Michael Childers, The Hockney Swimmer, 1978, color photo, © Michael Childers.

Backyard Oasis Symposium
The Swimming Pool in Southern California Photography, 1945-1980

Saturday, November 20, 9:45 a.m. – 8 p.m.
Sunday, November 21, 9 a.m. – 1:45 p.m.

Symposium and keynote address: $100 general admission
$80 museum members & Pacific Standard Time participants,
$25 students with ID
Keynote address only: $25  

Reservations: Museum Box Office, 760.325.4490
Booking discounted rooms at the ACE Hotel & Swim Club:
Call 760.325.9900, Promotional code: BACKYARD

This two-day program includes one introductory address, four panel discussions, one keynote address and a separately subscribed Palm Springs pool tour. The symposium examines the impact of the swimming pool on the evolution of post-World War II social and artistic cultures in Southern California. It explores how the image of water, exemplified by the backyard pool, created a regional identity that was embraced by its inhabitants and promoted to the world at large.

Saturday, November 20

Palm Springs Art Museum, Annenberg Theater
101 Museum Drive, Palm Springs, CA

• 9:45-10:15 a.m.
  Check-in, continental breakfast


• 10:15-11:15 a.m.
  Symposium opening remarks: Daniell Cornell
  Introductory Address: Elaine Tyler May, Suburbia and the Cold War


• 11:15 a.m.-12:45 p.m.
  Changing Perceptions: Selling the Backyard Oasis with Jennifer Watts, Huntington Library, San Marino; Jeff Wiltse, University of Montana, Missoula; and Christopher Hawthorne, Los Angeles Times


• 12:45-2:00 p.m.
  Lunch


• 2:00-3:30 p.m.
  What Happened to Suburbia: A View from the Artist’s Studio with Dick Hebdige, University of California, Santa Barbara; Allan Sekula, independent artist and critic; and Sarah Lehrer-Graiwer, artist, writer and curator


• 3:30-5:30 p.m.
  Free time: Richard Avedon: Fashion, Stage & Screen and other exhibitions


• 5:30-7:00 p.m. (Reception follows)
  Keynote address: Donald Albrecht, Hollywood Aquacade

Sunday, November 21

The Commune, Ace Hotel and Swim Club
701 East Palm Canyon Drive, Palm Springs, CA 92262

• 9:00-9:30 a.m.
  Check-In, Continental breakfast


• 9:30-11:00 a.m.
  Public and Private Space with Tyler Stallings, Sweeney Art Gallery, University of California, Riverside; Daniell Cornell, Palm Springs Art Museum; and Robert Atkins, independent author and critic


• 11:00-11:15 a.m.
  Coffee break


• 11:15 a.m.-12:45 p.m.
  Modern Design for Living with Alice Friedman, Wellesley College; Wendy Kaplan, Los Angeles County Museum of Art; and Robert Stearns, contributor and project coordinator, Backyard Oasis


• 12:45-1:45 p.m.
  Closing remarks and poolside lunch
  


• 1:45-6:00 p.m.
  Palm Springs Pool Tour, sponsored separately by the Museum's Architecture and Design Council (ADC)
  

$75 ADC members & symposium participants, $125 general admission
(this tour is not included in the price of symposium admission)
For more information about the ADC Pool Tour, please click here.

This symposium is funded with support from the Getty Foundation, additional support provided by the ACE Hotel & Swim Club.