A short exhibit, based on the life of the Los Angeles Metropolitan Medical Center is going on now.
The Los Angeles Metropolitan Medical Center was the city’s first black-owned hospital. Opened in 1971, the hospital remained a pivotal healthcare landmark throughout the next 20 years. When the community began to deteriorate, the hospital was not the exception.
The aftermath of what was once a thriving environment then fell into the care of Pacific Health Corporation, also based in Los Angeles which later became the butt of fraud (later confirmed), misappropriation of funds, and overall bad business practice allegations. After various lawsuits and audits, Pacific Health Corp. began to shut down hospitals including Anaheim General Hospital, a 142-bed site; Bellflower Medical Center’s 142-bed site, and eventually the Los Angeles Metropolitan Medical Center’s 212-bed site.
Post closure, the hospital was bought by CIM Group with future plans of converting the land space into a residential community. This potential space remains a project in the works and in the meantime, the hospital has remained a solitude landmark that has remained abandoned.
CIM Group who had previously worked with art curator John Wolf allowed him to develop an expansive exhibit in hopes of injecting one last shot of life into the place it once was. Nearly 80 artists from around the world came together for this exhibit and contributed contemporary pieces incorporated into the aesthetic of the abandoned rooms. Use of old equipment and even the deteriorated walls is the canvass for the entire exhibit.
If you are in the Los Angeles area in October through end of November, it is definitely an exhibit worth seeing. Hospitals hold a different environmental feel than other buildings as they hold lives depending on the resources of its facility to keep them alive. There are so many things that go into the administration of a business, but none as critical as the work that goes into keeping a hospital up and running. One last look back at a location that homed caring providers, nurses, assistants, and patients will more than likely give the visitor a new-found appreciation for hospital facilities.
The exhibit held at the L.A. Metropolitan Medical Center at 2231 South Western Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90018 and will be open until November 30, 2016.
Sources:
http://www.beckershospitalreview.com/population-health/man-turns-abandoned-california-medical-center-into-art-gallery.html
http://www.humanconditionexhibition.com/#featuredartists
http://la.curbed.com/2016/9/30/13126816/public-art-abandoned-hospital-west-adams
http://www.laweekly.com/arts/an-abandoned-hospital-in-west-adams-has-been-filled-with-fine-art-photos-7441932
http://www.beckershospitalreview.com/hospital-management-administration/pacific-health-corp-to-close-all-hospitals.html
