If you're in the Los Angeles area these days, we highly recommend to visit the excellent exhibition Rethink LA: Perspectives on a Future City, currently displayed at the Architecture and Design Museum on Wilshire Boulevard.

Images above: Rethink LA exhibition opening, August 4 (Photo courtesy of Rethink LA)

Created by Rethink LA, a collaboration of forward-thinking volunteers in the LA architecture, planning, motion graphics and design community, the interactive exhibit uses photographs and the technique of photomontage, alongside visual and audio narrations, and interactive installations to examine Los Angeles in the past, in the present, and projected forward fifty years to a post-oil future.

Starting from the theory that Los Angeles undergoes a major shift every 50 years, the exhibition proposes that the next shift will start with the decisions made today; resulting in a reality that is portrayed by a range of invited local and global contributors. Understanding that real change starts with a clear vision, the group hopes to inspire Americans to look beyond the paradigm of cities planned and reliant on an abundance of space, time, and consumable resources to a world transitioning to a new and, by necessity, sustainable future.

Voices
The exhibitors, which include P-A-T-T-E-R-N-S, Lehrer Architects, artist Fritz Haeg, Rio Clemente Hale Studios, KCRW radio host Frances Anderton, City Council President Eric Garcetti, and Common Current founder Warren Karlenzig, are part of an invited list of twenty collagers, seven photographers, and nine narrators. These contributors represent voices from architecture, planning, artists, writers, policy-makers, and graphic designers whose approaches range from the avant-garde to the more mainstream.

Collages
The exhibit includes 20 photographs of present day Los Angeles juxtaposed with 20 collages of a future LA. Sites around the city were selected based on criteria of showcasing: icons, infrastructure, boulevards, freeways, urban and suburban fabric; these include: the LA River, 105 / 110 Freeway Interchange, Dodger Stadium, and Wilshire Boulevard.

Images above: A present day image and future collage of the 105_100 Freeway Interchange. The collage titled ‘Back to the Future 2’ is by Shift A+U based in Rotterdam. Photograph by Jaime Vazquez, collage by Shift Architecture.

Images above: A present day image and future collage of the Hyperion Treatment Plant. The collage titled Hyperion Water Treatment Plant (1890-2061) - aka “The Toilet” is by Taalman Koch Architecture based in Los Angeles. Photograph by Noah Webb, collage by Taalman Koch Architects.

Images above: A present day image and future collage of the venice canals. The collage is by Los Angeles based graphic designer Henri Lucas. Photograph by Jaime Vazquez, collage by Henri Lucas.

Images above: A present day image and future collage of the venice canals. The collage is by Los Angeles based graphic designer Riah Buchanan. Photograph by Jennie Warren, collage by Riah Buchanan.

Image above: A future collage of Wilshire Blvd. The collage titled ‘A Corridor Transformed –La Milla Milagrosa’ is by Rios Clementi Hale Studios based in Los Angeles. Photograph by Michelle Marsh, collage by Rios Clementi Hale Studios.

Narrators
A series of five short films, and three audio narrations cover a wide range of issue: localized neighborhoods, sprawl, traffic, economics, sustainability, and transportation.

Image above: A screenshot of a film adaptation ‘Love Lost While Driving Down the 405’ written by Kai Mai. The story is told from the narrators perspective of the strains on a relationship due to the struggle of Los Angeles traffic. Movie stillshot by Maya Santos and Orly Shuber.

Museum-Goer
As part of the Stephen F. Kanner Educational Center, the exhibition features a series of thought-provoking and interactive installations, including:

• ‘Wilshire on Wilshire’ – an interactive model made of found objects representing Wilshire Boulevard by James Rojas
• ‘Daily Life’ – an interactive wall highlighting lifestyle questions, inspired by City Council President Eric Garcetti
• ‘Rethinking a Los Angeles Street’ - A chalkboard drawing wall of a typical Los Angeles Street.

Images above: Rethink LA exhibition opening, August 4 (Photo courtesy of Rethink LA)

Rethink LA: Perspectives on a Future City runs until September 4, 2011 at the A+D Museum, 6032 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles. Doors are open 11-5pm (Tuesday - Friday) and 12-6pm (Saturday-Sunday). The museum is closed on Mondays.