Celebration Spectrum is a month-long public art installation produced by dublab, in collaboration with artist Tanya Aguiñiga and curator Mark “Frosty” McNeill. The project creates space for the missed celebrations in Los Angeles following a year in isolation. As a proposed joyful ode, the installations highlight the importance of marking time through gathering and the mental health benefits of communal celebration. Additional programming and digital experiences reflect the multi-faceted ways in which Los Angeles County’s diverse populations express their joy. Grand Park’s Celebration Spectrum, a TMC Arts program, transforms the outdoor expanse of Grand Park into a deconstructed party, unfolding in a progression of four installations that represent the arc of an epic celebration. Responding to the hurt and heightened anxieties associated with the pandemic, the project offers the communities in Los Angeles the opportunity to heal and re-emerge thanks to the transformative power of the arts.
“A year into the pandemic, thoughts of family members lost, friends and family kept apart and countless changes flood my mind with grief and pause. I think of all the celebrations, our reasons to gather and revel in joy together, missed and postponed. Graduations, weddings, birthdays, births, anniversaries, even funerals. Thinking of the importance of marking time and the mental health benefits communal celebrations bring us, I am proposing we create a joyful ode to all celebrations missed in Los Angeles.”
-Tanya Aguiñiga