LA biennial planned for 2012

The Hammer museum and LAX Art art collaborating on an LA biennial planned for 2012, reports the LA Times. The biennial will feature artists based in the LA and the surrounding area, and will take place on the institution's two sites and in other spaces around the city. "Whether people love or hate them, biennials are very much anticipated, desired and needed by the artistic community. They are our versions of the Oscars or Emmys," said Ann Philbin, director of the Hammer Museum. Philbin said that the partnership with LAX Art grew out of a yearlong conversation with Lauri Firstenberg, the founder of LAX Art, because the organizations are so "simpatico."