FOR THE PUBLIC

The Elysian Park Museum of Art is an ongoing experiment in do-it-yourself urban park management. Established in 1886 and located adjacent to downtown Los Angeles, Elysian Park is the oldest park in the city with the least open space per capita of any major American city. Taking its cue from the 2006 Elysian Park Master Plan as outlined by the City of Los Angeles, the Museum seeks to "re-weave" the fabric of the park through low-impact site-specific installations that focus on the broad ecological and social boundaries that run throughout the park's 600-plus acres. Mounting both retrospective and contemporary exhibitions by local and international artists at various sites around the park on a rotating basis, EPMoA operates as an open, flexible, and transparent exercise in expanding the function of a museum as a public institution. Exhibition openings are publicly announced, and the exhibitions are viewable during park hours (6:30 am until 10 pm, seven days a week) with the aid of maps available from the website. Due to the very public and uncontrolled nature of the Museum, exhibitions are subject to vandalism, removal, or decay during the course of their installation. Visitors are advised to accept, as members of the public, partial accountability for the state of the Museum.

FOR ARTISTS / INSTITUTIONS

The Elysian Park Museum of Art is accepting submissions of site-specific proposals, as well as individual works of art, or reproductions of works of art, from artists and institutions interested in taking part in future exhibitions. The Museum's primary location within the Park--a nature-interpretation trail fallen into disuse--is available for the installation of non-site-specific work, but any location within the Park's boundaries should be considered a potential site. As the Park itself is both geographically and socially fractured, the Museum's focus is on creating pathways between different areas of the park, and the different communities that use them every day. There is a wide range of site categories, from parking lots to dense forest, from manicured lawns to native ecology, human and natural, trashed and intact, used and not used. Those interested in submitting a proposal are encouraged to visit the Park--guided tours can easily be arranged. Architectural consultants are available to assist in the design and fabrication of low-impact structures to house exhibition materials as needed, as well as navigating questions related to interacting with the Park's natural ecosystem.

As the Park is both wild and public--and largely unsupervised--works of art exhibited in the Museum are susceptible to damage from both human and natural elements, as well as complete removal. Each exhibition will be carefully documented upon installation, with the dual purpose of providing the artist / institution with proprietary material evidence, and publishing--under the auspices of the Elysian Park Museum of Art--an ongoing series of exhibition catalogues which are made publicly available.

Exhibitions will remain publicly viewable for a pre-determined amount of time, or until they are prematurely destroyed. At the closing of the exhibition, the Museum will either return possession of the pieces to the artist / institution / lending party, or supervise the careful and complete destruction of the artwork, with complimentary composting available. EPMoA does not operate as a commercial gallery, all funds raised through the sale of exhibition catalogs are directly reinvested in the Museum's minimal operating budget. Works of art exhibited in the EPMoA, or documentation of exhibitions, remain the property of the contributing artist, institution, or lending party.

EPMoA seeks to collaborate with other organizations in an ongoing dialogue about using parks, going to museums, living in a city, these kinds of things.

RESOURCES

park map
satellite image of the park
hand drawn map of the nature-interpretation trail
directions to the park by public transportation
directions to the park by bicycle
Elysian Park Natural Resources
Elysian Park Natural Resources--list of plant species found in the park
Elysian Park Natural Resources--guide to site ecology within the park
City of Los Angeles' Elysian Park Master Plan
excerpt from 1992 UCLA study on Elysian Park--"Outreach to the Latino Community"