Incredible day full of incredible people

Today was one of the more intense days thus far. I finally, after great anticipation, got to meet Suzanne Lacy. She welcomed me kindly and gave me quite the day. It started by driving in LA for the first time, and seeing what traffic was really like. The NJ turnpike has nothing on route 101. After successfully following directions, I arrived at a storage unit in downtown LA. There, I met two women who had worked with Suzanne previously, one of which is the director at LACE, and the other, a researcher looking at Three Weeks in January. Suzanne arrived, and she got to work discussing her plans to archive Three Weeks in January. The conversation was fascinating, in that I got to learn how social practice artists, such as Suzanne, pick what will represent an entire project.

After the meeting, Suzanne invited me to go to MOCA with a few of her graduate students who had just completed their program. We all walked around the Land Art Exhibition which was very interesting. Surprisingly (or not), it was a fairly male dominated show with bits and pieces of Ana Mendieta and Judy Chicago mixed in. I would love to go back though and get a better feel for the exhibition as a whole.

The rest of the night was spent grabbing dinner, talking to wonderful MFA students, and hearing a fantastic lecture at MOCA. The lecture was with Janet Owen Driggs, Suzanne Lacy,

and mediated by Grant Kester. It was entitled: performing Activism: Mediagenic Art from Three Weeks in May to the Occupy Movement. Afterwards, Suzanne introduced me to some more fantastic women who I will be in touch with while staying in LA.

I am sure there are bits I am leaving out, but I am still on EST and tired as ever. To be updated soon with links and more information!