CalArts alums and students are among the artists in Air Conditioning, a multifaceted group show held Oct. 13 to 15 at Plummer Park’s Great Hall in West Hollywood, California. Produced through The New Arts Foundation, a curatorial project by Greg Jenkins (Film/Video MFA 23), this weekend’s festivities include film screenings, readings, and a group art show.
Poised to be the foundation’s most ambitious show to date, Air Conditioning seeks to explore “the critical possibilities of worldbuilding” and considering new realities:
How can the “real” be reformulated and built within? Where can our fantasies mesh with the everyday? With a deliberate emphasis on play, imagination, mutual presence, and shared action, Air Conditioning encourages a sense of collective agency.
Air Conditioning kicks off on Friday evening with a program of six short films commissioned by The New Arts Foundation. Curated by CalArts alum and 2022 Sundance Ignite Fellow Advik Beni (Film/Video MFA 23), the screening features works by several CalArtians: Gavati (Film/Video MFA 23), abbi page (Film Video-Critical Studies MFA 24), Rob Rice (Film/Video MFA 20), Linx Fong Selby (Film/Video MFA 25), Seokyoung Yang (Film/Video BFA 23), and Manaka Nagai and Kaori Takahashi.
The ticketed main art event on Saturday includes an opening reception, performances, and music, followed by an afterparty at Las Perlas WeHo. The show includes 25 participating artists, including Jenkins and several other CalArtians:
- Ross Edward Doyle (Art MFA 22)
- Siena Foster-Soltis (Art BFA 22)
- Max Harper (Film/Video BFA 23)
- Vanessa Holyoak (Art MFA 19)
- Christine Yerie Lee (Art MFA 22)
- Antonio Okun (Art MFA 23)
- Liz Quezada-Lee (Art MFA 24)
- malavika rao (Art MFA 23)
- Nikki Ochoa (Critical Studies-Music MFA 23)
- Yanbin Zhao (Film/Video MFA 23)
The weekend concludes with a music and reading series on Sunday, Oct. 15 at 1 pm, organized by CalArts alum Kevin Terrell (Music DMA 24).
The show is funded in part by an arts grant from the City of West Hollywood, and will benefit The Trevor Project, a WeHo-based mental health organization for LGBTQ youth.
