Wende Museum Exhibition Tours: Counter/Surveillance
2025-07-27 14:30 - 15:30, 2025-08-02 14:30 - 15:30, 2025-08-03 14:30 - 15:30, 2025-08-08 11:30 - 12:30, 2025-08-09 11:30 - 12:30, 2025-08-10 14:30 - 15:30, 2025-08-15 11:30 - 12:30, 2025-08-16 14:30 - 15:30 (America/Los_Angeles) and 1 more date | The Wende Museum, 10808 Culver Boulevard, Culver City, CA, 90230, United States
Join us for guided tours of the exhibition Counter/Surveillance: Control, Privacy, Agency.

Join us for free guided tours of the Wende Museum’s exhibition Counter/Surveillance: Control, Privacy, Agency.
Explore the origins of modern surveillance technologies and tactics in Counter/Surveillance, tracing their development from the Cold War to today, alongside the creative resistance of dissidents and artists.
This exhibition offers a powerful and highly relevant look at control and resistance in a world shaped by surveillance and censorship.

Blooming Threads: Soviet Flower Symbolism In Cross Stitch
2025-07-28 18:00 - 20:30 | The Community Center at the Wende Museum, 10858 Culver Boulevard, Culver City, CA, 90230, United States
Join us for a vibrant workshop with Folk Lounge, exploring the rich tradition of floral cross stitch in Soviet and Russian culture.

Join us for a vibrant workshop with Folk Lounge, to explore the rich tradition of floral cross stitch in Soviet and Russian culture, focusing particularly on roses and flowers as symbols of transformation and potential.
Drawing inspiration from beloved Soviet animations like “Alenkiy Tsvetochek” (The Scarlet Flower, the Russian Beauty and the Beast) and “Tsvetik-Semitsvetik” (The Flower with Seven Petals), we’ll explore how flowers symbolized human potential and the fulfillment of deepest wishes.
Through hands-on cross stitch techniques, participants will create their own floral embroidery pieces while discussing how these natural symbols transcend cultural boundaries yet carry specific cultural meanings about transformation and becoming.
The workshop connects these traditional patterns to contemporary life, demonstrating how the simple act of stitching can become a meditative practice for nurturing our own growth and honoring our wishes for beauty in the world.
Teacher Bio:
Born in Vladivostok, Russia, Shagoh is of Armenian and Russian heritage and has traveled the West Coast from Seattle to Los Angeles.
With a background in luxury fashion, wearables, and human-computer interaction, she is a seasoned multidisciplinary design leader, blending creativity and innovation with global teams.
Her artistry spans textile arts, leatherwork, painting, and illustration, grounded in her MFA in Human-Computer Interaction (California College of the Arts) and a Fashion Design degree (Oregon State University).
A trained facilitator, she is passionate about fostering community, collaboration, healing, and shared learning. As the founder of Folk Lounge, Shagoh is dedicated to uniting people through the exploration of ornamentation and sacred symbolism across cultures.
Enter the garden gate off of the parking lot adjacent to the Wende museum on Culver Blvd.

Sound Baths with Shea Cunningham
2025-07-30 09:00 - 10:00, 2025-08-06 09:00 - 10:00 | The Community Center at the Wende Museum, 10858 Culver Boulevard, Culver City, CA, 90230, United States
Take a pause and reconnect with your body, breath, and mind through a restorative sound bath led by Shea Cunningham, a longtime yoga instructor, sound healer, and local sustainability leader.
Each session begins with 15 to 20 minutes of gentle breathwork and grounding movement to help prepare the body to fully absorb the resonant tones of crystal bowls and other therapeutic instruments. The sound bath that follows supports the nervous system, reduces anxiety, and restores a sense of calm and balance.
Please bring a yoga mat and pillow if you plan to lie down. A limited number of meditation cushions will be available. The stage will be reserved for those who wish to recline, first come first serve. Chairs are also available for those who prefer or require a seated option.
About the Facilitator
Shea Cunningham has taught yoga since 2004 and has been offering sound baths to the community for the past year. She is also a climate resilience expert and the founder of Balanced Approach, where she leads the Culver City Sustainable Business Certification Program. Her work reflects a deep commitment to both personal well-being and community sustainability.

