Hammer Museum Announces Curators for “Made in LA” 2016

ARoS Museum. Photo courtesy ARoS

Hamza Walker, from Chicago’s Renaissance Society, and Hammer Museum curator Aram Moshayedi will co-curate the next edition of the Californian institution’s biennial art show, “Made in LA”.

Hammer director Ann Philbin said that Walker and Moshayedi will bring “together rich regional and national perspectives to the next biennial.”

The pair combines a LA-based curator, Moshayedi, and another with a wealth of experience in Chicago, where Walker has been director of education and associate curator at the Renaissance Society, part of the University of Chicago, since 1994.

“Made in LA” was launched in 2012 to showcase the work of artist from LA and the surrounding area, with particular emphasis on emerging, or under-represented practitioners.

“We both want to address the question of how Los Angeles is part of a network of cities that artists inhabit fluidly,” Moshayedi told the LA Times. “This is about questioning whether or not a regional identity can be forged in a city that is inherently diverse and international.”

The artists exhibited in the biennial are in the running for one of the three awards funded by media industry veteran Jarl Mohn, and his wife Pamela. The Mohn Award is the most substantial at $100,000, followed by the Career Achievement Award, and the Public Recognition Award, which both come with a $25,000 cash prize.

Moshayedi and Walker seem ready to challenge some common misconception. “So there’s really not one monolithic idea of an ‘L.A. artist,’” Moshayedi told the LA Times. “That idea of an L.A. artist is one that should be contested,” he continued.


Follow Artnet News on Facebook:


Want to stay ahead of the art world? Subscribe to our newsletter to get the breaking news, eye-opening interviews, and incisive critical takes that drive the conversation forward.
Article topics