In Production: Art and the Studio System was the much-anticipated debut of a forged partnership between LACMA and Yuz Museum Shanghai. In Production: Art and the Studio System emphasizes the overlapping histories of visual art and film, with a particular focus on how the site of the studio, both in visual arts and in cinematic production, has radically shifted in the last 20 years. Featuring 24 contemporary artists whose works critique, appropriate, and engage with Hollywood and the film studio system, the exhibition highlights the exceptional gifts and acquisitions related to film and video that have entered LACMA’s permanent collection in recent years.

Many artists have considered the proximity to movie studio facilities, and other sites of production and post-production, as one of the essential lures of making art in Southern California. Since the dawn of cinema, movie studios have been sites where crews of hundreds or even thousands manufacture a temporary fiction that will hopefully become a lasting image. While the work of movie production is a collaborative effort involving a vast network of people, the labor of the visual artist has long been understood as a solitary endeavor in the studio. While artists have indeed depended on the centralized sphere of the studio to create their works, the late 20th century ushered in new forms of dematerialized and decentralized artist practices, including the rise of film and video in an art context. As the birthplace of Chinese cinema, Shanghai is an especially fitting location to explore these crucial developments.