Karen Marta, John Baldessari, and Hans Ulrich Obrist share a laugh.

Hans Ulrich Obrist, Bettina Korek of ForYourArt, and Karen Marta, a longtime Obrist collaborator, took to LACMA and the nearby ForYourArt space for a series of talks (and a lovely dinner catered by Fox Pizza Bus and Saving the Season, with foraged flora Louesa Roebuck decorating the room) surrounding the launching of an initiative to archive Obrist's extensive work as the interviewer of artists and creative people. The project, called The Institute of the 21st Century, and centered around the rallying cry, "Protest Against Forgetting," will make sure Obrist's amazingness will be compiled, collated, assorted, and presented for future generations to dissect and enjoy.

On Sunday, Obrist spoke with a jovial John Baldessari in the LACMA bookstore, basing their discourse around the central conceit of "epiphanies"--for instance, Baldessari's moment when he realized the students he was teaching at art school all wanted to do facial portraits during their figure drawing class, and how that led to his body of work that deals in extremities.

The dinner was beautiful, with a handful of Los Angeles' elite gathered in Korek's ForYourArt space. Baldessari's app for ForYourArt was projected in the background, allowing guests to manipulate, on iPad, Baldessari's take on a Rennaissance-style still life. Bert Rodriguez, Liz Goldwyn, Alex Israel, Piero Golia, Emi Fontana, Danny Hillis, and Linda Yablonsky all attended. "Look at these people," one artist leaned in to whisper, before adding, "actually, these people are pretty awesome."

The next day, Obrist sat down for a talk at ForYourArt with Danny Hillis, the computer engineering genius, for a discussion about his invention, the Clock of Long Now, Hillis' proposed timepiece that will last for 10,000 years.

Bettina Korek, Liz Goldwyn, and Alex Israel

Hans Ulrich Obrist and Danny Hillis

Hans Ulrich Obrist takes a snapshot of Paul McCarthy.

Hans Ulrich Obrist and John Baldessari.

- Maxwell Williams