Datebook: Hammer Biennial, Santa Ana sound art and lots of color field

Los Angeles’ big biennial gets rolling at the Hammer, narco culture gets a screening at the Fowler and a sound artist takes over a hidden space in downtown Santa Ana. There’s a lot going on in the big bad Southland; here’s what we’ve got on the calendar:

“Made in L.A. 2014,” at the Hammer Museum. The second iteration of L.A.’s big biennial gets rolling Sunday with a group of artists that cover just about every type of practice imaginable, from Ricky Swallow’s low-key trompe l’oeil sculptures to the theatrics of performance-based artist Emily Mast to the broadcast stylings of the radio crunchies at KCHUNG. Catherine Wagley at LA Weekly offers a great primer on the show, in case you’re wondering what all that hybridity and collectivity are all about. Opens Sunday, 10899 Wilshire Blvd., Westwood, hammer.ucla.edu.

Lisa Adams, “In the Land of Entropic Beauty,” at CB1 Gallery. Paintings that combine elements of the abstract and the figurative, the natural and the man-made. The L.A.-based Adams, the subject of a new documentary, has her latest solo outing at her downtown gallery. Opens Sunday at 5 p.m., 207 W. 5th St., Los Angeles, cb1gallery.com.

John Tottenham, “The Indifferent Sublime,” at Maloney Fine Art. A poet and writer who also draws abandoned landscapes and then laces them with darkly funny texts. Opens Saturday at 6 p.m., 2680 S. La Cienega Blvd., Culver City, maloneyfineart.com.

A screening of “Narco Cultura,” at the Fowler Museum. The critically acclaimed documentary by Saul Schwartz looks at the cultural trappings of narco trafficking, in particular the music. (See the trailer here.) The film screens as part of the museum’s “Sinful Saints & Saintly Sinners” exhibition. Today at 7 p.m., UCLA North Campus, Westwood, fowler.ucla.edu.

“Openness and Clarity: Color Field Works from the 1960s and 1970s,” at Honor Fraser Gallery. A round-up of artists working with color as their principal material, the show includes works by Helen Frankenthaler, Robert Worth, Josef Albers and Frank Stella (a piece that, controversially, hails from MOCA’s collection). Through Aug. 2, 2622 S. La Cienega Blvd., Culver City, honorfraser.com.

Naotaka Hiro, Benjamin Weissman and Paul McCarthy, “Men in L.A.: Three Generations of Drawings,” at the Box. This show gathers the work of three L.A. artists who are obsessed with drawing the human form in one guise or another. Through July 5, 805 Traction Ave., Los Angeles, theboxla.com.

“Santa Ana Sites #5: Steve Roden — A Sound Performance,” organized by the Grand Central Art Center. Roden, a visual and sound artist based in L.A., is going to be taking over an underground racquetball court in downtown Santa Ana for a performance involving a modular synthesizer. Very contemporary and 1970s all at the same time. The performance is free, but RSVP is required. Saturday at 7:30 p.m., 205 N. Sycamore St., Santa Ana, grandcentralartcenter.com.