EVENT REPORT   04.06.09 2:17 PM Public Art The second annual L.A. Art Weekend included four days of programming intended to encourage Angelenos to engage with the city's art culture and offerings. FROM LOS ANGELES The second annual Los Angeles Art weekend formally kicked off on Thursday with an opening-night party at the Purple Lounge at the Standard Hollywood, and concluded Sunday. The four-day program (which also inspired peripheral events outside that time line) highlighted the vast—if occasionally underutilized—offerings that blanket the city’s cultural landscape in the realms of art, architecture, design, and performance. FYAworld, the consulting arm of ForYourArt (which publishes tools and hosts events that celebrate and organize local art projects and programs), produces the program in collaboration with Black Frame, a production agency with art, architecture, fashion, and design clients. "What was new this year was we really tested different models for how to activate a public audience that isn't necessarily engaging with the art scene here,” said ForYourArt founder Bettina Korek. “We really tried to find ways to introduce these activities for a new, bigger audience. What we're passionate about is getting people who live in L.A. to identify more and engage with those activities." Among the long weekend’s standout events was Postopolis, a five-day conversation on architecture, urban design, music and art, presented by ForYourArt and Storefront for Art and Architecture. Non-attendees could follow the marathon discussions, interviews, panels, slide shows, films, and parties on Twitter, or watch the live Webcast from the Standard Downtown. “It was a new kind of conference, very casual. It’s about how we can encourage interaction with artists rather than just observing them,” Korek said. “We’re interested to see how Postopolis will affect the perception of L.A. as a cultural capitol because [the event format had] a global audience.” As to the scale of the weekend's production, Korek added, “We tried to achieve the most impact with limited resources. You have this incredible intellectual and creative captial to work with [in Los Angeles] so we were all about integrating artists and their work in the most authentic way possible.”   —Alesandra Dubin L.A. Art Weekend's official launch party took to the Purple Lounge at the Standard Hollywood on Thursday. Photo: Andreas Brach/Patrick McMullen/Courtesy of L.A. Art Weekend Rodarte's Kate and Laura Mulleavy and artist Mike Mills participated in a conversation at the Hammer Museum.  Photo: David Crotty/Patrick McMullen/Courtesy of L.A. Art Weekend Benedikt Taschen and Valentino greeted guests at the book signing for Valentino Garavani: Una Grande Storia Italiana at the Taschen store in Beverly Hills. Photo: Andreas Brach/Patrick McMullen/ Courtesy of L.A. Art Weekend An orderly crowd formed outside Taschen for the Valentino signing on Thursday. Photo: Andreas Brach/Patrick McMullen/Courtesy of L.A. Art Weekend Postopolis was Webcast live from the Standard Downtown. Photo: Andreas Brach/Patrick McMullen/Courtesy of ForYourArt   RELATED TOPICS ForYourArt, BlackFrame, Storefront for Art and Architecture, Los Angeles Art Weekend