New PST ART Theme Explores Exchange Between Los Angeles and the Pacific Rim
Announcement sets the stage for Southern California’s landmark arts collaboration to return in 2030
Chiura Obata (American, born in Japan, 1885–1975),"Full Moon, Pasadena, California," 1930, watercolor on paper. The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens, Gift of the Obata Family.
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Getty announced today that the artistic and cultural exchange between Los Angeles and the Pacific Rim will be the theme for the fourth edition of PST ART, the region-wide collaboration that since 2011 has supported hundreds of exhibitions, programs, and publications, cementing Southern California’s place as a cultural destination.
Los Angeles has long been a hub of the wide-ranging and multi-directional networks of migration, transoceanic trade and geopolitics around the Pacific Rim, with profound impacts on creative expression. The theme promises dynamic explorations across centuries, including the arrival of Chinese porcelain in the Spanish missions, the dialogue between Los Angeles artists and their Asian counterparts after World War II, the deep connection between Japanese visual culture and modern architecture and design in Los Angeles, and the seismic influence of Korean popular culture today. It is a legacy of exchange that has deep roots throughout history and continues to shape Southern California today.
“PST ART is now an established and central part of Southern California’s cultural landscape, with each edition exploring key aspects of our past, present, and possible futures,” said Katherine E. Fleming, president and CEO of the J. Paul Getty Trust. “With our large diasporic communities from around the Pacific Rim, Los Angeles is the perfect place to explore the far-reaching and varied impact of transpacific culture.”
Electrical Products Corp. (artist unknown), "Neon lighting concept for New Chinatown," ca. 1936. © Courtesy of Federal Heath Sign Co., LLC. The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens
Getty has created a dedicated team to lead PST ART, to deepen research that guides projects and programs, strengthen engagement with partners across South California, and sustain community outreach.
“Transpacific Los Angeles is a vibrant topic of research with endless possibilities for new discoveries," said Justine Ludwig, inaugural creative director of PST ART. "During this period marked by geopolitical tension, immigration conflicts, and global instability, the theme also encourages international perspectives and recognizes our longstanding interdependence.”
As with previous PST ART editions, Getty will award grants to individual institutions throughout Southern California to develop their own projects around the overall theme.
Getty also announced the return of “PST ART Open House” in 2027, a one-day event that mixes performance, conversation, hands-on workshops and more. Following the 15th anniversary of the inaugural PST ART: Art in L.A., 1945-1980, “PST ART Open House” will welcome artists and curators to revisit this groundbreaking history through re-staged moments, conversations, and live performances – recalling the ways the first edition of PST ART rewrote the history of modern art with Los Angeles as its epicenter.
Learn more about this initiative.