particular attention to social justice concerns, scholars and community activists George Lipsitz (professor of black studies at UCSB), Marqueece Harris-Dawson (executive director of Community Coalition), Charlotte Brimmer (Project Manager, Community Redevelopment Agency/LA) and Dale Brockman Davis (artist) will consider different sites where race and space have been intermeshed in Los Angeles. This panel will be moderated by Naima J. Keith (Curatorial Fellow at Hammer Museum). (Run Time 1 hour, 45 min.)

The Hammer Museum's Public Engagement brings an artist project by David Kipen---an interpretation of Libros Schmibros, a nonprofit lending library and used-book shop in Boyle Heights---to Westwood. Libros Schmibros is set up in the Hammer Museum's lobby gallery. Kipen, former Director of Literature for the National Endowment for the Arts and a past book critic for the San Francisco Chronicle, established Libros Schmibros in July 2010 with his collection of roughly seven thousand books, in response to the lack of accessibility to books in his Boyle Heights community. Book shop open through October 9, 2011. (Run time: 1 min., 8 sec.)

2/3/11---Artist Laura Owens is one of the most highly regarded painters working today. Her work has been shown extensively in the U.S. and abroad with solo exhibitions at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; Sadie Coles HQ, London; Gavin Brown's Enterprise, New York; ACME, Los Angeles; Bonnefantenmuseum, Maastricht, the Netherlands; Kunsthalle Zurich; and Camden Arts Centre, London. Owens received her MFA from the California Institute of the Arts. (Run Time 1 hour, 22 min.)

8/10/11 --- Andy Stern, the former President of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), and Robert Johnson, the head of the Institute for New Economic Thinking and former Chief Economist of the U.S. Senate Banking Committee, join us to address the challenge of restoring economic opportunity and social justice, in light of the growing divide between Wall Street and Main Street. (Run time: 1 hour, 40 min.)