Noon: Art

“Contemporary Projects: Mariko Mori, Nirvana,” a large-scale meditative installation utilizing cutting-edge technology, opens today at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. The Japanese artist explores the importance of tradition in contemporary Japanese society through the environment’s four billboard-sized photographic elements, 3-D video and a lotus-shaped acrylic sculpture or “enlightenment capsule.”

* “Contemporary Projects: Mariko Mori.” Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 5905 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles. Ends Aug. 10. Museum hours: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, noon-8 p.m.; Friday, noon-9 p.m.; Saturday-Sunday, 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Museum admission: Adults, $6; students and seniors, $4; children and younger students, $1; children under 5, free. (213) 857-6000.

8 pm: Music

Simon Rattle conducts his City of Birmingham Symphony, the British orchestra with which Rattle has been associated since 1980, in its return to the Music Center this week. The program lists two works: Oliver Knussen’s Third Symphony (1979 revision) and Gustav Mahler’s massive Seventh.

* Simon Rattle conducts the City of Birmingham Symphony in the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, 135 N. Grand Ave., downtown. $8-$63. (213) 850-2000.

8:30 pm: Pop Music

The 1995 debut album from Garbage established the band--star producer Butch Vig, his Midwestern buddies Duke Erikson and Steve Marker and Scottish singer Shirley Manson--as a potent force in modern rock, and from all indications, the new follow-up, “Version 2.0,” will increase the momentum. The band gets things going with this special small-theater concert before its official tour.

* Garbage at the Palace, 1735 N. Vine St., Hollywood. Sold out. (213) 462-3000.