Hammer Museum

Made in L.A. 2023: Acts of Living is the sixth iteration of the Hammer’s biennial exhibition highlighting the practices of artists working throughout the greater Los Angeles area. These practices embrace the value of craft, materiality, performance, and collectivity. The biennial situates art as an expanded field of culture that is entangled with everyday life; community networks; queer affect; and indigenous and diasporic histories.

Made in L.A. 2023: Acts of Living takes its title from a quote by the renowned Los Angeles artist Noah Purifoy, which is inscribed on a plaque at the Watts Towers: “One does not have to be a visual artist to utilize creative potential. Creativity can be an act of living, a way of life, and a formula for doing the right thing.” The history of Watts Towers—built by Simon Rodia over the course of 33 years and then preserved by the local South L.A. community, including Purifoy, to become a hub for arts education—embodies this ethos and offers a salient metaphor for this biennial.

Made in L.A. 2023: Acts of Living is organized by Diana Nawi and Pablo José Ramírez, with Ashton Cooper, Luce Curatorial Fellow.

Participants:

Marcel Alcalá
Michael Alvarez
AMBOS: Art Made Between Opposite Sides
Jackie Amézquita
Teresa Baker
Luis Bermudez
Sula Bermúdez-Silverman
Jibz Cameron
Melissa Cody
Emmanuel Louisnord Desir
Victor Estrada
Nancy Evans
Pippa Garner
Ishi Glinsky
Vincent Enrique Hernandez
Dan Herschlein
Jessie Homer French
Akinsanya Kambon
Kyle Kilty
Young Joon Kwak
Kang Seung Lee
Tidawhitney Lek
Los Angeles Contemporary Archive (LACA)
Maria Maea
Erica Mahinay
Mas Exitos
Dominique Moody
Paige Jiyoung Moon
Esteban Ramón Pérez
Page Person
Roksana Pirouzmand
Ryan Preciado
Devin Reynolds
Miller Robinson
Guadalupe Rosales
Christopher Suarez
Joey Terrill
Chiffon Thomas
Teresa Tolliver