Human Condition
Curated by John Wolf
October 1–November 30, 2016
at the former West Adams Los Angeles Metropolitan Medical Center
Los Angeles
From the Human Condition announcement:
Human Condition is an immersive, site-specific exhibition that features the work of over eighty emerging and established artists in a uniquely challenging space: a former hospital in West Adams, previously known as the Los Angeles Metropolitan Medical Center. Curated and produced by the Los Angeles-based art advisor John Wolf, Human Condition invites artists to re-contextualize the hospital’s functional history—over 40,000 square feet of it—as a venue to explore what it means to be human. The exhibition opens to the public on October 1, 2016 and runs through November 30, 2016.
The Los Angeles Metropolitan Medical Center proudly opened in 1971 as the first Black-owned hospital in Los Angeles. It operated successfully for decades. Later, both the hospital and the West Adams neighborhood in which it was located declined; in the hands of the Pacific Health Corp, the hospital closed amid revelations of criminal mismanagement and insurance fraud in 2013.
Years of neglect are now giving way to reinvestment in West Adams, which hosts much of the city’s cherished architectural heritage and landmarks. It is now home to many working artists, a burgeoning art scene, and other signs of community-driven cultural renewal.
With Human Condition, Wolf has invited artists to explore the corporal and psychological experience of being human. Ranging from sculpture, drawing, painting, performance, and immersive installations, the works are displayed amongst the surgical rooms, maternity wards, a psychiatric floor, and cafeteria. Both the artist and viewer are encouraged to explore the dilapidated remains and transcend the building’s original intention.
Human Condition is a unique opportunity to experience artwork outside the confines of a typical art space. In using the skeletal remains of the hospital and its discarded medical supplies, artists and viewers are encouraged to explore the notion of what we leave behind—from objects to human history.
Work from Hubby’s THE SEXUAL BRONZE SHOW series was featured in the hospital’s former cafeteria.
Human Condition, installation view with THE SEXUAL BRONZE SHOW sculptures, Bettina Hubby, 2016. At the former West Adams Los Angeles Metropolitan Medical Center, Los Angeles.
Human Condition, installation view with THE SEXUAL BRONZE SHOW photographs, Bettina Hubby, 2016. At the former West Adams Los Angeles Metropolitan Medical Center, Los Angeles.
Human Condition, installation view with THE SEXUAL BRONZE SHOW sculptures, Bettina Hubby, 2016. At the former West Adams Los Angeles Metropolitan Medical Center, Los Angeles.
Human Condition, installation view with THE SEXUAL BRONZE SHOW sculptures, Bettina Hubby, 2016. At the former West Adams Los Angeles Metropolitan Medical Center, Los Angeles.
Human Condition, location, the former West Adams Los Angeles Metropolitan Medical Center, Los Angeles.