January 2023 events calendar for Los Angeles

See how works of 18th-century French decorative arts informed the residents of Beauty and the Beast’s castle and Sleeping Beauty’s enchanting forest at this assembly of Disney-inspiring works.

See charcoal drawings, animated films, sculptures and theater models from the South African artist during this exhibition about the Broad, which focuses on Kentridge’s paradoxes of light and shadow.

It runs way deeper than just IKEA: See how Scandinavian immigrants and aesthetics informed 20th-century design trends in the United States and impacted sustainability (and a little bit of politics) around the globe at this colorful LACMA exhibition.

Best known for her lo-fi sculpture-centric Dance Constructions, choreographer Simone Forti’s pieces explore movement and the dialogue between visual art and contemporary dance. Catch weekly stagings of those Dance Constructions, plus six decades of works on paper, videos and holograms, during this career-spannung exhibition at MOCA. 

This essential and energetic display at the Academy Museum spotlights an entire century of often-overlooked filmmaking and shows how Black artists have been a vital part of cinema since its inception.

What better spot to mark the Lunar New Year than “the happiest place on earth”? Disney California Adventure commemorates the Year of the Rabbit with a month of multicultural celebrations. Kids can look forward to photo ops and parade processions with Mulan, Mushu, Raya, Tigger and Mickey and Minnie Mouse, while adults will find a tasty reprieve with treats from China, Korea and Vietnam—available both à la carte and with a six-item “Sip and Savor Pass.” Stick around into the evening for a Lunar New Year-themed prelude to “World of Color.”

The museum atop Forest Lawn’s Glendale cemetery is celebrating 60 years of the beloved Bob Baker Marionette Theater with a display of about 100 historical pieces, including puppets, concept art, archival photos and an animatronic band.

Swing by on October 20 for the opening reception, which includes exhibition tours, marionette performances, complimentary drinks and hors d’oeuvres, and a DJ set from OK Go’s Timothy Nordwind, who’ll be spinning vintage records from the theater’s music library. Email museum@forestlawn.com to RSVP.

Whether he’s submerging actors in abandoned power plants (The Abyss) or teaching them to hold their breath for five minutes (Avatar: The Way of Water), it’s clear that James Cameron kind of has a thing for shooting underwater. But the big-budget director also has a deep personal connection with the sea: He’s been down to the wreckage of the Titanic and even became the first person to embark on a solo expedition to the deepest point of the Mariana Trench. Now, that 12-ton, 24-foot-tall submersible will be on view at the Natural History Museum as part of a pop-up installation about how exactly one navigates their way seven miles deep into the Pacific Ocean.

The Chicana muralist and Great Wall of Los Angeles artist brings her collaborative mural to the Geffen. A two-and-a-half-decade-long project, The World Wall: A Vision of the Future Without Fear features nine 10-by-30-foot panels that Baca worked on with collaborators as they toured the globe, displayed here in a cathedral-like installation.

Throw it back to the days of movie rentals with this limited-time themed speakeasy taking over Stone Street, the all-day café below Prohibition-themed Bathtub Gin. Each $45 ticket includes two cocktails (non-alcoholic options available), with a drinks menu that draws names and flavors from the turn of the millennium (think Gushers and Capri Sun, as well as long-gone beverages like Tab and Crystal Pepsi).

This traveling exhibition celebrates a loose group of artist who came together in 1938 in New Mexico, linked by an inclination toward spiritually heightened abstraction. Artists include painters Raymond Jonson, Emil Bisttram, Agnes Pelton and Lawren Harris.

See how American quilters have knitted together stories since the 1600s at the Skirball’s celebration of quilt makers. Over 40 artists will have work on display, as will a complementary exhibition, “Together for Good: Caron Tabb and the Quilting Corner,” a large-scale collection of keepsakes that respond to the pandemic. Both run at the same time as outdoor sculpture exhibition “Chloë Bass: Wayfinding.”