Red Alert! Air Raid Sirens of Los Angeles: Art Installation by Nicole Weingart

Look up! Looming above Los Angeles are haunting relics of panic and fear. Once distinctly prominent and alarming fixtures in the city, civil-defense air-raid sirens still pepper the vast landscape. Installation began during World War II, but the sirens became prolific symbols of the subsequent Cold War. The formerly intimidating objects erected to warn Angelenos of impending danger have morphed into eerie artifacts of a foregone era. Now deteriorated and defunct, the sirens have become camouflaged within the visual fabric of the modern city and have developed their own unique character and look. By photographing environmental portraits of the sirens, some of which have since been removed, Nicole Weingart has created a comprehensive photographic series of Los Angeles air-raid sirens. This exhibition presents a sample of the diversity of the series.