Los Angeles, August 1, 2024—Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions (LACE) is thrilled to announce the opening of the organization’s PST ART: Art & Science Collide exhibition Beatriz da Costa: (un)disciplinary tactics on September 7, 2024. Presented by LACE at LAMAG, this exhibition revisits the collaborative artistic practice of the late Beatriz da Costa (1974–2012), as an investigation into technoscientific experimentation, politics, activism, and art-making, contextualized for our contemporary moment. Curated by LACE’s former Chief Curator/Director of Programs Daniela Lieja Quintanar with Ana Briz, the project weaves together an exhibition, public programming, performances, educational workshops, and study groups that will evoke da Costa’s approach to the intersections of ancient and non-academic forms of knowledge.
“LACE is excited to focus exhibition, programming, and publication attention on Beatriz da Costa, an artist whose practice is little known by the general public,” says LACE Executive Director Sarah Russin. “Selecting da Costa’s collaborative work as a subject for this PST presentation was a natural for LACE, as her work clearly connects with the intersection of art and science, and embodies LACE’s tradition of presenting ground-breaking artists that focus on the body, performance, and a social practice approach.”
Lieja Quintanar states, “da Costa’s (un)disciplinary tactics are a provocation to think and act beyond monolithic institutions and disciplines—they are an invitation to create and care in a collective way. The exhibition brings the spirit of her technoscientific and radical practice to the present with themes ranging from the politics of life and death, interspecies collaboration, environmental justice, amateur science, the struggle of battling cancer, and the collective work of sustaining life.”
This exhibition is complemented by a publication surveying da Costa’s entire artistic career with curatorial essays, reflections from previous collaborators, including Donna Haraway, Robert F. Nideffer, and more. The catalog is the most extensive analysis of da Costa’s practice to date, and is distributed by MIT Press. Book pre-orders are now available at this link. LACE will host a launch for the publication at LAMAG on October 5, 2024, in partnership with Skylight Books.
An opening reception will be held at LAMAG at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, September 7, 2024. Public programming will engage specific artworks throughout the run of the exhibition, including a restaging of da Costa’s landmark work PigeonBlog (2006–08) at Crenshaw Dairy Mart on October 19, 2024, and at Barnsdall Art Park on November 16, 2024. Additional programming information to come.
“The Department of Cultural Affairs, through the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, is thrilled to partner with LACE to host such an innovative and thought-provoking exhibition as part of the Getty’s PST ART,” said Daniel Tarica, General Manager of the Department of Cultural Affairs. “Our collaboration brings the community-focused mission of both institutions together to offer expanded programming opportunities through this region-wide initiative for our community and the City.”
LACE is grateful to our friends at LAMAG and the Department of Cultural Affairs for their enthusiastic partnership in producing this important exhibition.
About Beatriz da Costa
Beatriz da Costa (06/11/1974–12/27/2012) was an interdisciplinary artist and tactical media practitioner working at the intersection of contemporary art, science, engineering, and politics. Her work takes the form of public participatory interventions, locative media, conceptual tool building, and critical writing. Issues addressed in her work include the use of emergent technologies to investigate context-specific configurations of social injustice, the politics of transgenic organisms, and the social repercussions of ubiquitous surveillance technologies. da Costa made frequent use of “wetware” in her projects and in her late work became interested in the potential of interspecies co-production in promoting the responsible use of natural resources and environmental sustainability. Through her work, da Costa examined the role of the artist as a political actor engaged in technoscientific discourses, which is the topic of her 2008 book Tactical Biopolitics: Art, Activism, and Technoscience, co-edited with Kavita Philip. da Costa was a co-founder of Preemptive Media (2002-2008), an arts, activism, and technology group with Brooke Singer and Jamie Schulte, and a former collaborator of Critical Art Ensemble (2000-2005), a collective of tactical media practitioners dedicated to exploring the intersections between art, technology, radical politics, and critical theory, where she took part in the development and implementation of various bio-tech initiatives and models of contestational science. da Costa was an Associate Professor of Studio Art at the University of California, Irvine.
