City 2 City: The L.A. / Detroit Connection

City 2 City is a panel discussion responding to Carl Craig: Party/After-Party at The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA. City 2 City explores the connections between the underground Techno and House cultures of Los Angeles and Detroit. Topics that will be discussed include the influence of Detroit Techno and House on L.A. music and visual art; the ethnic and socio-economic diversity in underground electronic music culture; as well as the social justice, architectural and sonic space-making aspects of the Party and the After-Party.

With Juliet Mendoza [DJ/Producer - Jackin Jills, Spiritual Systems, Defected] and DJ Dex aka Nomadico [DJ/Producer - Underground Resistance, Yaxteq]. The panel is organized and moderated by Gustavo Alberto Garcia Vaca [interdisciplinary artist - Axis Records, chamanvision].

Juliet Mendoza is an Afro-Latina Artist (Salvadoreña, Nicaraguense, Mexicana) LA native, dancer, DJ, and a driven ambassador of the underground House music and dance culture. She is the Founder and resident DJ of Jill’s House aka Jackin Jills; and her unique style of delivering melodic, soulful and deep sounds has taken her to headline in several international cities including Paris, Mexico City and Amsterdam. She comes with flavor from the 90s to the present to grace Dance floors with a spiritual and healing vibration.

As a DJ and music producer of Underground Resistance (UR), DJ Dex aka Nomadico rose through the ranks as a member of live bands Timeline and Los Hermanos and released his own solo releases on UR as Nomadico. He has performed all over the U.S., Latin America, Europe, and Asia throwing down eclectic sets of gritty, moody, funk fueled and hard-hitting electronic music. He now runs his own L.A. based Yaxteq label as an outlet for like-minded artists.

Gustavo Alberto Garcia Vaca is an interdisciplinary visual artist/writer whose work is in the collections of The Museum of Modern Art, LACMA, and the Bibliotheque Nationale de France. Gustavo collaborates visually with Detroit Techno producer Jeff Mills, as well as creating artwork with Underground Resistance, Parliament-Funkadelic, House/Dub producer Francois K, art director/graphic designer Hideki Nakajima, graffiti painter Man One, graphic designer Kiyoshi Takami, comic creator Kenny Keil, and others. As an Arts Educator, Gustavo creates art experiences for museums and arts organizations.

This program is presented in conjunction with Carl Craig: Party/After Party.

Party/After-Party was commissioned by Dia Art Foundation.

Carl Craig: Party/After-Party was curated by Kelly Kivland, former Curator at Dia Art Foundation, with Randy Gibson, Manager of Exhibition Technology. The Los Angeles presentation is organized by Alex Sloane, Associate Curator, with Anastasia Kahn, Curatorial Assistant, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.

Admission to Carl Craig: Party/After-Party is free courtesy of Carolyn Clark Powers.

Lead support is provided by Cameron Winklevoss and Tyler Winklevoss.

Exhibitions at MOCA are supported by the MOCA Fund for Exhibitions with generous funding provided by the Earl and Shirley Greif Foundation.

The artist thanks Christophe Chapelle, Sonic Lab Studio; Nazy Nazhand, Project Consultant and founder of Nazhand Art & Culture; and John Torres, Lighting Designer.