Afro-Contemporary Workshop with Bernard Brown/bbmoves & Defacto X
2025-07-31 17:30 - 19:00 | The Community Center at the Wende Museum, 10858 Culver Boulevard, Culver City, CA, 90230, United States
This Afro-Contemporary dance technique class will challenge participants to engage body, mind, and spirit.

Fast-paced and educational, this Afro-Contemporary dance technique class will challenge participants to engage body, mind, and spirit, learn movement phrases, push beyond “technique,” and to explore their own individual performance choices throughout. Focusing on breath, alignment, rhythm and articulation, this contemporary movement experience will incorporate many influences including Africanist movement technologies, postmodern aesthetics, and modern & contemporary dance techniques with a distinct emphasis on the foundational Katherine Dunham technique. Class will have live DJ accompaniment by DeFacto X.
Bio:
Bernard Brown is an award-winning Los Angeles-based performer, choreographer, arts activist, and educator who situates their work at the intersection of Blackness, Queerness, and belonging. With an extensive performing career, Bernard now serves as Executive Artistic Director of Bernard Brown/bbmoves – a social justice dance company, choreographing for stage, specific sites, film, and opera presented globally. Brown has received invitations, residencies and commissions from On The Boards (Seattle), The Getty Museum (Los Angeles), the Centre de Développement Chorégraphique la Termitière (Burkina Faso), Dance Italia (Italy), The Music Center (Los Angeles), The Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater (Los Angeles), Dance Mission Theater (San Francisco), danceBox (Japan), Johns Hopkins University, National Immigration Law Center, California African American Museum, among others. Brown conducts lectures, workshops, and master classes internationally, namely in Korea, Panama, Israel, Burkina Faso, Canada, Puerto Rico, Malta, and Brazil, and across the US various educational institutions and community-centered organizations. A first-generation college graduate, Brown earned his MFA from University of California, Los Angeles and BFA from Purchase College. He is an Assistant Professor of Dance at UC San Diego, a Certified Katherine Dunham Technique Instructor, and a California Arts Council Established Artist Fellow. The Los Angeles Times has called him “…the incomparable Bernard Brown…”
This workshop will take place in the A-Frame Theater at the Glorya Kaufman Community Center. Please enter through the ADA-accessible garden gate entrance from the parking lot, which will open approximately 30 minutes before the workshop begins. The gate will close 20 minutes after the program starts. We recommend wearing comfortable clothing you can move in.
Photo by David B. Arenas

Wende Museum Exhibition Tours: Counter/Surveillance
2025-08-01 11:30 - 2025-08-02 00:30 | The Wende Museum, 10808 Culver Boulevard, Culver City, CA, 90230, United States
Join us for free guided tours of the Wende Museum’s exhibition Counter/Surveillance: Control, Privacy, Agency.
Explore the origins of modern surveillance technologies and tactics in Counter/Surveillance, tracing their development from the Cold War to today, alongside the creative resistance of dissidents and artists.
This exhibition offers a powerful and highly relevant look at control and resistance in a world shaped by surveillance and censorship.

Wende Zine Fest
2025-08-02 11:00 - 16:00 | The Wende Museum, 10808 Culver Boulevard, Culver City, CA, 90230, United States
Join us for our inaugural Wende Zine Fest: featuring zine-making workshops, clothed figure drawing sessions, and over 40 exhibiting artists from all over LA!
The Wende is excited to host zinesters in a space shared with our unique collection of archival self-published magazines and periodicals from Eastern Bloc countries, referred to as samizdat.
As part of our continued focus on connecting historic events with community art practice, we’re bringing together local creators and independent voices to celebrate collective storytelling and freedom of expression.
Schedule
11:15–12:15 | Garbage Zines
Presented by The Casual Creative
Location: A-Frame Theater
11:30–12:30 | Figure Drawing with Aslan Scardina
Presented by Heavy Manners Library
Location: Cotsen Learning Center
12:30–1:30 | Sharing Fandom through Zines
Presented by Genesis Perez & Iván Salinas (Beyond Baroque)
Location: A-Frame Theater
1:00–2:00 | Figure Drawing with Aslan Scardina
Presented by Heavy Manners Library
Location: Cotsen Learning Center
1:45–2:45 | Zine-Making Workshop & Pop-Up Library
Presented by Los Angeles Public Library
Location: A-Frame Theater
2:15–3:15 | Figure Drawing with Aslan Scardina
Presented by Heavy Manners Library
Location: Cotsen Learning Center
3:00–4:00 | Mi Corazón: A Guided Zine Workshop for Self Expression
Presented by Renee Roldan (LODO Zine)
Location: A-Frame Theater
This event was organized in partnership with the West LA Branch Public Library, Heavy Manners Library, CRASH Space, Beyond Baroque Literary Arts, and KONA Ice.

