What They Saw: Historical Photobooks by Women, 1843–1999
April 8, 2025–May 11, 2025

This pop-up reading room surveys a global history of photobooks by women photographers from the Getty Library. As part of an international series showcasing the 10×10 Photobooks' catalog What They Saw: Historical Photobooks by Women 1843–1999, it offers an inclusive revision and remapping of the photobook canon. It is complemented by notable photobooks by Southern California women artists after 2000.

Image: Cover of What They Saw: Historical Photobooks by Women, 1843–1999 (detail), ed. Russet Lederman and Olga Yatskevich, 10×10 Photobooks (New York: 2021). Courtesy 10×10 Photobooks

$3 Bill: Evidence of Queer Lives
June 10, 2025–September 28, 2025

$3 Bill celebrates the contributions of LGBTQ+ artists in the last century. From pioneers who explored sexual and gender identity in the first half of the 20th century, through the liberation movements and the horrors of the HIV/AIDS epidemics, to today's more inclusive and expansive understanding of gender, $3 Bill presents a journey of resilience, pride, and beauty.

Image: Elisar von Kupffer, also known as "Elisarion", self-portrait, ca. 1900s–1910s. Lantern slide. Getty Research Institute, 2011.M.30

Cai Guo-Qiang: A Material Odyssey
September 17, 2024–June 15, 2025
USC PACIFIC ASIA MUSEUM
46 NORTH LOS ROBLES AVENUE, PASADENA, CA 91101

For several decades, artist Cai Guo-Qiang has used gunpowder and pyrotechnics to create drawings, paintings, and explosion events. Based on years of research by the Getty Conservation Institute and the Getty Research Institute, A Material Odyssey will explore the nature and properties of gunpowder and chronicle its use by the artist.

Ignition of gunpowder to create White Tone, Brookhaven, New York, April 8, 2016 (detail). Photo by Wen-You Cai, courtesy Cai Studio

Sculpting Harmony
ONLINE ONLY

Drawn from the extensive Frank O. Gehry Papers at the Getty Research institute, this digital exhibition features more than 150 models, sketches, and archival photographs documenting the development of the Walt Disney Concert Hall.

Walt Disney Concert Hall, 2003, Frank Gehry and Circa Editions. Mixed-media screenprint, 40.6 x 45.7 cm (sheet). Getty Research Institute, 2009.PR.3. © Frank O. Gehry

In-person event
L.A. Rebellion with Julie Dash, Bryant Griffin, Kitty Hu, and LeRonn Brooks
Mar 26, 2025

In-person event
Photobooks by Women
Apr 11, 2025

In-person event
Poetry in the Garden: Mia Moretti
Apr 16, 2025

In-person event
Poetry in the Garden: Camae Ayewa
Apr 23, 2025

In-person event
Resonant Exchange: Meditation with a Tree | Earth Day with Aroussiak Gabrielian
Apr 26, 2025

In-person event
Poetry in the Garden: Solange Aguilar
Apr 30, 2025