Los Angeles Water School
About the Project
Los Angeles Water School (LAWS) is a functional artwork, an experimental school for students of all ages to engage in dialogue and collaborative work with water. Located adjacent to the Los Angeles River, in a structure inspired by Steve and Holly Baer’s self-sufficient passive solar Zome House (1969-72), LAWS is the first of four Water Schools planned by artist Oscar Tuazon, with locations in Minnesota, Michigan, and Nevada.
Presented by LAND, this series of events builds a genealogy of the complex life of water in Los Angeles, through the lens of local history, architecture, politics, and art. Through this collaborative process tracing how water connects diverse communities within Los Angeles and across the continent, working from a micro to macro understanding of policy and infrastructure, the artist and LAND are excited to continue this constitutive dialogue and create a setting for the exchange of cross-disciplinary ideas and learning.
Virtual Programs
June 25, 2021
LAWS: Shanai Matteson and Tanya Aubid
May 27, 2021
Shanai Haana Matteson (b. 1982) is an artist, writer, mother, community-based researcher, and cultural organizer. She is a settler/visitor who currently resides in illegally occupied Dakota territory [Minneapolis, Minnesota] and works across rural and urban places on regenerative cultural and ecological projects.
Cedar Spring Water School: Great Basin
September 10, 2020
Water School returns to the source: Cedar Spring, Nevada. Located in the high desert of the Great Basin, Cedar Spring is one of hundreds of freshwater springs in Spring Valley threatened by a proposal to build a $15 Billion pipeline to remove water from the valley 360 miles south to Las Vegas.
What makes water sacred? Are Indigenous water management strategies relevant to our sustainable future water use? Are trees water?
We are honored to be joined by Ely Shoshone elder Delaine Spilsbury; Kyle Roerink, Executive Director Great Basin Water Network; and Chairman Rupert Steele of the Confederated Tribes of the Goshute Nation.
Water School is a functional work of public art based at Cedar Spring, Nevada.
LAWS: LA River Basin / The Aqueduct Between Us
May 16, 2020
Zoom Conversation
Guests: AnMarie Mendoza, L. Frank, Kris Hohag, and Jolie Varela. Moderated by Oscar Tuazon.
Credits & Support
Support for LAWS Programming is Provided By:
National Endowment for the Arts
Foundation for Arts Initiatives
The Offield Family Foundation
Project Sponsor Roberto Toscano
Artist Sponsor Shamim M. Momin
Artist Sponsor Brenda R. Potter
LAND Nomadic Council
Special Thanks to the Kickstarter Contributors: Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Marcy Miller, Helga Fassonaki, Paul Gachot, Alex Arzt, Melissa Passman, Miwon Kwon, A.L. Steiner, Richard Aufrichtig, Paul Ryan, Bosun Babalola, Paul Nguyen, Jack Rabbitt Perez, Whitney Gore, Martin Laborde, Shana Nys Dambrot, Gilda Kunstnernes Hus, Anne Pontegnie, Joshua White, Kim Allen-Niesen, Nicholas Sola, Julie Miyoshi, Joao Proenca, Asgeir Skotnes, Bwana Spoons, John Hansen, Nadia Palon, Linda Maggard, Kellie Dieudonne, Saif Radi, and Veronique Pittman.