The Hammer Museum and The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens announced the 30 artists participating in "Made in L.A. 2020: a version," the fifth iteration of the Hammer's biennial exhibition highlighting the practices of artists working throughout the greater Los Angeles area. Cocurated by Paris-based curator Myriam Ben Salah and LA–based curator Lauren Mackler, with the Hammer's Ikechukwu Onyewuenyi as assistant curator of performance, "Made in L.A. 2020: a version" will be presented at both the Hammer and The Huntington from June 7 through Aug. 30, 2020. 

The biennial’s two venues create a cross-town conversation from west to east. Taking advantage of the city’s sprawling geography, the curators chose to stage the exhibition in two mirrored parts, presenting works by all the artists in both museums in addition to select locales in between.

“I continue to marvel at how different and eye-opening each iteration of Made in L.A. can be,” said Hammer Museum Director Ann Philbin. “Through nearly 300 hundred studio visits, Myriam, Lauren, and Ike have assembled a group of artists who delve into fascinating and often overlooked histories, subcultures, and communities of LA. Once again, the exhibition has illustrated the strength and vision of the here and now of contemporary art in our city.”

“With every artist represented at both The Huntington and the Hammer, visitors will have two unique experiences that comprise one whole biennial,” Huntington President Karen R. Lawrence said. “I’m particularly excited to see the ways in which the artists’ work will activate our galleries and highlight the collaborative energy that characterizes our Centennial Celebration.”

“Made in L.A. is more than an exhibition; it’s a rallying point for the creative communities of Los Angeles,” said Raul A. Anaya, Bank of America market president for greater Los Angeles and member of The Huntington’s Board of Governors. “Bank of America is proud to support the Hammer and The Huntington —giving them the power to promote these talented LA artists to the entire Southland and to the world.”

Made in L.A. 2020 will feature long-standing research projects alongside newly commissioned works and will commingle a mix of practitioners—artists, writers, filmmakers, and performers. Subtitled “a version,” the exhibition will highlight conceptual threads that connect the artists’ works: entertainment both as a subject and a material; the genre and aesthetic of horror in contemporary practices; and the film and theater convention of the fourth wall, a device through which fiction is built and dismantled.

Made in L.A. 2020 Artists

• Mario Ayala (b. 1991, LA, CA)
• Aria Dean (b. 1993, LA, CA)
• Hedi El Kholti (b. 1967, Rabat, Morocco)
• Buck Ellison (b. 1987, San Francisco, CA)
• Niloufar Emamifar
• Christina Forrer (b. 1978, Zürich, Switzerland)
• Harmony Holiday (b. 1982)
• Patrick Jackson (b. 1978, LA, CA)
• Larry Johnson (b. 1959, Lakewood, CA)
• Kahlil Joseph (b. 1981, Seattle, WA)
• Ann Greene Kelly (b. 1988, New York, NY)
• Jacqueline Kiyomi Gordon (b. 1982, Long Beach, CA)
• Nicola L. (b. 1937, Mazagan, Morocco; d. 2018, LA, CA)
• Brandon D. Landers (b. 1985, LA, CA)
• SON. (Justen LeRoy) (founded 2016)
• Ligia Lewis (b. 1983, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic)
• Monica Majoli (b. 1963, LA, CA)
• Jill Mulleady (b. 1980, Montevideo, Uruguay)
• Diane Severin Nguyen (b. 1990, Carson, CA)
• Alexandra Noel (b. 1989, Columbus, OH)
• Mathias Poledna (b. 1965, Vienna, Austria)
• Umar Rashid (b. 1976, Chicago, IL)
• Reynaldo Rivera (b. 1963, Mexicali, Mexico)
• Katja Seib (b. 1989, Dusseldorf, Germany
• Ser Serpas (b. 1995, LA, CA)
• Sonya Sombreuil / COME TEES (b. 1986, Santa Cruz, CA)
• Jeffrey Stuker (b. 1979, Fort Collins, CO)
• Beyond Baroque by Sabrina Tarasoff (b. 1991, Jyväskylä, Finland)
• Fulton Leroy Washington (aka MR. WASH) (b. 1954, Compton, CA)
• Kandis Williams (b. 1985, Baltimore, MD)