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Datebook: Emigres in Hollywood, trippy video, post-tsunami architecture

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Norton Simon’s trove, films from the emigres who settled Hollywood and the hallucinatory videos of Lizzie Fitch and Ryan Trecartin. Plus: post-Fukushima architecture and the photographs of Alejandro Cartagena. It’s all happening now in El Lay:

“Lock, Stock and Barrel: Norton Simon’s Purchase of Duveen Brothers Gallery,” at the Norton Simon Museum of Art. In the early 1960s, businessman Norton Simon set out to buy a painting of a courtesan, once attributed to Titian but later billed as a Giorgione, from the Duveen Brothers Gallery, the New York art dealership that supplied many American industrialists with their Old Masters. That purchase led Simon to acquire seven more items from the gallery, followed by another five. Soon, he went on to purchase the entire gallery: This included 800 objects, the library, the archive and even the building itself (located on East 79th Street in Manhattan). This exhibition gathers numerous items from that trove, including a cape allegedly worn by Charles IV of Spain. The show promises some terrific insight into Simon’s expansive acquisition habits, and that of Joseph Duveen, a figure who helped stock the homes of industry titans and, ultimately, many of America’s museums. Opens Friday; on view through April 27. 411 W. Colorado Ave., Pasadena, nortonsimon.org.

“Light and Noir: Exile and Émigres in Hollywood, 1933-1950,” at the Skirball Cultural Center. World War II pretty much turbo-charged American cultural production during the middle part of the 20th century as writers, poets, painters, theorists, actors and directors all landed in the United States seeking to escape the disaster of Hitler’s genocidal empire-building. This exhibition at the Skirball looks at the effect this emigration had on Hollywood, with the arrival of directors Billy Wilder and Fritz Lang and composer Franz Waxman. The exhibition includes props, posters, film clips and photography, alongside ephemera from more established emigre figures such screen siren Marlene Dietrich. Through March 1. 2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd., Brentwood, skirball.org.

Lizzie Fitch/Ryan Trecartin, at Regen Projects. The squeaky voices, the relentless hamming to the camera, the nonlinear dialogue and the surreal characters all monologuing on the most mundane of sets. If your brain is in need of some tenderizing, there is nothing quite like plopping yourself before the videos of Fitch and Trecartin -- veritable roller coasters into the anxieties of our jittery Internet age. The show at Regen features a new video that was shot at the former Masonic Temple on Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles, making for a film that is certain to be part horror show, part online dystopia. Through Nov. 22, 6750 Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood, regenprojects.com.

Dasha Shishkin, “where there is a wand, there is a way,” at Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects. Surreal landscapes built out of blocks and polka dots. Cartoonish figures with Pinocchio noses. Figures that seem to dissolve into Technicolor abstract patterns. The Moscow-born Shishkin, who now resides in New York, is known for her bold palettes and ambiguous scenarios. Bubbly eyes appear to sprout from a young girl’s back while a landscape is turned into a vivid LSD dream. Looking forward to this one. Opens Saturday; on view through Dec. 28. 6006 Washington Blvd., Culver City, vielmetter.com. A public reception for the artist will be held Nov. 1 at 6 p.m.

“Groundswell: Guerrilla Architecture in Response to the Great East Japan Earthquake,” at the MAK Center for Art and Architecture. The disastrous earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan in 2011 wiped out a 300-mile stretch of coastline. More than 20,000 people died and nearly half a million lost their homes. With government rescue and resettlement efforts moving slowly, some architects took matters into their own hands. This exhibition showcases a selection of their efforts. The exhibit is to be accompanied by a symposium this weekend that is scheduled to include various exhibition participants and other architects and designers from the U.S. and Japan. Opens Saturday, symposium is 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday. On view through Jan. 4 at the Schindler House, 835 N. Kings Road., West Hollywood, makcenter.org.

Alejandro Cartagena, “Bliss,” at Kopeikin Gallery. Cartagena is known for his striking pictures of Mexican suburbia, as well as the viral series “Carpoolers,” which shows laborers piled into pickups, on their way to construction jobs. Now he has turned his attention to young adults, to moments of bliss, as experienced by people at a significant moment of transition in their lives. Opens Saturday at 6 p.m. with a reception and book-signing. On view through Dec. 20. 2766 S. La Cienega Blvd., Culver City, kopeikingallery.com.

“Unforgetting L.A.,” at the 9th Annual Los Angeles Archives Bazaar. East of Borneo, the online arts site (which I wrote about a couple of weeks ago), is once again hosting one of its Wikipedia edit-a-thons. The purpose: to make Wikipedia more inclusive of SoCal history. Take a laptop and a power cord. Beginners welcome! It’s all happening at the Los Angeles Archives Bazaar, one of the year’s coolest events, where private collectors and institutions will have a trove of historic photos and documents about Southern California. Saturday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Doheny Memorial Library at USC, 3550 Trousdale Parkway, University Park, Los Angeles, eastofborneo.org, laassubject.org and usc.edu.

Andy Warhol’s “Chelsea Girls,” at Redcat. Andy Warhol’s seminal underground film is getting a screening at Redcat this weekend. The film follows the lives of a number of women living inside the bohemian Chelsea Hotel in Manhattan, and includes appearances by Factory stars such as Nico, otherwise known as a key member of the Velvet Underground. Saturday at 7 p.m., 631 W. Second St., downtown Los Angeles, redcat.org.

Find me on Twitter @cmonstah

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