A long weekend is the perfect excuse to explore some of LA's finest museums, especially with these three major exhibitions ending their runs on Monday.
New Objectivity: Modern German Art in the Weimar Republic, 1919–1933
LACMA
LACMA's subtly creepy yet liberating exhibition examines the uneasiness that consumed German art in the years between WWI and WWII. Paintings and photographs from Max Beckmann, Otto Dix, George Grosz, August Sander and others tackle everything from prostitution and lustmord (sexual murder) to still lifes of succulents and gay and lesbian zines. On Sunday only, composer and pianist Michael Mortilla will perform a live, improvised accompaniment to the four silent films being screened in the exhibition.
Mummies: New Secrets from the Tombs
Natural History Museum
First organized by Chicago's Field Museum, this timed-ticket exhibition assembles over 20 mummies and coffins from Pre-Dynastic Egypt and Pre-Incan Peru. Though the sarcophagi, burial wraps and tomb recreations are fascinating in their own right, the use of modern technology is the real star here. Thanks to mobile CT scans, you can virtually unwrap 3-D models of mummified humans and animals on two interactive displays. For the closing weekend, the Natural History Museum will stay open until 9pm on Saturday and host an afternoon of art activities and performances on Sunday.
Matthew Barney: River of Fundament
The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA
A retelling of Normal Mailer's novel Ancient Evenings, this exhibition's namesake film from artist Matthew Barney clocks in at just over five hours. Whereas Mailer's mostly maligned story of regeneration and rebirth was set during the ancient Egyptian reign of Ramesses II, Barney's film is stuffed with images of contemporary ruin and scatological gross-out moments. Overstuffed but surely distinctive, the film—which will have extra screenings this weekend—accompanies an exhibition of 85 works, many of them abstract, organic-looking and molten metal-cast sculptures that were inspired by or used in the film.