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About

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Mission

LACE both champions and challenges the art of our time by fostering artists who innovate, explore, and risk.  We move within and beyond our four walls to provide opportunities for diverse publics to engage deeply with contemporary art.  In doing so, we further dialogue and participation between and among artists and those audiences.

History

Founded in 1978 by a core group of committed artists, LACE is an internationally recognized pioneer among art institutions. LACE is a nonprofit venue that exhibits and advocates for innovations in art-making and public engagement. Uniquely positioned among commercial galleries and major art establishments at the heart of Hollywood as a free, open to the public experimental space, LACE has nurtured not only several generations of young artists, but also emerging art forms such as performance art, video art, digital art, and installations. LACE presents significant and timely exhibitions, performances, and public projects, which are complemented by education initiatives.

LACE’s core values have remained the same since its founding in 1978:
dedication to the art of our time that focuses on freedom of expression; experimentation with ideas, materials, and new forms; and content that is challenging and socially engaging.

In nearly 40 years of consistent, high quality programming, LACE has presented the work of more than 5,000 artists in 3,000 programs and events, providing the impetus for dialogue about contemporary art and culture. Some of today’s most influential figures who received early support from LACE include Mike Kelley, John Baldessari, Bill Viola, Adrian Piper and Gronk. LACE has consistently given voice to the visions of Los Angeles’ diverse makers and curators, offering a 3,500 sq. foot gallery storefront space facing Hollywood Blvd., intimate programming in a 350 sq. ft. Project Room gallery and an ongoing educational series of online videos targeted to a broad public. Visitors come from all over the U.S. and the world.

Supporters and Partners

Major funders such as the Getty and Warhol Foundations have invested in LACE for major presentations. LACE is deeply rooted in and embedded in the arts culture of Southern California. Interns who are trained in all aspects of arts administration come from UCLA, the Cal States, USC, Occidental, CalArts, and Otis. LACE has partnerships with diverse organizations such as Hollywood Business Improvement District, Heidi Duckler Dance Company, Southern California Institute of Architecture, Metabolic Studio, LGBT Center, My Friends Place, ArtworxLA, Yucca Corridor Coalition of Property Owners and Managers, Metropolitan Water District, and Hollywood High School.

Why Hollywood?

LACE relocated to Hollywood in 1993 with the assistance of the CRA, and has served as a cultural anchor on Hollywood Blvd. for more than 20 years. With neighboring Woodbury University’s architecture gallery and the Cupcake Theater, Hollywood Boulevard’s cultural nexus attracts those who visit bars, restaurants, theaters, and shops. It is also an amenity for residents in the new Metro station apartment complexes. As the arts scene in Hollywood develops, this strength will continue to impact the economic development of the Boulevard.

Audience and Community Projects

While the contemporary art community in Los Angeles has grown and expanded over the years, LACE plays a unique role in the L.A. art scene. Without the constraints of a commercial gallery, LACE is free to serve as venue for the incubation of and discourse on emerging and experimental works.  LACE maintains long-term relationships with a community of artists who value the support of its staff and interns. More than a venue in which to hold exhibitions or events, LACE is a partner in highlighting a diverse array of works and ideas for the public, including those from outside the traditional art world. The L.A. art community is an essential audience, since the abundance of art schools and cultural and entertainment climate are a huge attractor to the region. LACE is a gathering place central to creative life. Hundreds of people participate in exhibition openings and panel discussions. LACE is committed to creating online content in support of artists and artistic dialogue but the physical community gatherings are key to its success. In addition to the artists and members of the cultural community that seek out LACE for its programs, the gallery’s accessible and free-to-the-public storefront location attracts business travelers and tourists as well as a growing group of Angelenos that live nearby.

Many spaces claim to be artist-centered – LACE fulfills that goal through offering artists and curators a real partnership for experimental work that will be shared with a large and significant audience. In addition to exhibitions, LACE supports artist development and builds community through educational events like Creative Capital Workshops and the Sustainability Network, and partnerships with organizations like ArtworxLA and PEN USA. LACE was an early proponent of “Public Practice” projects. The tradition has continued with recent exhibitions such as After the Aqueduct, which explored Los Angeles’ water source; and Cocina Abierta Collective’s Help Wanted project, which exposed the lives of L.A.’s restaurant workers. Ongoing public practice projects include Chats About Change, a series that helps define what it means to be an L.A. artist committed to exploring the political and social arena of art making and communication.

