Summer Residency with Colloboh

guided by: Colloboh, Mekela Session, Qur’an Shaheed, tp Dutchkiss,

In Partnership with Hollyhock House.

As an outdoor arts series, our programming weaves a natural history of Los Angeles and the greater California Floristic Province through musical performances that consider our environment. As we trace those lines together, we find them intertwined with a people’s history of our city, one we can physically interact with through the structures that inspire our collective imagination and influence the built landscape within which we reside. These landmarks of cultural heritage hold their stories up like mirrors reflecting our own lives, ready to lay bare all the hope, tragedy, and idiosyncrasy of life in Los Angeles.

What better example of this than Frank Lloyd Wright’s Hollyhock House? Emphasizing a connection between nature, art, and the built environment, this California Romanza marked a shift in the architectural landscape of Los Angeles, and the beginning of Wright’s influential presence in the city. Intended as the epicenter of Aline Barnsdall’s 36-acre arts complex atop Olive Hill, the house’s construction between 1919 and 1921 brought the influential architects Rudolph Schindler and Richard Neutra to Los Angeles, each of whom would further define California modernism with their own iconic works. The house continues to be a magnet for artists of all mediums, and a center of progressive thought in early 20th-century Los Angeles, embodying the spirit of artistic experimentation and cultural expression that characterizes Los Angeles to this day.

Frank Lloyd Wright’s design philosophy, exemplified in Hollyhock House, was deeply rooted in the concept of creating an ideal, harmonious environment in dialogue with nature. These ideals, combined with Barnsdall and Wright’s vision of a creative community and cultural center atop Olive Hill, resonate wonderfully with Colloboh’s latest EP, _Saana Sahel, _which conjures up a utopian land of his imagination, spanning lush coastlines and sweeping deserts. We are honored to present this live performance of Saana Sahel, from front to back, featuring collaborators Mekela Session, Qur’an Shaheed, and Spencer Hartling in partnership with Hollyhock House.