MOCA’s Engagement Party Continues with
Little Pharma Drug Run,
Presented by Finishing School
Thursday, November 6, 7-10pm
MOCA Grand Avenue,
Sculpture Plaza
250 South Grand Avenue,
Los Angeles, CA 90012
As part of Engagement Party—the dynamic new initiative developed by The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA), to engage innovative Los Angeles–based artist collectives—Finishing School collective presents Little Pharma Drug Run, a public intervention taking place at MOCA Grand Avenue’s Sculpture Plaza, on Thursday, November 6 from 7 to 10pm.
For this interactive event, participants will first meet at MOCA Grand Avenue for a costume-making workshop and screening of the Media Education Foundation’s Big Bucks, Big Pharma: Marketing Disease and Pushing Drugs, a video documentary narrated by Amy Goodman. Dressed as their favorite pharmaceuticals, they will then embark on a group bicycle tour of downtown Los Angeles drugstores. The event will culminate at Fringe Exhibitions in Chinatown, which is hosting Finishing School’s Little Pharma Physic Garden, a participatory installation based on 16th and 17th-century European gardens established by monks to promote proactive public health and the study of herbal medicine, known then as the “physic” arts. This event is FREE and open to the public. No reservations are required.
Finishing School
Formed in late 2001, Finishing School is a collective identity that explores art, design, and technology through interventions that combine praxis, play, and activism. Finishing School attempts to demystify the experience of cultural production and engage viewers through various participatory models. One of their current ongoing projects, Little Pharma, is an interdisciplinary investigation of various alternative medicines and lifestyles as viable antidotes to some of the drug industry’s pathologies. This work involves an ongoing weblog, workshops, roundtable meetings, lectures, and the installation at Fringe Exhibitions, which is on view through November 8, 2008.
Engagement Party
Launched in October 2008, MOCA’s Engagement Party offers emerging Los Angeles–based artist collectives three-month residencies during which they present public programs at MOCA Grand Avenue on the first Thursday of each month from 7 to 10pm. Collectives may employ any medium, discipline, or strategy during their residency, resulting in programs that may include performances, workshops, screenings, lectures, or any other activity emerging from the group’s particular focus. By providing a platform for artist collectives who operate through multi-disciplinary, non-object based practices, MOCA intends to address the significant role of these practices in the contemporary cultural landscape and challenge the conventions of a collecting institution.
Engagement Party is made possible by a grant from The James Irvine Foundation. For further information, please visit www.moca.org/party or contact 213/621-1745 or education@moca.org.
Parking for MOCA Grand Avenue
Parking is recommended at the Walt Disney Concert Hall garage. California Plaza parking garage is also available; use the entrance nearest the Omni Hotel on Olive Street. Public lots are located on Kosciusko Way between Hope and Lower Grand Avenue, and on Olive Street between 1st Street and 2nd Street.
MOCA Hours and Admission
MOCA Grand Avenue and The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA are open 11am to 5pm on Monday and Friday; 11am to 8pm on Thursday; 11am to 6pm on Saturday and Sunday; and closed on Tuesday and Wednesday. General admission is free for MOCA members, children under 12, and everyone on Thursdays from 5pm to 8pm, courtesy of Wells Fargo. MOCA Pacific Design Center is open 11am to 5pm Tuesday through Friday; 11am to 6pm on Saturday and Sunday; and closed on Monday. Admission to MOCA Pacific Design Center is always free. For 24-hour information on current exhibitions, education programs, and special events, call 213/626-6222 or access MOCA online at www.moca.org.
MEDIA CONTACTS:
Elizabeth Hinckley
Tel 310/854-8199
ehinckley@rogersandcowan.com
Lyn Winter
Tel 213/633-5390
lwinter@moca.org
