Paul Schimmel | Photo: Drew Tewksbury
On March 13, downtown Los Angeles gets a new arts institution. Hauser Wirth & Schimmel opens in the heart of the arts district in an expansive 116,000 square foot art complex inhabiting an old flour mill from the late 19th century. The space will host large gallery spaces, a bookstore, and a restaurant that will open in the summer of 2016. The inaugural show Revolution in the Making, Abstract Sculpture by Women, 1947-2016, features almost a hundred works ranging from pioneering female artists, including Louise Bourgeois, Lee Bontecou, and Louise Nevelson, to contemporary creatives whose works were commissioned for the new space like Phyllida Barlow, Lara Schnitger, and Kaari Upson.
Artbound recently met with Hauser & Wirth partner and vice president Paul Schimmel, former chief curator of the Museum of Contemporary Art, who discussed the vision for the art space, the early days of Los Angeles' warehouse art scene, and the lessons he learned from his long tenure in local institutions.
What's the history of the structure?
This piece of property was very important in the early development of Los Angeles. The flour mill was the largest mill in Los Angeles from the 1890s until the post-War era. Trains would bring wheat from the central valley to this mill -- which art now occupies -- and would be turned into flour and put on trains and sent down to San Pedro and all over the globe. In fact, it's a wonderful metaphor for Los Angeles and its artists who make wonderful work that not only stays here, but it's who we are known as, a creative community all over the world and increasingly more so.
Interior of Hauser Wirth & Schimmel
Can you tell us about the specific pieces you chose to display for your debut exhibition?
It's a broad survey that really explores the revolution in the hands of women artists, in terms of new materials, new processes, new forms, breaking down of hierarchies not just having to do with identity politics, but the hierarchies of what is appropriate for artists to work with and express. So the earliest section -- in many ways -- the artists who came before the feminist revolution were both embracing aspects of modernism and doing so in ways that were unprecedented -- the use of wire, stretched canvas, new materials that relate to primitive sculpture, basket weaving. Really, the profound change that took place in some ways, some artists got bigger, more monumental, more steel, heavier, and working with more fabricators or more things where they had to direct. This generation of artists really embraced the most intimate of expressions -- realized as grandly as anything else -- but done so with the sense of their own touch and feel. And what began with artists such as Louise Bourgeois, Ruth Asawa from San Francisco, and Claire Falkenstein, one of the great L.A. artists who has been overlooked, continue through a dialogue of artists like Jackie Winsor and [Magdalena] Abakanowicz. Their kind of monumental use of rope, fiber, and the primary forms and structures of circles and cubes. The loss of weight and gravity as seen in [Eva] Hesse, Gego, and Mira Schendel. The weaving of corners with Lygia Pape or the definition of a frame with Marisa Merz. The appetite to take over architecture with Cristina Iglesias and the beautiful concrete sculptures by Isa Genzken. And in the last section, the fourth gallery, you really have a new generation. Many merging here today: Lara [Schnitger], Kaari [Upson], others who live and work around here, Rachel Khedoori. They too have brought the legacy of all of these artists forward into an increasingly riotous use of color, a deeper sense of the relationship between the viewer and the object that is both installation and environmental, performative, and culminating in works like Phyllida Barlow. She will be representing Great Britain in Venice this coming summer with her immersive [installation], taking pom poms sort of girl's language and turning it into a cathedral of pick up sticks and which you can wander in and through and among.
Installation by Phyllida Barlow | Photo: Drew Tewksbury
Why is Los Angeles a good place to open a gallery?
Los Angeles has always been a really artist-driven, rather than a traditional-commercial driven market. When we think of great centers of commerce in the art world, like New York. It's a very different environment. It's an environment really nurtured by the centrality and I should say the sense of controlling their own destiny' by artists. Artists have had opportunities here in terms of the space available for studios, new materials, new processes, as we see all around us in the galleries. And most importantly, the great emphasis and equalization that occurred because of the art schools. The art schools themselves created a dialog between and among artists that was outside of the collectors or the commercial arena. And institutions like MOCA, LACMA, and others have really followed the way and acknowledged both the centrality and primacy of what artists do and try to represent it as closely and intimately. And that was our thinking behind this space, something that is uniquely accessible to the community. You dont have to buy a ticket to come see a museum-quality exhibition. You don't have to wait in line in terms of timed entrance, you can come see a show, have a meal, sit out in the garden, meet a friend, and then go back in week after week after week. Coming from the museum world, there have always been two things I've been interested in in terms of the public, first time visitors and repeat visitors. They really are the whole grip, and if you get a first time visitor who has an experience where they connect personally with the art, they are your repeat visitors. They bring their friends and their families. And the se
Most recent headlines
11/12/2025
Dalet, a leading provider of cloud-native, end-to-end media workflow solutions, ...
06/12/2025
In a live broadcast from the Reagan National Defense Forum, L3Harris Chair and CEO Christopher Kubasik joined Morgan Brennan on CNBCs Closing Bell: Overtime. Ku...
06/12/2025
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. A new survey from Pixitmedia by Datacore revealed a major shift in the Media & Entertainment industry in media archiving, with 85% of resp...
06/12/2025
HACKENSACK, N.J. LiveU has announced that the national public broadcaster Czech Television has completed one of the largest LiveU live production deployments fo...
06/12/2025
NEW YORK The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) presented the Excellence in Production Technology Emmy Award to NASA+ and Dr. Tom Leight...
05/12/2025
2025 Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame: Curt Gowdy Jr. - Master Storyteller, Nati...
05/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Veritone's Sean King on the Power of Mining Video, Audio DataThe company's Data Refinery offers users total control and governance over da...
05/12/2025
Platinum White Paper: Inside the Nashville Predators' Unified, Flexible, Sca...
