This summer, LAXART will be welcoming the international art community to celebrate its newly revamped exhibition space, kicking off the celebration with a multi-week festival of events and a new site-specific mural by Barbara Kruger. Under the leadership of Director Hamza Walker, LAXART will share its newly expanded mission and reinvigorated programming. Founded in 2005, LAXART promotes developments in contemporary culture through exhibitions, publications and public programs, using contemporary art and performance as a means of understanding key issues of our time. For this launch, the exterior of the building has been visually adorned with a new site specific work by Barbara Kruger. Wrapping around the building’s façade, Untitled (It) speaks to the immediate central Hollywood environ with its pawn shops, peep shows, dollar stores, nail salons, marijuana dispensaries and currency exchanges—all nodes of identity, commerce and elements that define the unique urban topology of Los Angeles. The opening benefit included musical performances by Rob Mazurek and Ambrose Akinmusire, as well as a selection of works on auction by Liz Larner, Karl Holmqvist, Arthur Jafa, Glenn Ligon and Jonas Wood. Kruger’s Untitled (It) is on display from June 3 through Fall 2018. photographs by Oliver Kupper