May 2022 events calendar for Los Angeles

Yes, we’ve been looking forward to this, the first edition in an ongoing rotation of works from contemporary Chinese ink artists. But we’re also kind of excited because this exhibition marks the near-completion of the Huntington’s massively-expanded Chinese Garden. Step inside the snug Studio for Lodging the Mind and you’ll find 20 poetic calligraphic scrolls that inspired inscriptions at named sites across the surrounding Chinese garden. For anyone who can only decipher the Latin alphabet, the wall texts help unpack the art behind the Chinese characters: one breaks down the order of strokes with a step-by-step diagram while another unfurls the different components of a scroll mount. Make sure to watch the five-minute process video to scratch some ASMR itches, plus another that mixes footage of handwriting and interviews from eight of the artists. The delicate works on paper can only safely stay on display for a few months at a time, so the exhibition is split into two rotations: The first is up through mid-December, and then the gallery will go dark until the end of January for the second.

This Swiss video artist emerged in the 1980s with provocative single-channel productions featuring female subjects committing various social transgressions, but in recent decades, her work has evolved into trippy, immersive, 360-degree installations backed by hypnotic soundtracks. This show is her first comprehensive retrospective in L.A., and includes a site-specific installation made for the Geffen.

Play “Q” for the day at this assembly of some of the most famous gadget-adorned vehicles to appear in 007 films. The Petersen has put together a collection of 30 cars, motorcycles, boats, submarines, helicopters and scale filming models of aircraft from six decades of James Bond movies. Highlights include the 1977 Lotus Esprit S1 Submarine from The Spy Who Loved Me, a 1999 BMW Z8 from The World Is Not Enough and the 2019 Aston Martin DB10 from Spectre.

“Hayao Miyazaki,” which opens with the Academy Museum’s debut on September 30, features over 300 storyboards, concept images and backgrounds, many of them on display outside of Studio Ghibli’s Tokyo headquarters for the first time. It pulls from the director’s 11 feature films, with a particularly strong tilt toward My Neighbor Totoro, Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away as well as his lush, enchanted forest settings. Find out more in our full preview of the exhibit.

See early colonial art with pre-Columbian artifacts in this exhibition that re-examines the conquest narrative on the 500th anniversary of the fall of the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan (modern-day Mexico City).

Dry as a bone and sharp as a tack, the super-smart New York writer and comic contrarian (and Scorsese pal) performs five shows at the Broad Stage.

Netflix’s stand-up specials keep us cackling at home, but the streaming service’s ambitious comedy festival is nothing to laugh at. Netflix is a Joke Fest was initially announced for the spring of 2020 with 100 shows spread across L.A. in the span of one week, from the likes of Ali Wong, Dave Chappelle, Hannah Gadsby, Jerry Seinfeld and Whoopi Goldberg. But then, you know, 2020 happened. Thankfully, though, the fest is slated for a 2022 debut, with the lineup still to come.

Strap on your cowboy hat and make the pilgrimage to country music’s biggest jamboree, taking up residence at Coachella’s digs, the Empire Polo Club. Stagecoach is coming back for a three-day fest; expect the usual mix of contemporary and classic country. Thomas Rhett, Carrie Underwood and Luke Combs headline the 2022 edition, with additional sets from Maren Morris, Brothers Osborne, the Black Crowes and Midland, plus some horseback presence from the Compton Cowboys.

New Zealand pop royalty Lorde returns with her third album, Solar Power, and a stop at the Shrine Auditorium.

If your life is lacking spectacle, the playful, psychedelic band’s live show—packed with gratuitous confetti, colorful costumes and hamster ball crowd surfing—should fill the void.