we bear the fruit of our ancestors
Artists Kuniharu Yoshida and Susu Attar, along with the Japanese American Cultural & Community Center (JACCC) and Metro Art, designed temporary construction banners for the Metro Center Project site.
Artists Kuniharu Yoshida and Susu Attar, along with the Japanese American Cultural & Community Center (JACCC) and Metro Art, designed temporary construction banners for the Metro Center Project site.
Metro Art Presents (MAP) showcases an exciting year-round array of arts and cultural events at historic Union Station—and beyond. From music and dance performances, film screenings and poetry readings to experimental and mixed-media presentations, the programs creatively activate downtown’s primary transportation hub for all ages.
Hosted at Los Angeles Union Station (800 N Alameda St., Los Angeles, CA 90012), MAPPING Performance: 10 Years of Metro Art Presents celebrates with percussion-driven music and dance drawing from Southeast Asian and Afro-Brazilian traditions, bringing the community together in the heart of Los Angeles at the heart of the LA Metro transit system. Saturday, June 24, 2023 – Sunday, June 25, 2023.
Join Los Angeles trio, Tres Souls, at Union Station on Saturday, May 6, 2023 from 2pm – 4pm for an afternoon of boleros reminiscent of the Golden Era of Mexican Cinema of the 1940s – 1960s.
About the Event Enjoy live music from Grupo Bella and Kingston Ska Collective featuring members of Western Standard Time Ska Orchestra and vocalist Jesse Wagner, programmed by Metro Art Presents for the Union Station Goliday Tree Lighting on Tuesday, November 29, 2022 from 6:30pm-8:30pm. Iconic Union Station will become a hub for the holidays, summoning the sights and sounds of the season with the 7th Annual Tree Lighting Ceremony under the stars in the Station’s South Patio. To kick off the season, the historic Station will illuminate a towering 35-foot tree as guests are immersed in thousands of glistening lights on the South Patio while enjoying a free hot cocoa and holiday cookie bar. The fun, festive, family-friendly celebration will also feature a holiday arts and crafts zone, custom photo ops and Santa selfies, an appearance by VIP guests from the North Pole to vault visitors into the holiday spirit and more. Featured Artists Kingston Ska Collective, featuring members of Western Standard Time Ska Orchestra, is best described as Duke Ellington meets Jamaica. The …
Hey LA, you’re invited to celebrate the grand opening of the K Line! Enjoy live performances by local artists, food from some of the best eateries along the K Line, giveaways and more!
All-female mariachi ensemble Las Colibrí is the centerpiece of this original Mother’s Day performance of Versos y Besos (verses and kisses), which reimagines living archives and women’s history linking poetry, place and sound.
BAGGAGE is a personal family narrative of migration told in three chapters unpacked through music, dance, and memory inside the landmark historic space that has served as a gateway to the many individual and collective California arrival stories over the past eight decades.
METRO ART PRESENTS Moving Through, a month of dance + movement for times of change, in collaboration with Pieter Performance Space.
In celebration of the 7th Annual Bob Baker Day, Metro Art Presents collaborated with the world-renowned Los Angeles puppetry organization, Bob Baker Marionette Theater, on a virtual premiere featuring its beloved puppets performing throughout historic Union Station.
Meleko Mokgosi’s platform level station artwork will recognize everyday people who work in Beverly Hills. The artwork will celebrate both the important work of historic labor leaders who fought for worker’s rights, and contemporary workers
Rigo 23’s artwork engages Beverly Hills’ history as Tongva land and a place called “a gathering of waters.” In the artwork, water will be depicted in different stages of stillness and motion, animated as the Metro rider walks by. A waterscape framed by plant life strengthens connectedness to the natural world and history’s slower tempo, while also offering a respite from the hustle and bustle of the commute. Enlarged portraits of indigenous plants represent gifts to Spanish explorer Portola’s expedition by local Tongva representatives, a gesture of welcoming and generosity at the center of Los Angeles’ origin story. This generosity would not be reciprocated by the waves of European arrivals. The Tongva people and their culture were nearly erased by foreign cultural and religious impositions as well as the introduction of diseases to which the locals had no defenses. This project aims to contribute to the reversal of a multi-century long process of erasure, forgetting and replacing.
Devon Tsuno is creating an artwork for the entrance of the station that speaks to agricultural history in Southern California and the role of Japanese American gardeners.
Eddie Rodolfo Aparicio uses amber as a metaphor for preserving history and elevating workers’ stories in his artwork for the concourse, which will be fabricated in mosaic. Amber is a natural substance that traps and protects historic material for millions of years, and it is a luxury gemstone.
Sarah Cain’s artwork for the station’s entrance is intended to be a welcoming, oasis of color and design in contrast to the density of metallic high-rise buildings in Century City.
Phung Huynh explores the origin story of Century City through her unique approach of urban folklore and community voices. The artwork will include portraits of recognizable actors from the area’s early history as a film studio back lot and renowned architects who built Century City, as well as everyday people who work and own businesses in the area.
Oscar Magallanes was inspired by Century City’s history in the motion pictures industry. Their design for the station artwork weaves together a narrative of stories told through film and the complex histories of the communities surrounding the future station.
Analia Saban is creating a semi-fictional underground world constructed in geologic layers of color and texture. Buried in the layers, riders will find an unexpected montage of objects from symbols of local culture to prehistoric fossils found during Metro’s station excavation.
Moses X Ball’s inspiration for his design of the platform artwork is driven by his experiences growing up in South Central Los Angeles and riding public transit to visit the museums along Wilshire Boulevard at a young age.
Karen Hampton’s artwork for the Northeast Entrance draws inspiration from her childhood experiences riding the RTD bus along Wilshire Blvd, examining how travel can broaden one’s access to different cultures.
Yunhee Min’s artwork is grounded in the idea that cultural institutions create a sense of shared identity and community.
Gala Porras-Kim’s artwork for the main station entrance will depict a selection of objects sourced from The Fowler Museum at UCLA that reflect the cultures and histories of various communities in the surrounding area.
iris yirei hu’s tile mosaic artwork will call attention to the native flora, fauna, and wildlife of Southern California, along with their seasonal shifts and the cycles of life and death.
Sandow Birk’s artwork will depict a panorama of Los Angeles over 150 feet long focusing on the area around the future station and beyond. The scene spans millennia, as prehistoric creatures roam past historic and contemporary buildings such as the Wadsworth Chapel, the oldest building on Wilshire Blvd., the gates to the VA with the National Soldiers Home plaques, and the main hospital at the West LA VA Medical Center that was built in 1977.
Victoria Fu and Matt Rich’s site-responsive design imagines the glass entryway as a prism-like object that will refract light and images down into the station.
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