Samizdat Sundays and Other Subversions
2025-08-03 10:30 - 12:30, 2025-08-10 10:30 - 12:30, 2025-08-17 10:30 - 12:30 | The Community Center at the Wende Museum, 10858 Culver Boulevard, Culver City, CA, 90230, United States
Every Sunday in August, join us for Samizdat Sundays—hands‑on textile workshops inspired by the spirit of creative resistance and DIY culture found in samizdat traditions. Each week offers a different project, connecting archival stories of subversion with contemporary making.
We encourage participants to bring an item each week—a T‑shirt, a pair of jeans, or any textile you’re ready to transform, repair, or experiment with.
August 3: Secret Messages on Any Textile – learn techniques to hide words and symbols in fabric.
August 10: Tee Bag – transform and repurpose a T‑shirt into a bag.
August 17: Visible Repair / Bellbottoms for the Adventurous – celebrate mending as art, or reimagine old jeans with bold new flares.
August 24: Secret Messages, Part 2 – return to textile secrecy with new methods and layers.
August 31: Communal Project: A Textile Exquisite Corpse – contribute to a collective, evolving piece stitched together from everyone’s hands and ideas.
Each session is free, open to all skill levels, and guided by artists who delight in subversion and play. Come for one or come for all—together we’ll stitch, alter, repair, and imagine new forms of expression.
About the teaching artist
Kate Ingold is an LA-based artist and poet working with the discarded, the damaged, and the worn out. Materials and methods include textiles, collage, photography, video, ceramics, and performative installation. She works in series driven by conceptual concerns and is currently making work in two interwoven projects: Relics for Future Rituals and Damaged Goods/Small Repairs.
RSVPs for this free program do not guarantee admission. Limited seating is available on a first come, first served basis.
An ADA-accessible entrance to the Glorya Kaufman Community Center is available through the garden gate from the parking lot.

Tea Dances at the Glorya Kaufman Community Center
2025-08-03 15:00 - 18:00, 2025-08-17 15:00 - 18:00 | The Community Center at the Wende Museum, 10858 Culver Boulevard, Culver City, CA, 90230, United States
Move, mingle, and unwind through the joyful rhythm of social dance.

The Wende Museum’s Tea Dance series invites you to move, mingle, and unwind through the joyful rhythm of social dance. Hosted in the Glorya Kaufman Community Center, each session features different dance traditions, ranging from Argentine tango to vintage swing, led by local artists and dance instructors. No experience or partner required.
Tea dances originated in early 20th-century Britain and America as daytime socials, often held in hotels and ballrooms, offering live music, light refreshments, and a welcoming space for community connection. Revived in the queer communities of mid-century America, the tradition evolved into a vibrant celebration of expression and belonging.
In that spirit, our Sunday Tea Dances offer a space to unplug, connect, and move together. These afternoons are for everyone: curious beginners, practiced dancers, and people just looking to enjoy good music and warm company.
Come for the class, stay for the social, and rediscover the art of togetherness.
Free and open to all. Comfortable shoes are encouraged.
Schedule:
Sunday, August 3, 3-6 pm, LA Swing Dance Posse with Beach Cities Swing Band
LA Swing Dance Posse with Beach Cities Swing Band (LASDP) is a non profit organization formed to honor contributions African Americans have made to vernacular jazz dance through performance and education. They teach the history of those styles, ranging from the 1800’s to the present. This gives them the opportunity to fill in knowledge gaps of Swing dance history, a history that has deep roots in Black culture. Their mission is to educate, preserve, promote, teach and perform the vernacular jazz dances such as Savoy Swing, Charleston, and Lindy Hop dance.
The Beach Cities Swing Band (BCSB), founded in 2000 by members of the El Segundo Concert Band, is a 17-piece big band with featured vocalists, performing classics made famous by Count Basie, Glenn Miller, Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Ella Fitzgerald, and Artie Shaw, as well as modern swing arrangements and fresh takes on beloved tunes. Now operating under the South Bay Music Association, the BCSB is dedicated to keeping the big band tradition alive and thriving. True to its name, the band has performed throughout the South Bay’s beach cities—including Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach, Redondo Beach, Torrance, Palos Verdes Estates, Long Beach, Marina Del Rey, Los Angeles, and its home base of El Segundo.
Sunday, August 17, 3-6 pm, Oxygen Tango
Discover the global language of tango in this one-hour beginner class led by Oxygen Tango, a beloved LA-based school known for its welcoming, connection-driven approach. You’ll learn the essentials of this improvised social dance and be ready to join the informal practica that follows—no partner needed. Just bring comfortable clothes, shoes you can walk backward in, and a spirit of curiosity.
Sunday, August 31, 3-6 pm, Groove and Step

