On August 21, Muse hosted its annual summer event, Muse ‘til Los Angeles—The Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s (LACMA) Muse program presented its fourteenth annual Muse ‘til Midnight on Saturday, August 21, 2010, from 8:15 pm — 12 am.
Muse ‘til Midnight featured live music, drinks, and food that celebrates the exhibitions currently on display at LACMA.
This year’s theme is derived from Manly Pursuits: The Sporting Images of Thomas Eakins and will featured an atmosphere to match Eakins’ late nineteenth-century paintings. Live music, video projections, vaudeville performers, and steampunk-inspired crafts enhanced the scene to create a truly unique and spectacular environment. Presented in two acts, the first half of the night welcomed guests to “The Eakins Arena” in the Los Angeles Times Central Courtyard and featured exclusive after-hours access to Manly Pursuits and Catherine Opie: Figure and Landscape, plus a live performance by Dusty Rhodes and the River Band, a circus of vaudeville activities, and Opie-inspired photo stations.
For the second half of the evening, the action switched to the penthouse of LACMA West, where Steampunk props, recently featured in the annual Labyrinth of Jareth Masquarade, were on display. There were also elaborately-garbed stiltwalkers, and live music by Unextraordinary Genlemen, replete with Victorian (un)garbed burlesque dancers!