Independent Artist and Founding Director of the Velaslavasay Panorama, Los Angeles, CA
"Shengjing Panorama: An International Collaboration in Space and Time"
Nationally and internationally recognized artist, arts organizer, and independent researcher SARA VELAS will describe the range, risks, and rewards of a highly networked interdisciplinary creative practice. Velas is the Founding Director of the Velaslavasay Panorama, a nonprofit Los Angeles museum of pre-cinematic media and entertainments that blur the boundaries between representation and the real. Housed in a historic former silent picture palace, the Velaslavasay Panorama offers 360-degree immersive analog virtual reality experiences alongside an ongoing program of related exhibitions. In this illustrated lecture Velas will sketch the history of panoramic media and detail the recent production and debut of Shengjing Panorama, painted by masters of the Luxun Academy of Fine Art 李武 Li Wu, 晏阳 Yan Yang, and 周福先 Zhou Fuxian. Shengjing Panorama offers an immersive period experience of the historic city of Shenyang ca. 1910-1930, during a moment of rapid cultural transition marking the end of the Chinese Dynastic Rule and the birth of the South Manchurian Railway System. Velas will describe this production as a locus for conversations about art, artifice, culture, communication, and collaboration at local and global scales. For more information: www.panoramaonview.org or sssvelas.net
