Tomorrow is the big day, kids: the opening of the Hammer’s Made In L.A.. If you’ve been reading the site for the past sixty days, you’ve probably noticed that we’ve counted down all of the artists participating so that we all can make an educated vote for the winner of this art show/competition hybrid. That being said, the institution and show have recently released a shit ton of items surrounding the show and guides to help you navigate what to do. Thus, instead of going from one place to another, we decided to examine each of the things they’ve tossed out into the world and give you a little breakdown of what they made and what is happening this opening weekend of Made In L.A..

The Website

A few weeks ago or so, the official website for the show was released. The site includes a blog, event listing, their listing of artists. It is very colorful and rather basic; however, a few of the functionality things are a bit clunky specifically on the events page, the calendar interaction being a bit much. The artist pages and profiles are great and the interactions are wonderful as well. We’d love for the images to be a little bigger but–hey–that is a little critique. If you’re wondering, “Well, why would we read these since you guys already did them?” it is because they actually share insight into what each artist is bringing to the show and they had the chance to interact with the artists, instead of stumbling around the Internet researching like we did. They also highlight when each artist has an event or talk they’ll be giving. This is great but does point out that not *all* of the artists are doing a talk, which doesn’t really seem fair but–hey–maybe that’s a part of it all?

Another thing: how does it stack up against the Pacific Standard Time website? PST’s was definitely more experiential and consistent while M.I.L.A.’s is a bit more younger and expansive.

The Videos
In addition to their great trailer for the show, they seem to be releasing interviews with each of the artists by way of studio visits. The first released was a slightly non-sensical one with Dan Finsel who explores his studio in an almost manic neurosis making it clear that, yes, he is always in character as Dan “Dan Finsel” Finsel. They also released their visit with Joel Otterson–above–which is a very traditional interview and visit, which shows Joel to be a warm and almost cuddly artist. We hope they’ll be releasing a video for all of the artists!

The Catalogue

We had no idea this was happening but were super pumped to see this: there is a catalogue associated with the show. How cool is this? We have not gotten a chance to take a peek at it yet but will definitely check it out over the weekend. It features each artist getting a double page spread on them which we imagine isn’t too dissimilar from the website’s analyzation of them. One thing it does feature is essays from the curators and persons involved: Anne Ellegood, Lauri Firstenberg, Malik Gaines, Cesar Garcia, and Ali Subotnick. The most obviously weird thing from an outsider who has yet to encounter the book is the decision to put Kathryn Andrews‘ work on the cover. Yes, it’s a gorgeous, elegant piece–but she is one of sixty artists. Are there going to be different covers? This doesn’t seem fair but, hey, whatever.

Made In L.A. App

As a part of the show, they’ve released an app to get you involved with hearing from the artists involved, engaging in the city, and learning about the show. The app is very nice looking and works very easily. It’s a great resource on the go for where the art places are and how much things cost, etc., etc., etc. It also provides music from Dublab that you can play as you go, which is cool but will anyone use it? The biggest draw to the app is that each of the artists gave a little talk about something in Los Angeles, “hotspots” you can visit to hear their stories. From where we are, there are four within blocks of us which is totally cool. Unfortunately, you have to *go* to the spot to hear the story which we don’t have time to do right now. So, I guess we’ll check that out later but we certainly spent twenty minutes clicking the pins on the map trying to hear them talk only to get an artist bio.

Clothing

Can’t get enough of Made In L.A.? Why not brand yourself with it! The Hammer teamed up with LA clothing institution American Apparel to release a series of shirts, tanks, and hoodies on the occasion of the show. They’re your standard, absurdly overpriced Am Appy clothes and come in white with the gradient branded image as well as just the words onto shirts from the colors of the gradient. They are pretty cut and dry and seem pretty cool. I would definitely get a tank top for the show if it just said “MADE IN L.A.” because that would be cool (even though I was not made in L.A. but, hey, I wish).

What To Do This Weekend
Now, there is a ton of things happening this weekend in and around the event. However, here are the main things you need to know for tomorrow’s opening…
• Start at Barnsdall’s Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery to see the first group of artists in Los Feliz as the rest are out West. And…
• If you like, you can catch a tour of the space at 1PM.
• Then, make your way to the Hammer for their public opening next. And…
• If you hustled like the dickens out West (which will be impossible), you can make the 2PM tour of the space.
• But, then hustle over to LAXART for the Slanguage show, which ends at 3PM.

Now that you know that, here’s what we recommend doing:
SATURDAY
• 11AM: Check out The Hammer artists.
• 1PM: Check out Slanguage at LAXART.
• 2PM: Eat something.
• 4PM: Check out the UCLA Graduate Open Studios to see future Made In L.A. artists.
SUNDAY
• 11AM: Check out Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery’s contributions to the show and see Zac Monday’s performance.
BOTH DAYS
• Try to use the Soundmap to check out what the artists are saying as you travel.