Arts Avenue
Welcome to First Thursdays: Arts Avenue, a celebration of the arts, our community and the creative spark that is within us all.
Read on for more information about the art and artists on the streets of Westwood Village.
VISUAL ARTS
Machine Simulations: Nature
Artist: Refik Anadol, M.F.A 2014
In partnership with UCLA, renowned artist and alumnus Refik Anadol has created a multisensory experience that commemorates the beauty of nature and seeks to aid in our collective renewal through the power of art.
The “Machine Simulations: Nature” art installation turns vast photographic datasets of nature into multisensory experiences to commemorate the beauty of the earth we share. Created specifically for UCLA's "Moment of Reflection," the data sculpture uses more than 300 million photographs of nature. Refik Anadol and his team collected and interpreted these datasets during the COVID-19 pandemic to promote well-being through a virtual connection to the environment. These massive, publicly available data sets are the foundation of what the AI learns before it can dream of nature from an alternative perspective, or what the artist calls “the mind of a machine.” The artist hopes that the project will aid in our collective healing process as we emerge from this pandemic, through the power of imagination, and an appreciation of nature in all its wonder.
About the Artist:
Refik Anadol (b. 1985, Istanbul, Turkey) is a media artist and pioneer in the aesthetics of machine intelligence, and the director of Refik Anadol Studio in Los Angeles. Anadol is also a lecturer and researcher for UCLA's Department of Design Media Arts from which he obtained his Master of Fine Arts. A pioneer in his field, and the first to use artificial intelligence in a public artwork, Anadol’s site-specific audio/visual performances have been featured at iconic landmarks, museums, and festivals worldwide, including Walt Disney Concert Hall, Hammer Museum, Dongdaemun Design Plaza, Artechouse, The Centre Pompidou, Daejeon Museum of Art, Florence Biennale, Venice Architecture Biannale, Art Basel, among many others.
Storybooks
Fill in the scenes of four large-scale storybooks created by members of our arts community.
Artists: Brenda Barrios (Art), Emmet Abrams (Film and Television-Animation, Screenwriting), Sonja Cayetano (World Arts and Cultures)
Pop-Up Artmaking
You’ll find more artmaking activities and giveaways woven throughout Arts Avenue featuring collage making with Hammer Museum Art Lab, individual watercoloring, a drawing station for “Joy Doodles” which will become part of the stage design for May First Thursdays, and live abstract painting with UCLA global jazz studies student Raven Adair.
PERFORMING ARTS–MUSIC
Original music, mixing and beats from Antonio Estrada (a.k.a DJ $weaty Money)
Estrada is a fourth year Music History and Industry student at the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music. He was born and raised in Sacramento, CA, and transferred to UCLA as a first-generation college student in 2021. Estrada has always had a burning passion for listening to and creating music. Upon entering UCLA, Antonio sought to transcend these passions through collaborative and creative experiences. Some of which include: recently interning at Dim Mak Records, hosting regular shows on UCLA Radio, producing original music with his peers, and currently building a music production services business with an emphasis on AI. Ultimately, he aspires to be a full time DJ and music producer, working to inspire the next generation of creatives to successfully pursue their career in the arts.
PERFORMING ARTS–DANCE
Make your way toward the main lot by 8 p.m. to enjoy a performance from UCLA’s Icarus Dance Company.
Icarus Contemporary Dance Company is a diverse group of UCLA students joined by our shared love for dance. As an entirely student-run organization, we bring together artists with various backgrounds and goals, while working collaboratively to choreograph and establish unity. We are excited to share our work at Arts Avenue!
Performers: Anabel Goldstein, Aliza Workman, Angelina Harris, Angie Eng, Ava London, Bailey Cowley, Bella Andrews, Brianna Giannetto, Brooke Thompson, Cate Kelly, Danielle Diem, Elena Bruce, Emerson Howard, Isha Das, Julia Bocian, Kaili Tam, Kailyn Yi, Lindsay Backer, Maeve Horan-Portelance, Melody Jiang, Natasha Anders, Nia Frazier, Reagan Feldman, Tia Payne and Zoe McKay
LITERARY ARTS—The Poetry Bureau
It’s National Poetry Month and The Poetry Bureau will be accepting submissions from 7-8:30 p.m. Fill out your form, take a wander and come back for your personalized poem.
Many thanks to our UCLA student poets tonight: Andrew Checchia, Matthew Esarte, Katherine Osmundson, Chang Zho, Eric Ha, Alana Malika, Sophia Russo and Breanna Diaz.
If you miss out on a live poem at the main event, fill out this form and by the end of the month, we’ll ask a poet from our community to write a little ditty for you and send it via email.
