Los Angeles Contemporary Archive (LACA) is beginning a new conversation series titled, Common Ground, bringing together artists and scholars with seemingly disparate disciplines and backgrounds in and outside of the arts. This is an invitation to expand upon research similarities, find shared meaning, and enter into “common ground.”
Common Ground is free and open to the public. Recordings will be made available after each talk.
April 18th at 7:30
Adam Cooper and Daniela Lieja Quintanar
(Talk will be located on the ground floor courtyard of LACA)
May 3rd at 7:30
Dr. Cynthia Wang and Nevin Kallepalli
May 16th 8:00
Alan Nakagawa and Isabelle Harada
July 13 8:30
Alex Zhang Hungtai and Pastor Daniel Perez
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Adam Cooper / Foreigner is a multidisciplinary creative based in Los Angeles best known as a DJ, designer and event producer. His practice focuses on drawing unexpected connections between the Caribbean, West Africa and the Americas, particularly through the lens of music being the most potent manifestation of modern Panafricanist thought.
Daniela Lieja Quintanar - (Mexico City, 1984) is a curator at Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions (LACE) and works between Los Angeles and Mexico, emphasizing contemporary art and curatorial practices that explore the politics and social issues of everyday life. She is part of the curatorial team of MexiCali Biennial 2018-19, and was recently awarded the Warhol Foundation Curatorial Research Fellowship. She served as Project Coordinator and Contributing Curatorial Advisor for Below the Underground: Renegade Art and Action in the 1990s Mexico at the Armory Center for the Arts in Pasadena, Getty PST:LA/LA initiative.
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Dr. Cynthia Wang - is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication Studies. Dr. Wang’s research interests are framed in critical theory and cultural perspectives, and interrogates the impact of digital communication technologies and social media on social relations, cultural practices, and power dynamics. More recently, she has been interested in the role critical theory and rhetorical perspectives play in the discourse around social justice issues, particularly as mediated by social network platforms, since the 2016 election. She is the founder of GlobaltraQs, a digital location-based LGBTQ storytelling platform.
Nevin Kallepalli - is an artist, filmmaker, and co-curator for MOCA's online video and film program SCREEN.
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Alan Nakagawa - is an interdisciplinary artist primarily working with sound, occasionally incorporating video, sculpture, drawing, paint, performance, and food. He is the host of VISITINGS Radio Show on DUBLAB radio, co-founder of the now defunct arts collective Collage Ensemble Inc. (1984-2011) and was the curator of Ear Meal Webcast (2010-2016).
Isabelle Harada - is an artist and oral Historian. Currently, her work involves maintaining Critical Theory Index, a public database she created that contains assorted theory research available in PDF format for download.
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Alex Zhang Hungtai - (Taipei, 1980) is a Taiwanese-born Canadian musician. In addition to his name, he has made music under the aliases Last Lizard and Dirty Beaches.
Pastor Daniel Perez (Florida) - received his masters from Princeton Theological Seminary and currently works as one of the pastor of Los Angeles’ New City Church, a non-denominational church in DTLA that engages with the central Los Angeles community toward healing and wholeness, both spiritually and tangibly.
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Flyer by Caleb Miller
Talks will be located on the ground floor courtyard of LACA.