Is Tabloid Photography Art?

WHAT: Public conversation about celebrity culture, tabloid photography and the lure of the lowbrow, co-sponsored by MOCA and The Contemporary Project at USC. The discussion coincides with two major exhibitions of work by the celebrated tabloid photographer Weegee, best known for his images of crime scenes and misbehaving celebrities, and for his shaky relationship with journalistic ethics.

The panelists will also discuss the different critical responses to photographs taken by Weegee in Los Angeles vs. his photographs of life in New York. Guest curated by USC art historian Richard Meyer, Naked Hollywood: Weegee in Los Angeles, is on view at MOCA in Los Angeles through February 27, 2012. Weegee: Murder Is My Business is at the International Center of Photography in New York from January 20 – September 2, 2012.

WHO: USC art history professor Richard Meyer, director of The Contemporary Project at USC and curator of the exhibit Naked Hollywood: Weegee in Los Angeles; Brian Wallis, chief curator at the International Center of Photography; and Colin Westerbrook, art historian and writer focusing on the history of street photography.

WHEN: Sunday, January 22, 3 p.m.

WHERE: MOCA Grand Avenue
250 South Grand Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90012

MORE: Free with museum admission. For an interview with USC art historian Richard Meyer and MOCA director Jeffrey Deitch on Naked Hollywood, click here.

The Contemporary Project at USC
The Contemporary Project is a multi-year endeavor to create new dialogues and forms of collaboration between the academic community and the contemporary art world. Jointly sponsored by the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences and the USC Roski School of Fine Arts, The Contemporary Project aims to bring the best of academic culture, including respect for ideas and historical consciousness, into conversation with contemporary art, curatorial practice and criticism.

Contact: Suzanne Wu at (213) 740-0252 or suzanne.wu@usc.edu