Los Angeles Water School
ABOUT LAWS (LOS ANGELES WATER SCHOOL):
LAWS is a functional artwork, an experimental school for students of all ages to engage in dialogue and collaborative work with water. Located adjacent to the Los Angeles River, in a structure inspired by Steve and Holly Baer’s self-sufficient passive solar Zome House (1969-72), LAWS is the first of four Water Schools planned by artist Oscar Tuazon, with locations in Minnesota, Michigan, and Nevada.
Presented by LAND, this series of events builds a genealogy of the complex life of water in Los Angeles, through the lens of local history, architecture, politics, and art. Through this collaborative process tracing how water connects diverse communities within Los Angeles and across the continent, working from a micro to macro understanding of policy and infrastructure, the artist and LAND are excited to continue this constitutive dialogue and create a setting for the exchange of cross-disciplinary ideas and learning.
PAST PROGRAMS
LAWS: Helen Fillmore
LAWS: Shanai Matteson and Tanya Aubid
Shanai Haana Matteson (b. 1982) is an artist, writer, mother, community-based researcher, and cultural organizer. She is a settler/visitor who currently resides in illegally occupied Dakota territory [Minneapolis, Minnesota] and works across rural and urban places on regenerative cultural and ecological projects.
Read about Water Protector Tanya Aubid’s hunger strike here: https://www.stopline3.org/news/taniaaubid-hungerstrike
LAWS: Dakota Case
To read about how Dakota Case and the Puyallup Nation are Protecting the Salish Sea https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/stories/how-dakota-case-and-the-puyallup-nation-are-protecting-the-salish-sea/
Cedar Spring Water School: Great Basin
Saturday, September 10, 2020
Zoom Conversation
Water School returns to the source: Cedar Spring, Nevada. Located in the high desert of the Great Basin, Cedar Spring is one of hundreds of freshwater springs in Spring Valley threatened by a proposal to build a $15 Billion pipeline to remove water from the valley 360 miles south to Las Vegas.
What makes water sacred? Are Indigenous water management strategies relevant to our sustainable future water use? Are trees water?
We are honored to be joined by Ely Shoshone elder Delaine Spilsbury; Kyle Roerink, Executive Director Great Basin Water Network; and Chairman Rupert Steele of the Confederated Tribes of the Goshute Nation.
Water School is a functional work of public art based at Cedar Spring, Nevada.
LAWS: LA River Basin / The Aqueduct Between Us
Saturday, May 16, 2020
Zoom Conversation
Guests: AnMarie Mendoza, L. Frank, Kris Hohag, and Jolie Varela. Moderated by Oscar Tuazon.
LAWS: SHYEE (HEAL)
Saturday, December 15, 2018
3 – 6 PM
“We are the reflection of the earth; if the earth is beautiful then we as people of the earth are beautiful.”
– Julia Bogany
The second installment in a series of public events devoted to the water of Los Angeles will explore climate colonialism and race as they relate to pipeline construction on Native American land. We are honored to welcome Tara Houska, National Campaigns Director of Honor the Earth, Angela Mooney D’Arcy, Acjachemen National and Executive Director of Sacred Places Institute for Indigenous Peoples, and returning guests Julia Bogany and Jessa Calderon, all of whom will present on environmental issues affecting indigenous communities in the Western Hemisphere, taking us through the history of environmental racism from first contact through present day. Following the presentations the audience will be invited to ask questions.
LAWS: YAANGNA (AKA L.A.)
Friday, October 12, 2018
7 – 9 PM
Audio from the panel discussion can be found here:
A roundtable discussion of the history of Los Angeles told through water, an event celebrating Indigenous People’s Day.
Featured guests include Tongva elder Gloria Arellanes, Tongva elder Julia Bogany, songwriter Jessa Calderon, educator Tina Calderon, and scholar Annie Mendoza. Moderated by Kelly Caballero.
The first in a series of public events devoted to the water of Los Angeles will explore the history of the Tongva, the original people of the Los Angeles River, through a dialogue on the traditional uses of this waterway and its significance today. Reconsidering the history of Los Angeles begins with indigenous oral histories, and how these traditions can inform the city’s current approach to water management. Reimagining the future of our shared water starts with an understanding of the language of the Tongva and the name of the original village where Los Angeles now stands, Yaangna.
Presented by LAND, and organized by Panda and Oscar Tuazon.
Support for LAWS Programming is Provided By:
NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS
FOUNDATION FOR ARTS INITIATIVES
THE OFFIELD FAMILY FOUNDATION
PROJECT SPONSOR ROBERTO TOSCANO
ARTIST SPONSOR SHAMIM M. MOMIN
ARTIST SPONSOR BRENDA R. POTTER
LAND NOMADIC COUNCIL
Special Thanks to the Kickstarter Contributors
Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Marcy Miller, Helga Fassonaki, Paul Gachot, Alex Arzt, Melissa Passman, Miwon Kwon, A.L. Steiner, Richard Aufrichtig, Paul Ryan, Bosun Babalola, Paul Nguyen, Jack Rabbitt Perez, Whitney Gore, Martin Laborde, Shana Nys Dambrot, Gilda Kunstnernes Hus, Anne Pontegnie, Joshua White, Kim Allen-Niesen, Nicholas Sola, Julie Miyoshi, Joao Proenca, Asgeir Skotnes, Bwana Spoons, John Hansen, Nadia Palon, Linda Maggard, Kellie Dieudonne, Saif Radi, and Veronique Pittman
See our Kickstarter Campaign for LAWS Programming here (now closed).