Why’d They Put That In A Museum?
Show Notes
Artist: Chris Burden (American, 1946 – 2014)
Item: Urban Light, 2008
Details: (size & location) 202 restored cast-iron streetlamps
Dimensions: 320 1/2 x 686 1/2 x 704 1/2 in. (814.07 x 1743.71 x 1789.43 cm) Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Urban Light
by Chris Burden
“Urban Light” shines on LACMA Museum
Museum curator Sarah Lees and co-host Beth Bacon answer a listener’s question about the grid of lampposts outside the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). This site-specific installation is a popular spot and a common social media background for Los Angelenos.
But where did Urban Light come from, who made it, and why? It turns out, the installation is made up of actual, salvaged streetlights that once lit up the local neighborhoods of LA. The varied styles of the poles reflect LA’s decentralized makeup and hint at the city’s car-centric identity.
This piece may be playful and fun, but Sarah explains that the artist, Chris Burden, is best known for making vivid, sometimes dark, performance art. For example, for his work called Shoot, Burden arranged for a friend to shoot him in the arm. That work was temporary, but to the delight of Los Angelenos, the immersive, cathedral-like experience of Urban Light is around to stay.
00:00 Podcast Intro
00:56 Listener Question
04:04 What Is Urban Light
04:54 Salvaged Streetlamps
07:42 Why It Matters
08:38 LA History In Lamps
Contact Us
Say helloAbout the Podcasters
Sarah Lees
Sarah is a museum curator and researcher who has worked in organizations both large and small, and who remembers her first assignment for an art history class – to look into Rembrandt’s eyes and describe what she saw there. She believes everyone can find those kinds of connections to some form of creative expression, whether it’s a painting, a grandmother’s quilt, or a perfectly formed pen-stroke in a manuscript.
Beth Bacon
In addition to being an avid museum-goer, Beth Bacon is an author for young readers. Her books empower today’s kids to learn about themselves and the world through reading. She is also a teacher and branding consultant and a volunteer at the Missouri History Museum. Beth holds an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts, an MA in Communication Arts from NYU, and a BA in Literature from Harvard University.
Music Credit
The music you hear in the intro and outro was composed by Edward Whelan. We appreciate his contribution to our podcast.
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