Zoe Lukov, Curator at large WSA in NYC, Curator/co-founder Art in Common
ZOE LUKOV
There’s a good chance that if you’re reading this guide, you’re part of the annual art world migration that starts in L.A. and circles the globe, before terminating in Miami in December. And if your travels have indeed brought you to Miami, you’re familiar with the work of curator, Emmy-nominated producer, and writer, Zoe Lukov. Lukov develops non-traditional, experimental exhibitions that engage and respond to pressing issues in real time. Formerly chief curator of Faena Art in Miami Beach and in Buenos Aires, Lukov conceived of and produced both the first and second Faena Festivals, and is a founding board member of Desert X, the non-profit site-specific exhibition based in California.
Lukov cut her teeth working with Jeffrey Deitch at MOCA Los Angeles, and Franklin Sirmans on Prospect 3, the New Orleans biennial. Now, she produces independent curatorial projects, most recently through ART IN COMMON, a platform she founded for urgent, time-sensitive, and site-responsive ideas.
Check out her two gallery features on @art and her guide to LA below:
Photo by Diana Larrea
- The most energizing LA art experience: A day spent visiting studios with some of my favorite artists -- it's the best part of my work. Getting to journey down a rabbit hole with an artist based on their current obsession has proven to me time and again, that at their best, artists are channels to new insight and new information. Just hanging with an artist in their studio, the music that moves them, the books they are reading, their latest research projects, all provide inspiration and new ways of seeing the world.
- Favorite LA art adventure: A visit to the Watts Towers. The iconic site was made entirely by one self-taught person, Simon Rodia. An immigrant from Italy, he utilized the detritus and broken tiles from the ceramic factory where he worked, scavenged for found materials, and turned his property into a treasure chest of sorts. Its public art at its finest, a hidden gem made by one person for himself and his community and protected by LA citizens who stumbled upon it and saw the inherent value that this work of inspired, impassioned genius brought to the neighborhood. And while it's not technically an "LA adventure" just a day-trip away is Desert X, a series of site-specific art projects that takes place across the Coachella Valley every other year-- the next one is slated for March- May 2025 and its a real treasure hunt to find significant monumental works scattered throughout the desert in unlikely places that are often an introduction to a previously unfamiliar landscape or community.
Still frame from: THE TOWERS a film by William Hale
- Currently reading: I just finished James McBride's The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store, and Abraham Verghese's The Covenant of Water. Go read them now--they're best sellers for a reason, you'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll be moved. Otherwise, the coffee table and bedside table are a smattering of artists books: Myrlande Constant, Max Hooper Schneider, Noah Davis, Raymond Pettibon, Ana Mendieta, Wangechi Mutu, and I just bought a new book about an exhibition What is Left Unspoken, Love—I’ve been saying I want to do a show about Love but couldn't figure out where to begin, so i thought it might be inspiring.
- Before the fair, I’ll get my (coffee/smoothie/breakfast) at: I should be sponsored by SunLife Organics since I can't survive a day without their Matcha Goddess smoothie. @Sunlife if you're reading this, hook it up.
- The last photo in my camera roll: The ocean.
- Non-museum/gallery with the best art collection: Beth DeWoody
- How do you prepare to be creative? Surf. Or sweat. Dance was always my first love and moving my body is the only way my brain works.
Header Image: Courtesy of Art in Common, GalleryShow Kim Kovacik