‘Homeless Sink Project’ Finds a Home at LACE

After a year of searching for a location, San Francisco artist Bruce Pollack has erected his “Homeless Sink Project” on Mill Street at the corner of Industrial Street, outside of Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions.

Financed by the Foundation for Art Resources, the project features a functional, tombstone-shaped sink inscribed with the words “That Thou Art Be Art Thou.” It was originally planned for MacArthur Park, but was halted because of park officials’ worries about the water shortage. As part of the project, LACE will keep towels and soap on hand to distribute to homeless people who use the sink.

“Artists are just as responsible as the rest of society for the homeless problem,” says Pollack. “This piece is about dignity and questions; the self-esteem to be able to cleanse your body from the filth of society. . . . To help one person help his or her self by providing a place where they can wash up.”

FRENCH AWARDS: The French government has honored UCLA Vice Chancellor Andrea Rich, L.A. County Museum of Art associate curator Judy Freeman and Severin Wunderman Museum Director Tony Clark with the rank of Chevalier in the French Order of Arts and Letters. The three arts leaders are recognized for their accomplishments and efforts to promote an international awareness of French culture.

BIRTHDAYS: Figurative ceramic artist Beatrice Wood, known as “the Mama of Dada,” celebrates her 99th birthday this month with three exhibitions, including two in Los Angeles. Wood will be at Barnsdall Art Park’s Hollyhock House on Thursday, for a daylong book signing (her latest book is “Touching Certain Things”) and an exhibition of photographs Wood took between 1925 and 1935 of her friends, collectors and local surroundings. Wood’s ceramic works can be seen Saturday through April 1 at the Garth Clark Gallery on La Brea Avenue. Information: (213) 939-2189.

Also celebrating a recent birthday is Santa Monica’s Koplin Gallery, which is holding its 10th anniversary exhibition, featuring works by Joan Brown and David Ligare, through Saturday.

EVENTS: Bill Viola’s “I Do Not Know What It Is I Am Like” will be screened at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday as the first of a 14-program film and video series called “Shifting Boundaries/Contested Spaces: Mass Culture in a Diverse Present.” Presented by the Getty Center for the History of Art and the Humanities, the free program will be held at 1210 4th St., Santa Monica. Information: (310) 458-9811.

Two dozen African-American murals in South Central Los Angeles, Watts and Compton will be highlighted in a Mural Conservancy of Los Angeles tour on March 14. Works by artists including Charles White, Richard Wyatt, Bernard Hoyes, Alice Patrick and Elliott Pinkney, painted between 1949 and 1991, will be visited. The $20 tour meets at 9 a.m. at the Federal Building in Westwood; reservations are required. Information: (310) 470-8864.

The L.A. Cultural Affairs Department sponsors “The Blessing of the Cars (The Car as Art),” a secular community arts festival honoring the relationship between the car and the family, at Arroyo Seco Park in Highland Park next Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Information: (213) 259-0861.

The L.A. Center for Photographic Studies is holding a sale next Sunday to raise money for its ongoing programs. Books, photo equipment, collectibles, clothing, housewares and other items will be offered in the parking lot of City restaurant, 180 S. La Brea Ave., from 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Information: (213) 482-3566.

Artists Jacki Apple and John White present “Jumpstart Upstarts,” what they describe as a “bumper-to-bumper evening full of electrifying performances, hard driving energy and fresh young faces,” at LACE on March 14 at 8 p.m. Among the artists to be introduced: Kelly Fitzpatrick, Ian Graham, Jeff Levitz, Gary San Angel, Steven Truil, Beth Urfer and Kenneth Scott Wiener. Information: (213) 624-5650.

“The Martian Condition,” Michael Saldivar and Robert Taylor’s play-in-progress, will be presented at the Municipal Art Gallery at Barnsdall Park on Saturday at 2 and 4 p.m. The event is part of IDEAS Associates (Identity in Existence Art Workshops), which responds to HIV and AIDS through the arts. Information: (213) 485-4581.