Mapplethorpe Projection

To mark the final days of the exhibition Robert Mapplethorpe: XYZ, LACMA presents the landmark projection that was shown on the exterior wall of the Corcoran Gallery of Art in June 1989. This important event was organized by a group of Washington, D.C. curators and artists, Andrea Pollan and Bill Wooby chief among them, to protest the Corcoran's shuttering of the Mapplethorpe retrospective The Perfect Moment. Beginning and ending with a self-portrait, the projection was a spectral reminder of the artist, who had died only a few months previously from complications of AIDS.

This event celebrates the joint acquisition in 2011 of the Robert Mapplethorpe Archive by LACMA and the J. Paul Getty Museum and highlights Mapplethorpe's importance to the museum and to Los Angeles, where his immense archive and impressive collection of works of art has come to rest.

Join us before and after the projection for Outlawed! Queer Cinema Before the Culture Wars

Ahmanson Building, Plaza Level | Free, no reservations

Image: Frank Herrera, photograph of The Perfect Moment protest, June 30, 1989, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. ©Frank Herrera.