05/12/2025
Netflix Reaches Agreement To Acquire Warner Bros. Following Planned WBD SplitThe deal does not include WBDs sports assets like TNT Sports (US, UK, LatAm), Euros...
05/12/2025
FOX Sports Returns to Indianapolis for Primetime Broadcast of Big Ten Championsh...
05/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Digital Engagement & Monetization Workshop Tackles the ...
05/12/2025
Atlanta United Lights Up New Emory Healthcare Studio With First Live Broadcast f...
05/12/2025
As Messi Takes the Pitch, MLS, Apple, NEP Roll Out Largest MLS Cup Production Ev...
05/12/2025
ESPN Enters College Football's Most Intense Month With Elevated Workflows fo...
05/12/2025
It's about that time! Awards season is in full swing, and the Film Independe...
05/12/2025
Every year, Spotify Wrapped offers a personalized look back at the audio that defined your year. It's a snapshot of your listening habits, designed to tell ...
05/12/2025
In 2025, Spotify's EQUAL, GLOW, and RADAR programs celebrated women, LGBTQIA , and emerging artists who turned moments into milestones. From breaking record...
05/12/2025
In our latest blog, we explain how Wi-Fi 7 rollouts can drive consumer loyalty with value-add services such as consumer cybersecurity. We also explore how this ...
05/12/2025
LOS ANGELES Netflix announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire the assets of Warner Bros. for $82.7 billion....
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Nielsens Gracenote has launched Gracenote Content Connect, a new ad platform that provides agencies, brands, supply-side platforms (SSPs) and demand-si...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK In an most important update to the workings of deal-based programmatic advertising, IAB Tech Lab has released version 1.0 of its Deals API for public c...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Pass the turkey. Pass the stuffing. Pass the cranberry sauce. All are common requests of Americans celebrating Thanksgiving Day with family and f...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Iris, the new cloud-connected camera control platform, has officially launched with features that turn virtually any PTZ camera into a software-connect...
05/12/2025
HOLLYWOOD, Calif. Netflix announced today that it has entered into an agreement to acquire the assets of Warner Bros. for $82.7 billion....
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Iris, the new cloud-connected camera control platform, has officially launched with features that turn virtually any PTZ camera into a software-connect...
05/12/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has approved AT&T's $1.02 billion acquisition of spectrum from UScellular in a decision that was issued sho...
05/12/2025
The Best Coldplay Songs: 21 Tracks That Shoot for the Stars From Yellow to Viva La Vida, Fix You to Paradise, this playlist goes back to the start.
December ...
05/12/2025
Zafris Lecture Series Brings Nabil Ayers to Berklee The 32nd annual James G. Zafris Distinguished Lecture series was held on Thursday, November 13, with guest...
05/12/2025
Introducing New Perks to Help You Get Even More from LinkedIn Premium Published on Dec 5, 2025 Categories: Company News, Product News
LinkedIn Corporate Co...
05/12/2025
Friday 5 December 2025
A new Game of Thrones Tale: Official trailer for Sky Exc...
05/12/2025
Back to All News
Don Lee, Lee Jin-uk, and Lalisa Manobal to Star in Netflix Act...
05/12/2025
Tis the season of giving once again and this year we've taken our Give Back Fridays' concept and turned it on its head.
In the autumn we were approach...
05/12/2025
Brayden Gogis doesn't remember a time when he wasn't completely fixated on games in all forms. In preschool, when they asked us to dress up as what we ...
05/12/2025
The Grinch steals the spotlight as the theme for The Late Late Toy Show 2025
Tune in tonight at 9:35pm on RT One and worldwide on RT Player
#LateLateToyShow...
05/12/2025
RT Announces New Presenters of Flagship News Programmes
New RT Six One News co-presenter Tommy Meskill
Sarah McInerney & Justin McCarthy join Morning Ir...
04/12/2025
ToolsOnAir Blackmagic Design HyperDeck Event Presets for just:in mac pro 2025 & ...
04/12/2025
ToolsOnAir AJA Ki Pro Event Presets for just:in mac pro 2025 & just:in linux
More Details:Starting with version 5.5, both just:in mac pro and just:in linux sol...
04/12/2025
Wangu Kanuri from Kenya and Godwin Asediba from Ghana are two of this years finalists for Thomsons Young Journalist of the Year Award. The pair are runners-up i...
04/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: ProximaVision's Claudio Lisman on Why Tethered Drones Could Be...
04/12/2025
SVG Campus Shot Callers: Imry Halevi, Senior Associate Director of Athletics, Co...
04/12/2025
Platinum White Paper: LiveU Lightweight Sports Production: A Step Change in Spor...
04/12/2025
London to Riyadh: DAZN brings the boxing glamour to new production levels for Be...
04/12/2025
Analysis: Paramount bets on the battering ram' with Champions League play By Callum McCarthy, Editor-at-Large
Tuesday, December 2, 2025 - 10:12
Print ...
04/12/2025
Space City Home Network Launches SCHN DTC App for Astros and RocketsThe Rockets and Astros were previously the lone NBA and MLB teams without a DTC appBy Jason...
04/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Content Workflows Workshop Spotlights Evolution of Spor...
04/12/2025
New Sponsor Spotlight: Geotech's Patrick Wambold On the Unreal Engine Revolu...
04/12/2025
Curt Gowdy Jr. - Master Storyteller, Nationally and RegionallyBy Jason Dachman, Editorial Director, U.S.
Thursday, December 4, 2025 - 1:52 pm
Print This Sto...
04/12/2025
(L-R) Rebecca Lichtenfeld, Mohammadreza Eyni, Sara Khaki, and Judith Helfand att...
04/12/2025
SBS launches Future Frames initiative to support emerging First Nations video ed...
Paul Schimmel | Photo: Drew Tewksbury 
