Reseda Recreation Center, Reseda, Council District 3

Celebrating the universal experience of eating with one’s hands, Eva Aguila’s installation comprises an outdoor earthen oven based on a Mexican comal (griddle), with demonstrations by a local tortillero artist. Accompanying the installation is a screening of newly commissioned experimental videos by artists with a tradition of eating by hand.

Venice Beach Recreation Center, Venice, Council District 11

Mussel Beach contemplates the cultural history and ecosystem of Venice Beach, focusing on the impact of climate change on mussels, which act as filters for pollution along the shoreline. Through a series of mixed-media interventions along the beach, including a choreographed audio tour, Cooking Sections investigates the consequences of human activity on the natural landscape.

LA State Historic Park, Chinatown, Council District 1

Adrià Julià’s project, A Very White Flower, consists of two new films that critically explore the production and consumption of popcorn, its intrinsic link to Hollywood and the film industry, and the historical and socioeconomic intricacies of the global corn industry.

Pershing Square, Downtown LA, Council District 14

Open Mouth is an installation of custom benches with rounded end elements that resemble teeth. The benches are arranged in a configuration that resembles a diagrammatic adult human mouth. The work is a stage for viewing, meeting, and thinking about the metabolism of the city.

Valley Plaza Recreation Center, North Hollywood, Council District 2

Shana Lutker’s Contemporary Museum of Temporary Containers (CMTC) is an installation of single-use takeout containers painted a single color and organized by size, shape, or former contents. The work encourages creative reuse and considers the limits of sustainability and recycling at a critical juncture of environmental responsibility.

Roger Jessup Park, Pacoima, Council District 7

Through food, Emily Marchand examines ideologies around survival. At Roger Jessup Park, volunteers participate in a large-scale lunch-packing session to benefit local homeless services in Pacoima. A large community lunch takes place on a compostable cloth embedded with seeds that participants cut portions from and use to grow food.

Barnsdall Park, East Hollywood, Council District 13

New Shores: The Future Dialogue Between Two Homelands focuses on the immigrant experience and the ethnic diversity around Barnsdall Park. Julio César Morales and Max La Rivière-Hedrick collaborate with local chefs to hear personal accounts of food and migration. They then use the narratives as the foundation to create a multisensory installation and series of performances inspired by night markets.

Orcutt Ranch Horticultural Center, West Hills, Council District 12

Nonfood’s algae-harvesting greenhouse presents an underexplored alternative food-production option for sustainable and nutritious products. The greenhouse is an elegant, translucent minimalist structure with a functioning alkaline pond installation that grows FDA-approved algae. The aquatic plant produces the rich green color that contrasts with the neutral industrial elements of the installation.

Exposition Park Rose Garden, Exposition Park, Council District 9

Michael Queenland’s metal sculpture presents breakfast cereal piled on top of a hand-knotted rug that features patterns from the Pakistan-Afghanistan border region. One layer shows a perishable item made for modern consumption, while the other is part of a history of artisanal craft. Two cultural products are juxtaposed to compel a consideration of formal, social, and political associations.

Pan Pacific Park, Fairfax District, Council District 4

Michael Rakowitz re-creates Room F of the destroyed Northwest Palace of Nimrud in Iraq in the form of an outdoor banquet space. Dates are the main ingredient of the project’s meals and serve to spark conversation about the historical engagements between the United States and Iraq and the date industry that connects the two countries.

Delano Recreation Center, Van Nuys, Council District 6

ALL AGAIN is a choral and movement performance organized and led by Carolyn Pennypacker Riggs and Annie Gimas. The work reflects on themes including food justice, ecology, and environmental manipulation, with an emphasis on access, food waste, and compost. The artists’ goal is to support dialogue and action around these crucial topics through collective movement, music, and education.

Palms Park, West LA, Council District 5

Ry Rocklen’s Food Group: The Body Palms imagines Palms Park as a giant digestive system, with an installation of bronze sculptures and a live performance based on his Food Group characters, who wear costumes modeled after popular food eaten by hand, such as popcorn, cupcakes, or tacos.

Ted Watkins Memorial Park, Watts, Council District 15

A reimagined barbecue area, designed by Torolab, becomes a social space to create a crowd-sourced project titled Watts Cookbook. The collective seeks to cultivate a diverse dialogue around the history of open-fire cooking in urban communities of color and thus counter the reality of food deserts by affirming food as a shared value abundant in local hearts and minds.

Martin Luther King Jr. Park, South LA, Council District 8

Jazmin Urrea’s sculptures in Martin Luther King Jr. Park in South LA are filled with Flamin’ Hot Cheetos® and stand eight feet tall. This amusing monument to a popular junk food is also an imposing reminder of the poverty of nutritional options in disfranchised communities.

Leimert Plaza Park, Leimert Park, Council District 10

The events and art installations of Nari Ward’s Enchanted Servers metaphorically set the table to celebrate and reflect on how food is served. In Leimert Park, a totem sculpture made of food plate covers and jacks evokes LA car culture, food trucks, and DIY music instruments. Participatory activations related to this work generate meaningful social communion around food, art, and music.