Soup O'Tha Day: Cantilever Collective Dance Workshop
2025-08-07 17:30 - 19:00 | The Community Center at the Wende Museum, 10858 Culver Boulevard, Culver City, CA, 90230, United States
Join Cantilever Collective for a transformative dance workshop that blends movement, music, and community.

Step into the spontaneous spirit of Soup O’Tha Day, a dance workshop series from Cantilever Collective that stirs up a nourishing mix of movement, music, and community. Each session is improvised, ephemeral, and open to all—no dance experience required. With live-mixed soundscapes, playful prompts, and space to move freely, these workshops invite you to explore connection, curiosity, and joy through your own body’s language.
One day’s “special” will never be the same as the next. Come as you are. Move how you feel.
An ADA-accessible entrance to the Glorya Kaufman Community Center is available through the garden gate from the parking lot. It will open approximately 30 minutes before the program begins.
RSVPs for this free program do not guarantee admission to the A-Frame Theater. Doors will open and seating will begin 15 minutes prior to the start of the program. Limited seating is available on a first come, first served basis. Please note that doors will close promptly at the program’s start time and late entry will not be permitted.

KCRW Summer Nights with the Wende Museum
2025-08-08 18:00 - 22:00 | CA
Join us for the very first KCRW Summer Nights with the Wende Museum! It’s a smarty party with sets from KCRW DJs Chris Douridas and Francesca Harding. Expect a night of music, conversation, and learning together. Explore the Wende’s unparalleled collection of art and artifacts from the Cold War era and the exhibit Counter/Surveillance: Control, Privacy, Agency, a groundbreaking exhibition featuring historical objects in conversation with contemporary artworks from across the globe.
SCHEDULE
6:00 – 8:00 PM KCRW DJ Chris Douridas
8:00 – 10:00 PM KCRW DJ Francesca Harding
Go Metro to summer fun! Wende Museum is accessible via Metro bus Line 33. Plan your trip at metro.net. See art along the way! Learn more about Metro Art at metro.net/art.
Been wanting to try Waymo? Use code KCRW30 for 30% off your first 3 Waymo rides. T&Cs apply, check the Waymo One app for details. Download and ride today.

Dragonfly Eyes: A Film by Xu Bing
2025-08-09 14:00 - 16:00 | The Wende Museum, 10808 Culver Boulevard, Culver City, CA, 90230, United States
What do surveillance cameras really see, and what do we see when we watch their footage?
Join us for a rare screening of Dragonfly Eyes (2017), the groundbreaking debut feature by acclaimed artist Xu Bing. Using only publicly available surveillance footage from China, where 700 million cameras silently record daily life, Xu pieces together an unsettling and poetic narrative about a woman leaving a Buddhist temple to find her place in modern society.
The result blurs the line between fact and fiction, ordinary and extraordinary, asking us to reconsider the nature of truth and knowledge in an age of constant observation.
Our Counter/Surveillance exhibition offers only a glimpse of the making of this work. This screening is a rare chance to experience the full film, and to reflect on how images, stripped of context, shape what we think we know.

