MOCA

As part of Engagement Party—the dynamic new initiative developed by The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA), to engage innovative Los Angeles–based artist collectives—Finishing School collective presents Little Pharma Drug Run, a public intervention taking place at MOCA Grand Avenue's Sculpture Plaza, on Thursday, November 6 from 7 to 10pm.

For this interactive event, participants will first meet at MOCA Grand Avenue for a costume-making workshop and screening of the Media Education Foundation's Big Bucks, Big Pharma: Marketing Disease and Pushing Drugs, a video documentary narrated by Amy Goodman. Dressed as their favorite pharmaceuticals, they will then embark on a group bicycle tour of downtown Los Angeles drugstores. The event will culminate at Fringe Exhibitions in Chinatown, which is hosting Finishing School's Little Pharma Physic Garden, a participatory installation based on 16th and 17th-century European gardens established by monks to promote proactive public health and the study of herbal medicine, known then as the "physic" arts. This event is FREE and open to the public. No reservations are required.

Finishing School
Formed in late 2001, Finishing School is a collective identity that explores art, design, and technology through interventions that combine praxis, play, and activism. Finishing School attempts to demystify the experience of cultural production and engage viewers through various participatory models. One of their current ongoing projects, Little Pharma, is an interdisciplinary investigation of various alternative medicines and lifestyles as viable antidotes to some of the drug industry's pathologies. This work involves an ongoing weblog, workshops, roundtable meetings, lectures, and the installation at Fringe Exhibitions, which is on view through November 8, 2008.

Engagement Party
Launched in October 2008, MOCA's Engagement Party offers emerging Los Angeles–based artist collectives three-month residencies during which they present public programs at MOCA Grand Avenue on the first Thursday of each month from 7 to 10pm. Collectives may employ any medium, discipline, or strategy during their residency, resulting in programs that may include performances, workshops, screenings, lectures, or any other activity emerging from the group's particular focus. By providing a platform for artist collectives who operate through multi-disciplinary, non-object based practices, MOCA intends to address the significant role of these practices in the contemporary cultural landscape and challenge the conventions of a collecting institution.

Engagement Party is made possible by a grant from The James Irvine Foundation.
For further information, please visit http://www.moca.org/party or contact 213/621-1745 or This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Jenny Holzer: PROTECT PROTECT

CHICAGO (October 29, 2009) -- In partnership with the MCA exhibition Jenny Holzer: PROTECT PROTECT, the Merchandise Mart, home to Art Chicago 2009, is proud to host a public projection of a text-based work on Monday, November 3, beginning at 7 p.m. and ending at Midnight.
This extraordinary event- a politically charged public art project on the eve of one of the most important presidential elections in living history—marks the Merchandise Mart as the largest building ever to host a Jenny Holzer projection.

According to the MCA, Holzer is “considered one of the most significant and pioneering contemporary artists, both for her approach to language and for her use of nontraditional media and public settings for her work.” Perhaps best known for projects that use LED technology to display appropriated text drawn from poetry, literature, and historical documents, Jenny Holzer has long held a firm place in the art canon.
“The Merchandise Mart is very proud to be collaborating with the MCA and the internationally renowned artist Jenny Holzer on this historic art installation for our city,” notes Tony Karman, vice president of Art Chicago. “This unique partnership further defines our long term commitment to the arts - both as a home to Art Chicago and as a producer of acclaimed international art events”.

Holzer’s projection will draw from the poetry of Wislawa Szymborska, who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1996. The text will appear on the enormous south face of The Mart, 137,000+ square feet, projected from across the Chicago River.

For more information or for post-event photos on this public art event,
please contact Kasey Madden, director of public relations, Art Chicago at 312.527.3357 or This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it