John Baldessari Goes Digital

It’s a still life--that is, until you move it. That’s the unusual nature of L.A. artist John Baldessari’s first digital online project: “Still Life: Choosing and Arranging,” inaugurating the Museum of Contemporary Art’s new digital gallery, which launches today at https://www.moca.org.

The work, commissioned by MOCA as the first in a series of online artists’ projects, is an interactive experiment that gives visitors to the museum’s Web site the chance to co-create a work of contemporary art with Baldessari.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to select objects from the lower of two shelves on your computer screen and arrange them on the upper shelf. Baldessari, a prominent figure in the Conceptual art movement, is noted for his use of photography, text and “found images.”

The images on the bottom shelf represent “a selection of everyday objects from Baldessari’s studio,” according to MOCA’s press office. They include a can of chicken broth and a chicken leg; a tube of toothpaste; a padlock; a glass of water containing a leaf; a glass swan; a pink pig (or maybe a dog, hard to say); and what appears to be a small extraterrestrial--suggesting that “everyday” may be somewhat different in Baldessari’s studio than in the average home.

Over the next several months, new objects will appear, extending the shelf life of the museum project.

Rappers Called to a Summit

Russell Simmons found the rhyme of hip-hop years ago, and now he’s pursuing the music’s reason. The rap mogul who guided Def Jam Records to empire status and helped shape some of hip-hop’s history with such stars as Public Enemy, the Beastie Boys, LL Cool J and Run-DMC is now using his sway to bring together some of rap’s leading names and other powerful figures for a unique gathering Tuesday and Wednesday in New York.

Hip-Hop Summit will focus on a variety of topics, first among them the issue of rappers’ “taking back responsibility” for the impact of their music on society.

Dr. Dre, Sean “P. Diddy” Combs, Master P, Snoop Dogg and Common are among the notables scheduled to attend, while the Rev. Louis Farrakhan and Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles) lead a varied gallery of community leaders.

Two hot-button issues sure to be addressed: violence between rappers and the music’s graphic content.

Simmons says he is seeking “positive, proactive reforms” for hip-hop--including a code of ethics for the marketing of the music to young fans--but none that will compromise free speech.

“We are not convening to clean up rap,” Simmons says. “Hey, [N.W.A’s] ‘F--- Tha Police’ was my favorite record. I’m not making a judgment on rap. I like rap. . . . But I also know that to be even bigger and cover greater subject matter, you need inspiration. Without judging, you do the best you can and lead by example.”

What Brando Hath Wrought

Though it seems like there’s an independent film festival every weekend, this week’s The Method Fest in Pasadena is unique in its devotion to emphasizing the craft of actors.

Named for the acting technique based on the theories of Konstantin Stanislavski, the 19th century co-founder of the Moscow Art Theatre, the festival enters its third year with a mission of showcasing breakout performances in character-driven features and short films.

The relative merits of the Method--the style of acting, not the festival--have long been a subject of debate and have been expanded upon and expounded by American acting gurus Lee Strasberg, Stella Adler and Sanford Meisner and institutions from the Group Theatre to the Actors Studio. The technique exploded on the New York stage in the ‘50s and soon moved to Hollywood with director Elia Kazan and actors such as Marlon Brando and James Dean and continues in the work of Robert De Niro and others.

Method Fest’s 67 titles unspool over seven days beginning Friday at Laemmle’s Playhouse 7 and the festival’s newest venue, Travis Auditorium, on the campus of Fuller Theological Seminary. The addition of the Fuller facility gives the festival digital projection capabilities and allows it to expand its offering of panels, whose subjects include “Art vs. Commerce,” “Emerging Indie Actors” and “Directing the Actor.”

“Bully,” a drama by director Larry Clark (“Kids”), starring Nick Stahl and Brad Renfro, is Friday’s opening-night film, while “Survivor” host Jeff Probst’s directorial debut, the psychological thriller “Finder’s Fee,” closes the fest on June 21.

James Earl Jones, one of the stars of “Finder’s Fee,” will receive a lifetime achievement award at the festival’s awards ceremony June 22 at the Pacific Asia Museum. Other well-known actors featured in the festival include Craig T. Nelson, Mary Stuart Masterson and Delroy Lindo.

Compiled by Times staff writers