Exploring Critical Media Literacy and the Climate Crisis
2025-08-10 14:00 - 16:00 | The Community Center at the Wende Museum, 10858 Culver Boulevard, Culver City, CA, 90230, United States
In this session we will explore the role of media in shaping our ideas and policies related to the environment and the climate crisis. From climate disinformation to corporate greenwashing and from Indigenous rights to global youth activism, media are promoting positive and negative messages about the natural world and the environmental challenges. During this interactive workshop we will discuss how different worldviews have influenced our relationships with nature from the past and into the present. We will also address the importance of biophilia (the love of nature) as it relates to the global legal movement for the Rights of Nature and engage in an activity of media production.
Due to the interactive nature of this workshop, it is not recommended for ages 13 or below.
An ADA-accessible entrance to the Glorya Kaufman Community Center is available through the garden gate from the parking lot. It will open approximately 30 minutes before the program begins.

Sound Baths with Shea Cunningham
2025-08-13 09:00 - 10:00 | The Community Center at the Wende Museum, 10858 Culver Boulevard, Culver City, CA, 90230, United States
Take a pause and reconnect with your body, breath, and mind through a restorative sound bath led by Shea Cunningham, a longtime yoga instructor, sound healer, and local sustainability leader.
Each session begins with 15 to 20 minutes of gentle breathwork and grounding movement to help prepare the body to fully absorb the resonant tones of crystal bowls and other therapeutic instruments. The sound bath that follows supports the nervous system, reduces anxiety, and restores a sense of calm and balance.
Please bring a yoga mat and pillow if you plan to lie down. A limited number of meditation cushions will be available. The stage will be reserved for those who wish to recline, first come first serve. Chairs are also available for those who prefer or require a seated option.
Check-in will be through the garden gate from the parking lot, not the front of the museum.
About the Facilitator
Shea Cunningham has taught yoga since 2004 and has been offering sound baths to the community for the past year. She is also a climate resilience expert and the founder of Balanced Approach, where she leads the Culver City Sustainable Business Certification Program. Her work reflects a deep commitment to both personal well-being and community sustainability.

Saved by a Story–Intergenerational Writing Group at the Wende Museum
2025-08-13 16:00 - 18:00 | The Community Center at the Wende Museum, 10858 Culver Boulevard, Culver City, CA, 90230, United States
Participants of all ages welcomed. Please arrive 5 or 10 minutes early to get settled, as we start the group promptly at 4pm.
We are excited to come together in community, to dive into our creativity and share our stories.
What is Saved by a Story-Intergenerational Writing Workshop at the Wende Museum? Participants of all ages write to prompts to spark creativity, share stories and build community. We write to surprise ourselves and discover the bounty of stories that lie within.
We come together and write, choose to share (or not, you decide), listen and write some more.We do this in the beautiful environs of the Wende Museum and its provocative and compelling collection. Some of our prompts will help us engage with the current exhibitions as well as engage with each other.
In later groups, we will draft stories and workshop them.
We offer creativity and community in a non-judgmental environment.
The writing group meets in person on the second and fourth Wednesday of the month.
Please arrive 5 or 10 minutes early to get settled as we start punctually at 4pm.
What you will need:– a note book–nothing fancy–a pen–if you prefer to write on a computer, feel free to bring that.
Where:
Wende Museum
in the Cotsen Learning Center
on 2nd Floor of the
Glorya Kaufman Community Center
10808 Culver Boulevard
Culver City, CA, 90230
310-216-1600
Please enter through the garden gate from the parking lot at 10858 Culver Blvd.
RSVPs for this free program do not guarantee admission. Doors will open and seating will begin 15 minutes prior to the start of the program. Limited seating is available on a first come, first served basis. Please note that doors will close promptly at the program’s start time and late entry will not be permitted.

