‘Made in L.A. 2018’: Curators announced for Hammer biennial

The Hammer Museum on Monday announced curators for its fourth biennial, “Made in L.A. 2018”: Hammer senior curator Anne Ellegood and independent L.A. curator Erin Christovale.

“Each iteration of ‘Made in L.A.’ changes the way we think about art and artistic production in Los Angeles,” said Hammer Director Ann Philbin. “Anne and Erin bring complementary and diverse perspectives to next year’s biennial.”

Ellegood has overseen the museum’s Hammer Projects series and recently curated the first North American retrospective of the work of Jimmie Durham. Christovale brings her focus on film and video work and the African diaspora “as well as being deeply immersed in L.A.’s evolving artistic scene today,” Philbin said.

Most recently, she added, Christovale organized an exhibition of the work of filmmaker Cheryl Dunye around her film “The Watermelon Woman.”

“I’m looking forward to seeing what they come up with together,” Philbin said.

The cross-disciplinary biennial features emerging and under-recognized artists in the Los Angeles area, spanning sculpture, painting, film and video, music, literature and performance, among other genres. Aram Moshayedi of the Hammer and Hamza Walker of the Renaissance Society in Chicago curated “Made in L.A. 2016: a, the, though, only.”

It’s too early to delineate themes for “Made In L.A. 2018” — Ellegood and Christovale are still visiting artists in their studios — but certain questions are brewing, Ellegood said.

“One thing we’re both thinking about,” she said, “is asking ourselves this question around what the role of a biennial could be in this current global, political, national context that we’re in right now. We don’t know what the answer is, but it’s definitely a question that we’re posing.”

Artists in the exhibition will be eligible for one of three Mohn Awards, funded by philanthropists Jarl and Pamela Mohn: the $100,000 Mohn Award, the $25,000 Career Achievement Award and the $25,000 Public Recognition Award.

The biennial will run June through September 2018. The museum will announce the artists chosen to participate in early 2018.

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