About PST ART
Beatriz da Costa: (un)disciplinary tactics is among more than 70 exhibitions and programs presented as part of PST ART. Returning in September 2024 with its latest edition, PST ART: Art & Science Collide, this landmark regional event explores the intersections of art and science, both past and present. PST ART is presented by Getty. For more information about PST ART: Art & Science Collide, please visit pst.art
About the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs (DCA)
As a leading, progressive arts and cultural agency, DCA empowers Los Angeles’s vibrant communities by supporting and providing access to quality visual, literary, musical, performing, and educational arts programming; managing vital cultural centers; preserving historic sites; creating public art; and funding services provided by arts organizations and individual artists.
Formed in 1925, DCA promotes arts and culture as a way to ignite a powerful dialogue, engage LA’s residents and visitors, and ensure LA’s varied cultures are recognized, acknowledged, and experienced. DCA’s mission is to strengthen the quality of life in Los Angeles by stimulating and supporting arts and cultural activities, ensuring public access to the arts for residents and visitors alike.
DCA advances the social and economic impact of arts and culture through grant-making; public art; community arts; performing arts; and strategic marketing, development, design, and digital research. DCA creates and supports arts programming, maximizing relationships with other city agencies, artists, and arts and cultural nonprofit organizations to provide excellent service in neighborhoods throughout Los Angeles.
For more information, please visit culturela.org or follow us on Facebook at: facebook.com/culturela, Instagram @culture_la, and Twitter @culture_la.
About the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery
The Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery’s (LAMAG) mission is to be responsive to the human experience. Established in 1954, LAMAG is the longest running institution in Los Angeles devoted solely to exhibiting art. The gallery focuses on artists from Los Angeles – in particular underrepresented artists whose work may not otherwise have found a platform. Our exhibitions, educational and public programs aim to inspire conversation about the contemporary issues and ideas that resonate most with the people of Los Angeles.
Many local artists who have exhibited at the gallery have gone on to become fixtures of the national and international art world, including Carlos Almaraz, Eleanor Antin, John Baldessari, Mark Bradford, Vija Celmins, Harry Gamboa Jr., David Hammons, Barbara Kruger, Kerry James Marshall, Senga Nengudi, Catherine Opie, Sandy Rodriguez, Ed Ruscha, and Bruce and Norman Yonemoto. Today, the gallery continues to build on this rich legacy, operating as a site of discovery for outstanding work by the city’s most exciting artists, from recent graduates to practitioners with years of experience.
Offering free admission and programs, LAMAG serves as a welcoming space for everyone, regardless of their race, religion, national origin, ancestry, sex, sexual orientation, age, disability, domestic partner status, marital status or medical condition.
It is important that the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery prioritize respect for both the historic culture and the contemporary presence of indigenous peoples throughout California, and especially in the Los Angeles area. To that end, and particularly as a public and civic institution, we acknowledge that our gallery resides on what was historically the homeland of Kizh, Tongva, and Chumash peoples who were dispossessed of their land. If you would like to learn more about the land you are on please visit: https://native-land.ca
For more information, please contact lamag@lacity.org or visit lamag.org and follow us on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/LAMAGBarnsdall and Instagram @lamagbarnsdall.
The Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery is a facility of the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs.
About LACE
LACE (Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions) is the longest-running incubator for artists, curators, and cultural workers in Los Angeles, founded in 1978 by 13 artists. LACE is a nonprofit venue that exhibits and advocates for innovations in art-making and public engagement. Uniquely positioned in the heart of Hollywood, LACE provides space for artistic experimentation, exploring new forms of art-making at the edge of the field, and amplifies the voices and visions of Los Angeles’ diverse makers. LACE presents free, significant, and timely exhibitions, performances, and public projects, complemented by education initiatives. www.welcometolace.org
