Land: Los Angeles Nomadic Division, Multi-platform, All-terrain, Non-profit Art Organization

Land: Los Angeles Nomadic Division, Multi-platform, All-terrain, Non-profit Art Organization– When former Whitney curator Shamim Momin moved from New York to Los Angeles in early 2009, many of her peers thought she was leaving the epicenter of art activity for the wild west. But the truth was the 37-year-old curator had been coming out to Los Angeles for years on the hunt for fresh, untapped talent. “Historically, the L.A. art community has always been interesting, but it really feels like it’s gathering a critical mass over the last few years in an exciting way,” she says. Momin linked up with another former New York curator, Christine Y. Kim, who is now associate curator of contemporary art at the Los Angles County Museum of Art to form the ambitious non-profit art organization Los Angeles Nomadic Division (a.k.a. LAND), which basically turns the entire city landscape into potential art exhibition sites. “At this point I can’t look at anything without thinking about it as a venue,” she says. LAND’s various projects tackle long-term multi-platform productions such as the year-long “VIA” which brings significant Mexican artists to public sites around L.A., like Yoshua Okon, whose video of 15 pit bulls was shown on the walls of a hot dog stand by the pier in Santa Monica last September. But they also organize more roving one-night fetes for emerging talents. Last October LAND hosted a video and lecture by Jonah Freeman and Justin Lowe in the historic Schindler Buck House. Momin, Kim, and her team of associates (Taylor Livingston and William Parks, among others) don’t just see the Pacific Ocean as their horizon lines. While based in L.A., LAND is aiming to stretch its creative opportunities all over the globe. They are already planning  an exhibition in Marfa, Texas, in fall 2011, but first LAND is taking over an island—at least for a night—in Miami during Miami Art Basel.

Shamim Momim (foreground), Taylor Livingston, and William Parks of Los Angeles Nomadic Division (land) in Livingston’s 1967 Ford Falcon on the 101 South, Los Angeles, October 2010. On Shamim and Taylor: Dresses: Lanvin. On William: Shirt: Subject’s Own.

To see the full LA Artworld story CLICK HERE