SATURDAY, AUGUST 21 |
DIY LA with Jen Smith and Mark Allen | 1-4 PM
Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions
6522 Hollywood Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90028


Please join us as we explore DIY culture in Los Angeles with presenters Jen Smith and Mark Allen, along with other special guests. Mark Allen will discuss the basics of creating your individual (art/music/literature/project) space, using Machine Project as an example. Jen Smith will lead a pickling workshop where you can create your own pickled sensations.

Mark Allen is an artist, educator and curator based in Los Angeles. He is the founder and director of Machine Project- a non-profit performance and installation space investigating art, technology, natural history, science and poetry.

Jen Smith is an artist and musician. As a youth, she grew up consuming industrial food. During her teen years, she endeavored to bake a homemade pie- a tasty treat she could not recall ever eating before. A month later, she swept the local county fair with her baked-from-scratch peach pie! Ever since, she has been curious about how food is grown, the politics of its production, and its preparation and consumption. Jen began pickling in the summer of 2009 in homage to her recently deceased grandmother, and has been making sauerkraut for many years since. She received her BA in American Studies from the University of Maryland, College Park and her MFA from the University of California, Irvine. With her post-punk band The Quails, she has played music halls and street protests, designed posters, zines and anti-war ephemera, and recorded three albums.