Culture in Times of Recovery: Kim Hastreiter and Jeffrey Deitch in Conversation
Overview
"In retrospect, I did begin to see both the consequences and the wisdom that came from experiencing trauma in various ways. And how the human spirit rides these waves of shock, fear, and grief. And yes, survives. But what stood out to me the most was how artists take the lead when disaster strikes. In my amazing life, creativity was always my #1 drug that healed me. My friend Kristen called it “Cultural Medicine.” In my life, it is art. Michael Stipe once told me he navigates catastrophes through art (as most artists I know do). He said to me the other day, 'I do feel that artists are people that take the present moment and recontextualize it for ourselves and everyone else to help project into the future a way forward. That’s our job.'"
—Kim Hastreiter in response to the Los Angeles wildfires, Substack January 18th, 2025
To foster an open conversation about the role artists, arts organizations, and culture can play in healing and recovering from the recent Los Angeles wildfires, The Broad presents Kim Hastreiter and Jeffrey Deitch in dialogue about Hastreiter’s recent memoir, STUFF: A New York Life of Cultural Chaos. A deeply personal account of how culture has responded to contemporary crises including AIDS, 9/11, and the COVID pandemic, STUFF explores how artists make new meaning during times of tragedy.
A book signing will follow the conversation in Oculus Hall, where copies of STUFF will be available for purchase.
Exterior shot by Mike Kelley; Kim Hastreiter photo courtesy of the artist; Jeffrey Deitch photo by Nadia Lee Cohen
Tickets include one-time access to The Broad during regular museum hours between Saturday, March 22, and Sunday, March 30, 2025. The museum will be closed when this program ends; please plan your visit accordingly.
Tickets to this event do not include access to Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Mirror Room—The Souls of Millions of Light Years Away (2013), and must be booked separately.
To learn more and plan your trip, visit Know Before You Go & FAQ. Visitor policies are subject to change.
Get TicketsBiographies
Kim Hastreiter
Kim Hastreiter is an American journalist, editor, publisher, and curator who co-founded Paper magazine. She served as co-editor-in-chief from its inception until 2017. In her column of 32 years, "Note from Kim", Hastreiter deciphered cultural movements and trends that transformed the zeitgeist. Before founding Paper magazine, Kim was style editor of the SoHo Weekly News where she collaborated with artists including Broad collection artists Robert Mapplethorpe, Keith Haring, and Kenny Scharf. Her recent memoir, STUFF: A New York Life of Cultural Chaos, is a joyous ride through the last half century of cultural chaos in New York City and beyond. Kim attended the Nova Scotia School of Art and Design for her BFA and CalArts to earn an MFA and was mentored by John Baldessari. After graduating CalArts in 1976, she drove cross-country to New York with Los Angeles native Joey Arias. This year, Kim Hastreiter was honored with the prestigious Cooper Hewitt’s Design Visionary Award.
Photo by Jeremy Liebman
Jeffrey Deitch
Jeffrey Deitch operated Deitch Projects in New York from 1996-2010, after which he was Director of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles from 2010-2013. Deitch has now reestablished his art advisory office and exhibition program in New York, and he opened his Los Angeles gallery in 2018. Recently, Deitch has curated major exhibitions such as City As Studio at the K11 Foundation which opened in the Spring of 2023 and was the first major survey of graffiti and street art in Hong Kong. Also in the Spring of 2023, Deitch co-curated the inaugural exhibition Sangam Confluence at the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre in Mumbai. Unrealism, Deitch's book on new figurative painting, was published by Rizzoli in October 2019. His book, City as Studio, a compact history of street art, was published in 2021. Luncheon on the Grass, featuring contemporary artists’ responses to Édouard Manet’s Le Déjeuner sur l’herbe was published in 2024. Most recently, Jeffrey played an important role in establishing the LA Arts Community Fire Relief Fund.
Photo by Nadia Lee Cohen