Skip to main content
Back to Show
Artbound

Machine Project Field Guide to L.A. Architecture: Welcome

 
In Partnership with MachineProjectAs part of the Getty initiative Pacific Standard Time Presents: Modern Architecture in L.A., Machine Project asked artists to take on the whole environment of Los Angeles and create performances shot on video and edited into short experimental films in response to notable architectural sites throughout the city.

 
Flat Top, as the neighbors call it, is an undeveloped series of hilltop ridges in Montecito Heights that lead from the top of Montecito Road to the avenues of Lincoln Heights. Avenue 33 dead ends into the base of the steep hill, and informal trails and four-wheeler tracks lead up to the top. Covered in wild melon vines and grasses, the packed dirt roads that line the tops of the hills are a popular place for residents to walk their dogs, take a hike, or drink a beer and watch the sunset.

Flat Top shows the true contours of the East Side. The confluence of the Arroyo Seco and the L.A. River lays just below, having spent the past thousands of years carving the hills of Mount Washington to the North, and Chavez Ravine to the West. The sounds of traffic on the 110 and 5 freeways and the industry along the river echo up through the valleys, mixing with the familiar East Side chorus of barking dogs, playing children, and Norteño music. Within this scene the downtown skyline feels within reach.

Below the hill in Lincoln Heights, the other end of Avenue 33 comes to a halt at the 110 freeway, just past Pieter, a performance space and studio of the dancer, choreographer, and costumer Jmy James Kidd. Here, she developed "Welcome," a piece for her new group the Sunland Dancers, performed on Flat Top at sunset in June 2013.

Support Provided By
Season
Nobuko Miyamoto: A Song in Movement
Unlock with PBS Passport
57:03
The life of the visionary musician, dancer and activist Nobuko Miyamoto.
Black Art: A Brockman Gallery Legacy
56:38
Brockman Gallery was the center of a community of Black artists in L.A. from 1967-1990.
Arts & Architecture: The Case Study House Program
56:33
West Coast Modernism took hold in post-WWII with the “Case Study Houses” program.
Blended Worlds: The Fusion of Art & Science at JPL
56:59
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory transforms science into awe-inspiring creative projects.
The Cheech
57:08
Follow Cheech Marin's journey from comedy icon to Chicano art advocate.
East West Players: A Home on Stage
56:43
Chronicling the 58-year history of the longest running theatre of color in the U.S.
Angel City Press: L.A. through the Pages
55:51
Angel City Press has been shaping and influencing public understanding of LA for decades.
Artists-In-Residence
56:39
Artists-In-Residence programs provide artists opportunities to create uninterrupted work.
L.A. Rebellion: A Cinematic Movement
56:40
Following the Watts Uprising, UCLA increased film program enrollment of students of color.
América Tropical: The Martyr Mural of Siqueiros
56:43
David Alfaro Siqueiros created Olvera Street’s popular mural with an innovative technique.
Chinatown Punk Wars
56:43
Two Chinese restaurants became the unlikely epicenter of L.A.’s burgeoning punk scene.
A Rubén Ortiz-Torres Story
56:17
Rubén Ortiz-Torres explores his past and present in an uncertain socio-economic future.
Active loading indicator