Monte Vista and others this weekend

Monte Vista Projects is the place to be this weekend, as John Burtle continues to organize his informal series of events and discussions. Friday night there will be new performances by Kate Gilbert, E.J. Hill, and Alise Spinella, while Sunday afternoon I’m happy to see our community continuing to pull public forums together, this time on the theme of “Antagonism and the Rules of Social Engagement,” moderated by Megan Hoetger and featuring discussants Dino Dinco, Sandra de la Loza, Chloe Flores, Elana Mann, and Matias Viegner. Both events look excellent.

Sadly however the Friday night performances conflict with a staging of Guy de Cointet’s Five Sisters at LACMA. What’s a girl to do, flip a coin perhaps? Other things worth checking out this weekend include: Saturday — UCI Open Studios; the concurrent opening of UCI’s MFA thesis show with a performance by Sarah Beadle and a film by Paul Pescador; and the last chance to see the glorious mess made by New York artists Debo Eilers and Kerstin Brätsch at Various Small Fires. Sunday — the launch party for East of Borneo’s first book, Piecing Together Los Angeles: An Esther McCoy Reader, including a talk with book editor Susan Morgan and filmmaker Thom Andersen; and a performance of Dirges for Dead Malls at Machine Project.