Annenberg Space for Photography (closed indefinitely)
DETAILS:
Location: 2000 Avenue of the Stars, Los Angeles, CA 90067 (near the Westfield Century City Mall)
Hours of Operation: Wednesday thru Sunday; 11AM to 6PM
Parking: An underground parking lot, which can be accessed from Constellation Boulevard or Olympic Boulevard, is available for a fee.
Wednesday thru Friday before 4:30PM: $4.50 for 3 hours with validation.
Wednesday thru Friday after 4:30PM and all day Saturday & Sunday: $1.50 flat with validation.
Please bring parking ticket with you to get validated at the visitors’ desk.
Cost: Free!
Time Commitment: 1 hour.
Miscellaneous:
Free 30-minute guided tours take place on Saturdays and Sundays on a first-come, first-served basis and are limited to 25 people. Please call for availability (213) 403-3000.
Programming such as discussions, lectures, and workshops are also available at the Annenberg Space for Photography. Please visit their website below (under “resources”) for schedule and details.
It’s widely known that Los Angeles is an expensive city. Case in point, where else can you find a donut that costs $100? But thanks to organizations like the Annenberg Foundation and its philanthropic support of the arts, there are still plenty of hidden gems in this town that will charge you nothing more than the effort of making the visit. One such venue is the Annenberg Space for Photography in Century City. Established in 2009, the architectural design draws inspiration from the inner-mechanics of a camera and its lens. It’s a fitting homage since the ASP is surprisingly the first museum in Los Angeles dedicated solely to photography. With exhibitions that typically run quarterly throughout the year, the ASP features world class digital and traditional print photography that utilizes every square inch of real estate that the building can spare, even the bathroom mirrors. Each exhibit is augmented by a short documentary film that plays on opposite walls in the center of the ASP that gives a deeper understanding and appreciation of how that particular exhibit came into existence. The adjoining room supplements the film with an interactive display unique to that exhibit. These thoughtful aspects, along with digital touch screen monitors stratigacally placed in various locations, better immerse you into the photographic world that surrounds you.
The current exhibit (May 2019); Contact High - A Visual History of Hip-Hop, vividly captures the evolution of the genre from its urban counter-culture roots to the mainstream powerhouse that it has become today. The exhibit deftly weaves in-between large scale portraits of well known artists and the contact sheets preserved from these and many other photoshoots. You need these large photos to convey the full essence of these larger-than-life characters, but if a picture is worth a thousand words then it’s within the contact sheets that the full story is revealed, providing an intimate glimpse into each subject’s soul that’s probably a little bit more then they were willing to share. Whether it’s candid snapshots of anonymous dancers pop-locking on the streets of New York or famed prints of MCs that have become some of the most iconic album and magazine covers of all time, they’re all on impressive display during the exhibit’s run. If you happen to miss it though, it’s still possible to view these dynamic photos in the book by the same name; Contact High - A Visual History of Hip Hop.
Either way, be it this exhibit or the next or the one after that, any time is a good time to visit the Annenberg Space for Photography.
