'Wonder Room' Kicks Off Art @ Tongva Season in Santa Monica

By Lookout Staff

March 19, 2018 -- For an evening next week, Santa Monica's Tongva Park's intimate spaces will be filled with surprising performances as the City kicks off the 2018 Art @ Tongva season with the fifth annual Wonder Room.

The event -- which takes place Wednesday March 28 from 7:30 to 9 p.m. -- features a theatrical performance by visual and performance artist Emily Mast.

The artist will present "new and exploratory visual artworks and intimate dance pieces" in collaboration with the award-winning composer and arranger Alan Chan and live music by Cesar Castro, "LA’s own master of son jarocho music," organizers said.

Kate Johnson Performance at Bergamot (Courtesy of Kate Johnson)

Special guest, Kate Johnson, a video installation artist and resident of Santa Monica, "will bring the park’s century-old Moreton Bay Fig tree, Morty, to life in new and surprising ways," organizers said.

The program highlights Tongva Park’s unusual geography of gardens, winding paths, and urban vistas, re-imagining the small, exquisite spaces of the park designed by James Corner Field Operations, the creative geniuses behind the High Line in New York.

Award-winning Tongva Park -- designed by James Corner Field Operations, the designers of the highly acclaimed High Line in New York -- features gardens, winding paths and urban vistas ("Tongva Park is a Unique Experieence in Santa Monica," September 10, 2013).

During Wonder Room, "audiences are invited to stroll and choose their own artistic adventure, discovering each work or performance at their own pace," organizers said.

Launched in 2014, Art @ Tongva features performance theater by the company The Wildnerness in April, an interactive audio-theater experience Among Us in April and May and performance and art by contemporary indigenous artists in May.

Art @ Tongva is co-produced by Santa Monica Cultural Affairs and Dyson & Womack.

For bus routes to Tongva Park, which is located across from City Hall, visit www.bigbluebus.com.

Ample bike parking is located near each park entrance at Ocean Avenue, Main Street and Olympic Boulevard. Parking is available at Civic Center Parking Structure.

For updated information, visit smgov.net/tongvapark/events.