ESMoA, The Experimentally Structured Museum of Art, is an experimental museum located in Lawndale, California, US (moved from El Segundo, California, US in 2023). It was founded in 2013 by Eva Sweeney, Brian Sweeney and Bernhard Zünkeler, and is run by Artlab21 Foundation, a non profit 501(c)(3) public charity founded by the Sweeneys.Its stated mission is to reimagine creativity through the display and education of visual arts. ESMoA has offered three "Experiences" per year, presenting a variety of experiences including sculpture, painting, works on paper, performances, and photography, organised by theme and concept rather than chronologically. ESMoA uses the terms Transdisciplinary, International, Dynamic and Open.
ESMoA provides art education for students, families, and adults, with free admission. These activities included school programs, drawing workshops, art talks, lectures, family days, cooking, yoga and dance classes, and movie nights.
History
Artlab21 Foundation, a non profit 501(c)(3) public charity, is the operator of ESMoA. In 2011, two fine art exhibitions were held at the old El Segundo Fire Station, followed by plans for the construction of a permanent art laboratory, known as ESMoA, in the heart of downtown El Segundo. In January 2013, ESMoA opened as a functional and experimental art space with a focus on education.
ESMoA was built in a previously vacant lot in the restaurant district of downtown El Segundo. In October 2014 it was listed by Artnet News as being one of America's Top 10 Private Contemporary Art Museums.
Building
The modern building occupies a 25' x 140' footprint and uses material such as stainless steel and white concrete blocks. It was designed by Eva Sweeney with John Milander Architects, and built by Specialized Construction. The main gallery has been designed to hold sculptures and paintings over two stories tall. The illumination of the ESMoA gallery is provided by adjustable skylights that filter natural light and create a light-filled atmosphere that changes with the external meteorological conditions. The interior space can be broken up into individual galleries allowing the Curator to build a different setting for each Experience.
Experiences
ESMoA's exhibitions are known to the public as Experiences, a term chosen to imply experiencing art rather than reading a label in a traditional museum setting. ESMoA uses innovative art display methods unlike most museums, displaying art by theme, with exhibit works across centuries and from all materials. The themes that ESMoA used in its first 10 Experiences were environment (DESIRE), nudity (TRUTH), fame (FAME), political (Cuban) conflict (STING), abstraction (SILENCE), street art (SCRATCH), architecture and art in the home (HOME), creative process (SPARK), artist workplace (STUDIO), and the LA art scene (TOUCH).
Outside Experiences
ESMoA also created Experiences in the community. In the first three years ESMoA organized an oceanfront installation on El Segundo Beach (ANTI-ARK), a one-day body painted installation (OBJECTIFIED), a competition of Elvis Presley's impersonators (ELVIS WHO?), a video projection on the tower facade of El Segundo High School (PRIDE CONSTELLATION) and two still standing murals on the former El Segundo Post Office and former El Segundo Fire station (PHYTOMAGNETIC and FIREWATER).
Partnerships
ESMoA has made collaborative partnerships with other Los Angeles museums.
The Getty Research Institute curated SCRATCH and displayed 18 of its rare books, pairing them with LA graffiti artists to explore the theme of artist collaboration over the past five centuries.
ESMoA paired with The Wende Museum for the FAME Experience to explore the ambivalent soul of Los Angeles.
The Experience SPARK explored the collaboration between world known writer Cornelia Funke and the multiplatform storytelling company Mirada Studios.
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) curated the STUDIO Experience, exhibiting the work of Norbert Tadeusz in the United States for the first time.
Edward Goldman, art critic and host of KCRW’s “Art Talk” curated TOUCH, showing the Los Angeles art scene over the last four decades including portraits of artists in their studios by photographer Jim McHugh and a selection of original artworks by these artists like Carlos Almaraz, John Baldassari, David Hockney, Ed Moses, Noah Purifoy, Ed Rusha, Alison Saar, Patssi Valdez and many more.
ESMoA is in discussion with these museums and others regarding future projects and has been selected to participate in the upcoming Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA project, organized by the Getty Foundation.