One year ago, Congress defunded public media. Now that we're 100% community funded, please become a sustaining member or increase your existing membership today.
This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
LACMA Says Farewell To 'Penetrable'
LACMA holds a special photo op for 'Penetrable' on Sunday. The work closes on Feb. 12. (Photo by Michael Locke via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr)
The “yellow spaghetti” piece in front of LACMA’s Ahmanson Building—formally known as Jesús Rafael Soto’s installation Penetrable—closes for good on Feb. 12. Often overshadowed by the museum’s other outdoor installations nearby, including Michael Heizer's Levitated Mass and Chris Burden’s Urban Light, Soto’s whimsical work beckons visitors to play among the yellow hoses suspended from a grid.
From LACMA’s UnFramed blog:
Although Soto’s work is conceived as a geometric sculpture, it lacks a solid surface or plane; its shape is easily altered by human contact, or even natural elements such as wind and rain. In other words, it is a work in constant flux. This playful and profoundly sensorial aspect of Soto’s Penetrable has made it one of the most popular works in the museum—an object that invites the viewer to become one with the work of art.
Penetrable has been on long-term loan from the New York City and Caracas-based Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros and on view at LACMA since 2011. Today (Sunday, Jan. 8), the museum holds a special farewell event for Soto’s spaghetti piece. From noon to 4 pm on the plaza, a professional photographer will be available at the artwork to take pictures of you, friends and family playing and posing with the piece. The photographer is available on a first-come, first-served basis. All photos will be emailed to participants within a week of the event (pending a signed release).
One year ago, Congress voted to defund public media, eliminating a critical $1.7 million from our budget every year going forward. But they couldn’t silence us, and we’re not going anywhere. LAist is now 100% community funded and that means we’re taking our future into our own hands and turning to you to keep local reporting strong.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
Senior Vice President News, Editor in Chief
