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L.A. Artists for Survival records relating to Target
L.A.
2017.M.46
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Title: L.A. Artists for Survival records relating to Target L.A.
Date (inclusive): 1981-1984, undated
Number: 2017.M.46
Creator/Collector:
L.A. Artists For
Survival
Physical Description:
6.97 Linear Feet
(13 boxes, 2 flatfile folders)
Repository:
The Getty Research Institute
Special Collections
1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 1100
Los Angeles 90049-1688
reference@getty.edu
URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10020/askref
(310) 440-7390
Abstract: The collection documents anti-nuclear war festivals in 1982 and
1983 organized by L.A. Artists for Survival, one of the later generation of artists' groups
to emerge from the Los Angeles Woman's Building. The materials show the evolution of the
festival's development and execution, and comprise largely administrative and production
files, photographic documentation, and ephemera.
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Language: Collection material is in English.
Target L.A.: The Art of Survival was conceived as an anti-nuclear art and music festival by
the L.A. Artists for Survival (LAAFS), which formed when David Lumian, the president of the
Alliance for Survival, approached the political artist Lee Waisler to encourage artists'
engagement in the nuclear disarmament movement. In January 1982, LAAFS held their first
meeting and received an overwhelming response with over 100 artists in attendance. In the
ensuing months, LAAFS' network expanded to over 300 artists. In addition to coordinating the
anti-nuclear artists' group Sisters of Survival's performance "Shovel Defense" in May 1982,
LAAFS collaborated with the Asian Pacific Americans for Nuclear Awareness and Asian
Americans for Nuclear Disarmament to produce the two-day art and music festival Target L.A.:
The Art of Survival, held on the anniversary of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The
event, held at a two-level parking structure on the corner of Alameda and 3rd Street in
Little Tokyo, featured art installations and performances by Mother Art, The Waitresses,
UNARM, and others, as well as musical and spoken-word performances, "games of nuclear
chance" such as "Pin the Lawsuit on the Reactor" and "Kiss the Bombs Goodbye," children's
activities, and the "Fallout Fashion" show.
A second event was held in 1983 at Brookside Park in Pasadena, with an expansion in time,
space, and theme. Artist Cheri Gaulke, known for her role in the feminist art movement in
southern California, served as the project coordinator for both events; her involvement with
Target L.A. was a direct outgrowth of her work with the Sisters of Survival (SOS), which
originated with the Woman's Building, a non-profit arts and education center that operated
in Los Angeles between 1973 and 1991.
Sources:
John Tain, Acquisition Approval Form for "Target L.A.: The Art of Survival (1982-1983)
Archives, 1982-1983, accession no. 2017.M.46," May 16, 2016.
L.A. Artists for Survival records relating to Target L.A., accession no. 2017.M.46,
"History and Organizational Structure," 1982, Box 4, Folder 11.
L.A. Artists for Survival records relating to Target L.A., accession no. 2017.M.46, Press
kit, 1983, Box 5, Folder 13.
Open for use by qualified researchers. Audiovisual material unavailable until
reformatted.
Contact
Library Reproductions and Permissions .
L.A. Artists for Survival records relating to Target L.A., 1981-1984, The Getty Research
Institute, Los Angeles, Accession no. 2017.M.46.
http://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifa2017m46
Gift of Cheri Gaulke, L.A. Artists for Survival. Acquired in 2017.
Trang Dang processed the collection and wrote the finding aid in 2019 under the supervision
of Kit Messick. The finding aid was revised by Kit Messick.
This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services,
ST-03-17-0007-17.
Woman's Building records, 1973-1991, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, Accession no.
2017.M.43
Mother Art records, 1973-2017, undated, The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles,
Accession no. 2017.M.60
Sisters of Survival records, 1981-1985, The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles,
Accession no. 2017.M.47
Scope and Content of Collection
The collection documents the activities surrounding the production of the 1982 and 1983
Target L.A. festivals. Administrative and production files comprise the bulk of the
collection; also present are financial and legal documents, clippings, promotional material,
ephemera, and photographic documentation.
Arranged in two series:
Series I. 1982 event, 1981-1983;
Series II. 1983 event, 1981-1984.
Artists -- California -- Los Angeles
Art festivals -- California
Artists -- Political activity -- Los Angeles -- California -- 20th
century
Nuclear disarmament--Citizen participation
Art and nuclear warfare
Black-and-white negatives
Black-and-white photographs -- 20th century
Clippings (information artifacts)
Color prints (photographs)
Color slides -- 20th century
Open reel audiotapes
Photographs, Original
Printed ephemera -- California
L.A. Artists For
Survival
Gaulke, Cheri
Woman's Building
(Los Angeles, Calif.)