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00:00Firefighters in Los Angeles are managing to hold the line against two massive wildfires
00:05while preparing to attack flare-ups or any new blazes.
00:08Residents are facing dire fresh wildfire warnings and power cuts.
00:13At least two dozen people have died in the disaster and over 12,000 structures
00:18have been damaged or destroyed while more than 80,000 people remain under evacuation orders.
00:24Well the list of artists who've lost their homes or studios in the fires is staggering
00:29for more let's speak now with curator and writer Martha Kurzenbaum who's joining us.
00:35Martha great to have you with us this evening.
00:37What is very often difficult to quantify in disasters
00:41such as this is the loss of creative neighborhoods, various artworks.
00:45Many artists have seen their homes and artworks destroyed.
00:48How significant could these losses prove to be?
00:54Good evening, hello, thank you for having me.
00:57Well first of all I think it's important to understand how important L.A. stands as one
01:01of the beating hearts of the American art world where many artists have established
01:06themselves since the 1960s and in particular the last 10 years you know attracted by its
01:14life quality, legendary lights, cheaper rents and a growing number of museums and galleries
01:21and it's also a city where many wealthy collectors live and so interestingly but
01:28of course also tragically these fires have actually touched two neighborhoods and
01:33devastated two neighborhoods.
01:34One in the northeast of the city called Altadena historically an African-American middle class
01:42neighborhood where many artists, curators or writers have established themselves in
01:46the past couple of years and on the other side of the city on the west side Pacific
01:51Palisades which is actually home to more wealthy Angelenos, most of which are actually art
02:01collectors.
02:01So somehow it's just these two sides of the artwork that has been tragically you know
02:06touched in this fire.
02:08And what have they been telling you about what they've actually lost and what they've
02:12experienced over the past week?
02:14Well I mean these artists are obviously devastated and what I see, what I read, what I hear is
02:22that the emotion is extremely vivid.
02:25Many artists as I just mentioned were living in Altadena and they could not have been prepared
02:31to the you know to how fast and intense the fires ended up being.
02:38You know I mean in LA the entire artistic community is very conscious about global
02:42warming and they all have read you know American writer Joanne Didion who extensively wrote
02:48about the Santa Ana winds, precisely these ones that caused the wildfires last week.
02:56But still like no one could expect such a disaster and I'm thinking to give you some
03:00examples of artists impacted by the wildfires.
03:04I'm thinking of Paul McCarthy who's a truly iconic artist from the 60s and 70s up to today
03:09who has lost actually his home and studio in the Eton fire that destroyed Altadena.
03:16Also a younger artist named Kelly Akashi who actually had an important exhibition planned
03:21in the next couple of weeks and she posted this really devastating picture on Instagram
03:27where you would see one of her blow glass sculptures hanging from a burnt tree as the
03:32only you know reminiscence of her house and studio.
03:36And on top of the works you know what's also very tragic is that many people lost their
03:42you know personal family archives and let's remember that it's LA you know it's a city
03:48in a country that is often considered as history-less you know deprived of history.
03:54So just to give you an idea of how important these archives can be
03:58for a number of families and individuals.
04:01And Martha will these families, will these individuals be compensated for their losses?
04:06What kind of support are they receiving?
04:10Exactly that's that's a very good question.
04:12That's a very tricky question because well you know first of all insurances have declared
04:18that they actually don't have the money to pay back for the losses which amount can be
04:23up to you know dozens of billions of dollars.
04:26Then on top of that a month ago Californian insurances have you know cancelled fire closes.
04:34Now the federal government is trying to force them to ignore them but let's also remember
04:39that in a week from now Trump becomes president and he doesn't really empathize with with
04:46the Democrats and the Democrats California.
04:50But something that actually has really moved me I think and moved you know a lot of people
04:55is how important initiatives coming from the artistic community became and you know there's
05:02a platform called GoFundMe which is a crowdfunding platform where actually already dozens of
05:08thousands of dollars have been raised by artists themselves, by artists friends or by art institutions
05:14like the BRIC for instance which is a non-for-profit art institution in LA and they've raised you
05:19know more than two hundred thousand dollars in just a couple of days.
05:23So what I've been reading on social media and I've been hearing from my friends is that
05:27actually communities work much faster much better than the government right now.
05:32And so far miraculously really the Getty Villa Museum has been spared.
05:37Are there specific protections in place there?
05:42So yes I mean yes and no.
05:44I would say what's specific about the Villa Getty and it's important to remember that it's
05:48it's like you know the second home of the one of the biggest collection in America of
05:55antique works of you know Roman sculptures among others very large collection of works
06:01by Rembrandt or Van Gogh or Monet.
06:04The Villa Getty was built in the Pacific Palisades in 1974.
06:08We also have these images with fire you know surrounding the museum but actually and luckily
06:14the collections were not destroyed and the reason why is indeed the architecture because
06:19in 1974 the Villa Getty was built with a double wall and underground storage spaces that protected
06:26the artworks and also for years now employees were asked to brush off you know all the remaining
06:33wooden twigs on a daily basis so that probably as well helped the museum to be protected.
06:39And you know last but not least it's true that the Villa Getty actually benefited from
06:44a special treatment from you know firefighters who were very focused on preserving the museum.
06:52Martha we'll have to leave it there for now but thank you so much for your time on the
06:55programme this evening. That's curator and writer Martha Kirsenbaum.