 

 

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TEMPORARY OFFICE LOCATION
6464 Sunset Blvd.
Ste. 1070
Los Angeles, CA, 90028

tel: 1(323)250-0940
info@welcometolace.org

LACE recognizes our presence on Tovaangar, the unceded ancestral lands of the Gabrielino-Tongva people who are its rightful caretakers.

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News

PRESS RELEASE: Announcing LACE’s Next Emerging Curators

Announcing the 2025 Lightning Fund and Jacki Apple Awards

“Beatriz da Costa: (un)disciplinary tactics” named Best Art by The New York Times

More News

LACE (Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions)

welcometolace

On Saturday, August 2 from 2–7pm, join LACE for On Saturday, August 2 from 2–7pm, join LACE for this year's Artists’ Film International (AFI'25) at the Philosophical Research Society (@philosophical_research_society).

This touring film program is collectively curated and presented by 16 international arts organizations and convened by Forma (@formaartsmedia). AFI’25 introduces the work of talented moving image artists to worldwide audiences, and will be live over 300 days, with exhibitions, screenings and public programs hosted across 4 continents.

LACE’s selection for AFI’25 is "Leymusoom Garden: New Sun" (2024) by Heesoo Kwon (@leymusoom). Kwon’s oneiric visual language and unique animation style allow her to create memoryscapes of personal and community liberation. The film rewrites mythical matrilineal histories through utopian and whimsical abstractions of time, space, and memory to ultimately bring forth healing and transformation. 

Admission is free! RSVP at the link in our bio.

Image caption:
Still from Heesoo Kwon, Leymusoom Garden: New Sun, 2024. Courtesy the artist
Join LACE for “Obsidian Reflections” happening Join LACE for “Obsidian Reflections” happening Saturday, July 19, 2–5 PM at the Philosophical Research Society (@philosophical_research_society).

Curated by Selene Preciado and Andrea Acuña, this film program presents a selection of video works that integrate ancestral knowledge and indigenous storytelling, imagining futures where the past and present connect through the power of ruins and resilience. Followed by a musical performance with multimedia NeoCumbia artist El Keamo (@el_keamo).

Learn more and RSVP at the link in our bio!
We are excited to announce LACE's 11th Emerging Cu We are excited to announce LACE's 11th Emerging Curator! Meet Semaj Peltier (@horsebreath87) and pom*pom (@__pom____pom__), collaborators in a curatorial collective and experimental film archive organizing community-based events since 2022. For the Emerging Curator Program, Semaj Peltier and Pom Pom curate "No Loneliness Like This," a film and food event showcasing experimental films that traverse the many manifestations of state-sanctioned isolation.

Peltier, a projectionist, archivist and filmmaker, brings a praxis shaped by her studies at the University of Amsterdam’s Preservation and Presentation of the Moving Image Masters program, specializing in ephemeral histories shaped by coloniality and otherness. pom*pom, developed by Russell Hartling and Crystal Dawana, is an experimental food collective whose sensory-driven dining experiences intersect with film programming to evoke memory, storytelling, and connection. Together, they build worlds where film and food become tools of resistance—rituals that evoke memory, incite dialogue, and nurture solidarity through shared sensation and subversion. 

This year’s panel included Jheanelle Brown (@jheaneeeeeelle), faculty member at CalArts and Curator of Film at REDCAT; Carrie Chen (@carriechen01), artist, curator, and educator; and Heber Rodriguez (@hebereatschips), Coordinator for the City of Lancaster’s Parks, Recreation and Arts Department in the Arts and Museums Division. 

Read the full press release in our bio!
If you missed “ENDURANCE” or want to relive th If you missed “ENDURANCE” or want to relive the experience, head over to the LACE website to watch a selection of the performances with more to come soon!

“ENDURANCE” presented performance art and interdisciplinary work by elder artists. These artists use their practices to share wisdom, knowledge, and experiences that they have gained throughout their lives. This series is a companion program to LACE’s 2024 performance series, “ABUNDANCE”, both featuring often invisibilized bodies.

This program was held at L.A. Dance Project (@ladanceproject) from May 16–17, 2025.

The online presentation of “ENDURANCE” is supported by the Department of Cultural Affairs, City of Los Angeles (@culture_la). 

Photos by Angel Origgi (@angeloriggi).

Image captions in order:
Barbara T. Smith, OWB, 2025
Ulysses Jenkins and his band “Who Dat!,” Ethnic Cleansing, 2022/2025
Hirokazu Kosaka, Shoot Yourself, 2025
The Dark Bob, Beirut, 1982/2025
Kamau Daáood, Griot notes: Poem in Invisible Ink
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