An Evening with Anna Deavere Smith, Adam Mansbach, Rubén Martinez, and Elaine Kim.
Special Location: Cemex Auditorium
Join us for a special panel discussion on the 20th anniversary of the Los Angeles Riots and their impact on the arts. These artists will look at race and visual culture, generational and aesthetic shifts in the arts, video and the rise of social media, all in the context of "occupying L.A." then and now.
Anna Deavere Smith is one of the most acclaimed actors and playwrights of our time. The winner of a MacArthur "Genius" grant, she spent much of the 1990s capturing the massive demographic and cultural shifts urban American cities were undergoing in classics like Twilight: Los Angeles and Fires In The Mirror: Crown Heights.
Adam Mansbach is a #1 New York Times bestselling author, award-winning novelist, and a cultural critic. His books include Angry Black White Boy, The End of The Jews, and Go The F*** To Sleep. (This panel was actually an idea of him and another great writer Daniel Alarcón.)
IDA Visiting Artist Rubén Martinez covered the Los Angeles riots in a series of harrowing dispatches for the Los Angeles Weekly. He will also be leading a performance on May 23 called Variedades as part of the Occupy Art course. More on Rubén can be found here.
Elaine Kim is a celebrated scholar, writer, and filmmaker who teaches at the University of California at Berkeley's Ethnic Studies Department. Her work on Asian American literature and contemporary art has been groundbreaking. She was a co-producer of the classic film, Sa-I-Gu, which examined the Los Angeles riots from the perspective of Korean American women.
Sa-I-Gu will be screened at Okada House on May 1st at 5:30pm. Click here for more details.
Download the flyer below.
