Hammer Museum and ICA LA Present Witch Hunt
On view October 10, 2021 – January 9, 2022
On view at the Hammer Museum at UCLA and the Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (ICA LA) from October 10, 2021 to January 9, 2022 is Witch Hunt, an incisive international survey of 16 critically acclaimed artists whose practices deploy feminist, queer, and decolonial strategies to explore current and historical political events, social conditions, and artistic legacies.
The projects in Witch Hunt consistently argue for the value of a critical feminist perspective within the subject matter, production, and presentation of contemporary art. Together, the works constitute an art of resistance, proposing new ways of thinking and enacting change at a moment of unprecedented suffering and upheaval across the globe. There will be 11 artists presented at the Hammer and five at ICA LA with newly created artworks at both venues. (Select photos below.)
Leonor Antunes, Yael Bartana, Pauline Boudry & Renate Lorenz, Candice Breitz, Shu Lea Cheang, Minerva Cuevas, Vaginal Davis, Bouchra Khalili, Every Ocean Hughes (formerly Emily Roysdon), Laura Lima, Teresa Margolles, Otobong Nkanga, Okwui Okpokwasili, Lara Schnitger, and Beverly Semmes animate a range of current global feminist thought and action through painting, sculpture, video, photography, sound, and performance. The exhibition features many newly commissioned works and major projects that are making their United States or west coast debut. Organized by Connie Butler, Hammer chief curator, and Anne Ellegood, ICA LA Good Works Executive Director, with Nika Chilewich, Hammer curatorial assistant.
ICA LA exhibition hours, by appointment: Wednesday–Sunday, 12pm to 5pm, 1717 E. 7th Street, L.A.. To schedule an appointment, visit theicala.org/visit. Parking available onsite. Hammer Museum open Tuesday-Sunday: 11am to 6pm, 10899 Wilshire Boulevard at Westwood, L.A. Onsite parking $7 (maximum 3 hours) or $7 flat rate after 6 p.m. Visit hammer.ucla.edu for details or call 310-443-7000.
Teresa Margolles, Air Conditioners in the open-air market Los Herrajeros,
La Chaveña neighborhood, Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. Courtesy of the artist. Photo: Citlali Cruz.
Teresa Margolles,
Niña centroamericana en el albergue coordinado por mujeres transgénero "Respetrans," Ciudad Juárez
(Central American girl in "Respetrans," a shelter run by transgender women, Ciudad Juárez), 2021.
Courtesy of the artist and James Cohan, New York. © Teresa Margolles
Teresa Margolles,
Transgénero centroamericana descansando a su llegada
al albergue coordinado por mujeres transgénero "Respetrans," Ciudad Juárez
(Transgender woman from Central America resting upon arrival to "Respetrans,"
a shelter run by transgender women, Ciudad Juárez), 2021.
Courtesy of the artist and James Cohan, New York. © Teresa Margolles
Leonor Antunes,
Discrepancias con C.P. Leonor Antunes, 2018. Mixed media. Dimensions variable.
Installation view, Museo Tamayo, Mexico City.
Courtesy of the artist and kurimanzutto Mexico City and NY
Pauline Boudry / Renate Lorenz, Telepathic Improvisation, 2017.
HD video, color, sound, with mixed-media installation.
Video: 20 min., installation dimensions variable.
Performance: Marwa Arsanios, MPA, Ginger Brooks Takahashi, and Werner Hirsch.
Courtesy of the artists; Ellen de Bruijne Projects, Amsterdam; and Marcelle Alix, Paris.
Yael Bartana, What if Women Ruled the World?, 2017.
Performance view, FIlmby Aarhus, European Capital of Culture Aarhus 2017, Denmark.
Courtesy of the artist. Photo: Brigit Kaulfuss.
Candice Breitz, TLDR, 2017. Thirteen-channel video installation, color, sound.
Room A: 60 min. Loop; room B: approx. 12 hour loop.
Featuring interviews with Zoe Black, Connie, Duduzile Dlamini, Emmah, Gabbi, Regina High,
Jenny, Jowi, Tenderlove, and Nosipho “Provocative” Vidima.
Narrator: Xanny “The Future” Stevens. Grim Reaper: Buhle Nobuzana.
Conceived in dialogue with SWEAT (Sex Workers Education and Advocacy Taskforce), Cape Town.
In memory of Nokuphila Kumalo. Commissioned by the B3 Biennial of the Moving Image, Frankfurt.
Courtesy of the artist; Goodman Gallery; Kaufmann Repetto; and KOW, Berlin.
Beverly Semmes, Helmet, 2018. Ink, acrylic over on printed canvas. 70 ½ x 50 in.
Courtesy of the artist and Susan Inglett Gallery, New York.
Okwui Okpokwasili, Poor People’s TV Room Solo, 2014/2021. Video and mixed-media installation. Dimensions variable. Installation view, New Museum, New York, 2021. Courtesy of the artist. Photo: Paul Jackson 2021
Yael Bartana, Patriarchy is History, 2019. Neon.78 1/8 × 72 15/16 in. (198.4 × 185.3 cm).
Courtesy of the artist, Annet Gelink Gallery & Sommer Contemporary Art Tel Aviv Photo Tom Haartsen
Laura Lima, Alfaiataria (Tailor Shop) 2014-2021. Mixed media. Dimensions variable.
Installation view, Pinacoteca Octágono, São Paulo, 2018.
Courtesy of the artist; Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, Los Angeles and New York; A Gentil Carioca,
Rio de Janeiro; and Luisa Strina, São Paulo. Photo: Isabelle Matheus 
Otobong Nkanga, Double Plot, 2018. Woven viscose bas, polyester, bio cotton, cashwool, acrylic, with photography. (265 x 770 cm). 1) Installation view, Zeitz MOCAA, Nov 2019-FEb 2020. Courtesy of the artist. Photo: Dillon Marsh 2) Installation view, Henie Onstad Kunstsenter, Nov 2020 - May 2021. Photo: Øystein Thorvaldsen 3) Courtesy of the artist.
Otobong Nkanga, In Pursuit of Bling – Desire, 2014. Lamda print, (40 x 60cm).
Courtesy of the artist
Otobong Nkanga Social Consequences II - Choices We Make, 2009.
Round stickers and acrylic on paper.
2 parts, 29 x 42 cm each -- 58 x 42 cm. total
Every Ocean Hughes, One Big Bag, 2021. Single-channel video projection. Color, sound. 38 minutes. Courtesy of the artist.
Shu Lea Cheang, UKI Virus Rising, 2018. Three-channel digital video, color sound; 10 min. Installation views, Gwangju Biennale, South Korea, 2018. Courtesy of the artist.
Minerva Cuevas, Feast and Famine, 2015. Mixed Media. Dimensions variable. installation view, kurimanzutto, Mexico City, 2015. Courtesy of the artist and kurimanzutto, Mexico City and New York. Photo: Omar Luis Olgun.
