LA MUSEUMS TAKE CUE FROM NY WITH MUSIC SERIES

In the current issue of Bookforum, Choire Sicha calls Museum of Modern Art curator-at-large Klaus Biesenbach a “cultural truffle hound," partly in response to his stagings of MoMA-produced blockbusters like the recent eight-night Kraftwerk extravaganza and a sold-out performance by Antony and the Johnsons at Radio City Music Hall.

Celebrity-mongering or not, Biesenbach knows how to take chances (and raise money), and now it looks like museums on the west coast are taking a cue from New York. In May, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art is launching “Through the Mic,” its first concert series for “emerging and experimental” local hip-hop artists.

Every third Thursday at 8 pm, May 17-Oct. 18, 2012, LACMA and rapper MURS are hosting a concert with a different local act, taking place in front of Chris Burden’s sculpture of 202 vintage street lamps in the museum’s BP Pavilion. First up is MURS himself performing with Eligh and Scarub under the name 3MG, formerly known as 3 Melancholy Gypsies.

As MURS has explained it, “For too long, Los Angeles hip-hop has been seen as one-dimensional ‘gangsta rap.’ With this new series, we're giving our city’s hip hop artists an amazing platform to show not only our community, but the world, that we have so much more to offer.” Tickets to the concerts are $15, $10 for LACMA members.

And the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art has jumped on the bandwagon too. Starting tomorrow, Apr. 20, 2012, the museum opens the “Transmission LA: AV Club,” 17 days of music, art, film and design programming curated by Beastie Boy Mike D. Among the artists are Peter Coffin, Jim Drain, Will Fowler, Benjamin Jones, Mike Mills, Takeshi Murata and Tom Sachs, plus chef Roy Choi and singer Santigold.

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