Afro-Contemporary Workshop with Bernard Brown/bbmoves & Defacto X
2025-08-14 17:30 - 19:00 | The Community Center at the Wende Museum, 10858 Culver Boulevard, Culver City, CA, 90230, United States
Fast-paced and educational, this Afro-Contemporary dance technique class will challenge participants to engage body, mind, and spirit, learn movement phrases, push beyond “technique,” and to explore their own individual performance choices throughout. Focusing on breath, alignment, rhythm and articulation, this contemporary movement experience will incorporate many influences including Africanist movement technologies, postmodern aesthetics, and modern & contemporary dance techniques with a distinct emphasis on the foundational Katherine Dunham technique. Class will have live DJ accompaniment by DeFacto X.
Bio:
Bernard Brown is an award-winning Los Angeles-based performer, choreographer, arts activist, and educator who situates their work at the intersection of Blackness, Queerness, and belonging. With an extensive performing career, Bernard now serves as Executive Artistic Director of Bernard Brown/bbmoves – a social justice dance company, choreographing for stage, specific sites, film, and opera presented globally. Brown has received invitations, residencies and commissions from On The Boards (Seattle), The Getty Museum (Los Angeles), the Centre de Développement Chorégraphique la Termitière (Burkina Faso), Dance Italia (Italy), The Music Center (Los Angeles), The Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater (Los Angeles), Dance Mission Theater (San Francisco), danceBox (Japan), Johns Hopkins University, National Immigration Law Center, California African American Museum, among others. Brown conducts lectures, workshops, and master classes internationally, namely in Korea, Panama, Israel, Burkina Faso, Canada, Puerto Rico, Malta, and Brazil, and across the US various educational institutions and community-centered organizations. A first-generation college graduate, Brown earned his MFA from University of California, Los Angeles and BFA from Purchase College. He is an Assistant Professor of Dance at UC San Diego, a Certified Katherine Dunham Technique Instructor, and a California Arts Council Established Artist Fellow. The Los Angeles Times has called him “…the incomparable Bernard Brown…”
This workshop will take place in the A-Frame Theater at the Glorya Kaufman Community Center. Please enter through the ADA-accessible garden gate entrance from the parking lot, which will open approximately 30 minutes before the workshop begins. The gate will close 20 minutes after the program starts. We recommend wearing comfortable clothing you can move in.
Photo by David B. Arenas

Like as the Hart, a staged reading of a new play by Oliver Mayer with live Baroque music
2025-08-15 19:00 - 21:00 | The A-Frame Theater at the Wende Community Center, 10858 Culver Blvd, Culver City, 90230, United States
Lübeck, Germany, 1705: Without an invitation, 20-year-old JS Bach walks several hundred kilometers to hear his idol Dieterich Buxtehude play. He ends up staying for four months. What happened during that time, and how much (or little) did music take precedence? A new play about mentoring, intended and otherwise, and the sympathetic laws of inspiration, coded deep in the music — played live by Artifex Consort.
No RSVP necessary.

Saved by a Story–Wildfire Survivor Writing Workshop
2025-08-16 10:30 - 12:00 | The Community Center at the Wende Museum, 10858 Culver Boulevard, Culver City, CA, 90230, United States
Come together in community to write about the history of the cherished places we have been and how we will come together.

Participants of all ages welcomed. Please arrive 5 or 10 minutes early to get settled, as we start the group promptly at 10:30 a.m.
Come together to write about the history of the cherished places we have been, what we have lost (and found), and how we will chart a way forward.
We’ll write to timed prompts to spark creativity, share stories, and connect.
We’ll meet Saturdays on the campus of the fascinating Wende Museum. The Wende is a cultural center, art museum and archive that brings history to life.
For more information or to register for this free workshop, email: kathleenkatims@gmail.com
Please enter through the garden gate from the parking lot at 10858 Culver Blvd.
RSVPs for this free program do not guarantee admission. Doors will open and seating will begin 15 minutes prior to the start of the program. Limited seating is available on a first come, first served basis. Please note that doors will close promptly at the program’s start time and late entry will not be permitted.

Polish Archives Open House
2025-08-16 12:00 - 17:00 | The Wende Museum, 10808 Culver Boulevard, Culver City, CA, 90230, United States
Explore the power of resistance and grassroots democracy in Communist Poland through rare materials from the Wende’s Polish Underground Collection. From 12 to 5 p.m., guests are invited to engage with underground publications, political art, cartoons, and ephemera that trace the rise of the Solidarity movement.
At 2 p.m., join us for a special program with Dr. Shana Penn, author of Solidarity’s Secret and curator of the Wende’s Polish Solidarity Open Storage exhibit, and artist and former dissident Tomas Osinski. Together they will reflect on the movement’s history, the overlooked role of women, and the intersections of art and activism.
The afternoon concludes with a garden reception and continued access to the collection.
