Art Is Magic at the Getty

Getty Center is hosting “Art is Magic” on Tuesday, April 28, a free conversation between British artist Jeremy Deller and Los Angeles curator Hamza Walker. (getty.edu) The talk starts at 7 p.m. at the Getty Center and online, runs about one hour, and is followed by a dessert reception. In-person attendees can also see “Photography and the Black Arts Movement, 1955–1985” until 6:45 p.m. that evening. (getty.edu) Getty says the conversation will focus on “monuments, memory, and the public imagination,” with Deller and Walker discussing how artists reshape public stories through sites, symbols, and collective experience. (getty.edu) The event is built around two linked projects. One is Deller’s 2023 career-survey book *Art is Magic*; the other is Walker’s co-curated exhibition *MONUMENTS* in Los Angeles. (getty.edu) (moca.org) MOCA and The Brick say *MONUMENTS* places decommissioned monuments, many of them Confederate, alongside works by 19 contemporary artists. The exhibition has been in development since 2017 and closes May 3, 2026. (moca.org 1) (moca.org 2) Getty lists Deller as the 2004 Turner Prize winner and Britain’s representative at the 55th Venice Biennale in 2013. It identifies Walker as executive director of The Brick and notes he recently received Bard College’s 2026 Audrey Irmas Award for Curatorial Excellence. (getty.edu) The program also sits inside Getty’s broader spring lineup, where events are free but parking at the Getty Center drops to $10 after 6 p.m. Welikela listed the talk this week as one of Los Angeles’ notable free events. (getty.edu) (welikela.com) For one night, Getty is turning a museum talk into a live argument about who gets remembered in public space — and who decides when those symbols come down. (getty.edu) (moca.org)