Los Angeles Sees Itself Research Lab

Throughout the 2022-23 academic year, I co-led a cohort of undergraduate art students at Biola University through the process of researching, developing, curating and installing LA Sees Itself, a multi-part exhibition and catalog publication curated and produced by Biola Art students in collaboration with LA-based curator, Carl Berg and faculty facilitators Astri Swendsrud and Dan Callis. This class of students joined Carl to explore the various ways that artists have seen and shared their visions of Los Angeles and its surrounding areas. Working with the lens of the overlapping ecosystems that make up this complex region - it’s iconic landscapes of mountains, deserts and beaches; the architecture and populations of it’s urban core, surrounded by the diffuse networks of suburban sprawl; the industries and innovations of the cultural forces (entertainment, automotive, aerospace, astronomical, and more) that shape its social fabric - we have brought together a collection of ways to see LA. 

A student-driven research lab accompanied the formal gallery exhibition, featuring a mural of LA icons created by an illustration class, a collaborative sculpture, video interviews conducted and filmed by Carl Berg and the student curators, a station for viewing episodes of Huell Howser’s iconic PBS show about LA, and more.

This exhibition was made possible through a generous donation by John and Marilyn Long and The Long Family Foundation. LA Sees Itself was on view from October 23-December 1 in the Earl & Virginia Green Gallery and Bardwell Project Space at Biola University. Student curators included Ella Buell, Zhen Cai, Peyton Dochterman, Jonathan James, Kristen Kim, Abigail Laswell, Grace LeSueur, Molly Pederson and Charisma Singgih.