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Elana Mann (born November 26, 1982) is a contemporary artist, author, and educator who lives and works in Los Angeles, California.

Chats About Change
"Chats About Change: Critical Conversations on Art and Politics in Los Angeles” was a two-day event organized by artists Elana Mann and Robby Herbst. The program was hosted by Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions and the student union at Cal State L.A. A series of discussions amongst artists and activists, included panels such as "navigating L.A.’s landscapes in ecologically conscious ways", “How Can I Participate?” and “Creative Dissonance,”. Inspired by LA artist Derrick Maddox, the mural Talk Through the Hand at Baik Art was created from a photoshoot with Maddox holding Mann's "hands-up-don't-shoot-horn" statue. This statue was inspired by the Black Lives Matter protests in Ferguson, 10 minutes from where Mann was studying sculpture as an undergrad in Saint Louis. The mural was on display on La Cienega Boulevard until December 2016. The piece was created to represent the persistence of people's voices in resisting oppression and white supremacy, despite society's attempts to silence them.

Year of Wonders, redux (2021)
Took place at the 18th Street Arts Center in Santa Monica, CA. In this project, Mann sought to "explore the complicated process of documenting what the art and sound of global unrest, isolation, and abandonment look like" in 2020 and 2021. This includes the topics of the coronavirus pandemic, unfolding political changes, and social movements. Mann's work challenges its audience to reimagine social transformation under a new world order: "one where social and cultural welfare and the lives of others become our highest priority." Pieces featured in this exhibition included sculptural folk instruments, videos, and works on paper.

The Assonant Armory (2016)
Exhibition on display at Commonwealth and Council in Los Angeles from September to November 2016. This exhibition featured sculptural instruments synthesized with human casts to demonstrate the symbolic and physical ways voice sounds travel through the human body and how they influence the world. The hand gestures seen in "hands-up-don't-shoot-horns" and "histophones" pieces symbolize voices calling out for social justice, despite attempts to be silenced. The "Donald Trump(et)" sculpture; however, depicts hate speech being plugged and muted. This exhibition is a turning point in Mann's work as she shifts her attention from being a listener to a speaker. Prior to 2016, Mann's work focused on the role of being a listener to political and social change.

Taking A Stand Marching Band (2017)
Street performance troupe that took place at the Los Angeles Women's March in January 2017. Mann's "hands-up-don't-shoot-horn" and "histophone" were featured in the performance alongside other sculptures. The band's demonstration was to resist injustices made by the Trump administration and within local communities.

All Ears (2014)
In this exhibition, Mann explores the presence and role of an artist as a witness. In conjunction with this exhibition, biweekly performances took place in this gallery in which Mann allowed visitors to vocalize their thoughts for three uninterrupted hours. In response to visitors, Mann provided several ways of listening such as remaining silent or occasionally providing words of comfort, without repeating thoughts or ideas.

Additional Projects

 * 2020: Year of Wonders, Artpace, San Antonio, TX; Sounds from the Swamp, Lawndale Art Center, Houston, TX
 * 2018: Instruments of accountability, Pitzer College Art Galleries, Claremont, CA
 * 2014: Drone Duet, a collaboration with Matias Viegener; Digital Mural Project at the Culver Center of the Arts, UCR ARTSblock, Riverside, CA
 * 2013: 3 Solo Projects: Audrey Chan, Elana Mann, and Chan & Mann, Ben Maltz Gallery, Otis College of Art and Design, Los Angeles, CA; Listening as (a) movement, sculptural installation, series of events, and community organizing, Side Street Projects, Pasadena, CA; Meet the Chans and Manns, 323 Projects, Los Angeles, CA (Chan & Mann)
 * 2012: Chann & Mhann: A Historical Retrospective, 2005-2012, Elephant, Los Angeles, CA (Chan & Mann)
 * 2011: For more than one voice, 323 Projects, Los Angeles, CA; Die Gedanken Sind Frei (Our Thoughts Are Free), Jancar Gallery project space, Los Angeles, CA

School for Endurance Work
From Jaunuary 22 to February 21, 2019, Mann held the School for Endurance Work exhibition at California State University, Los Angeles. The exhibition aimed to educate its audience that artists are influenced and critical of the world around them. The artsits featured were Los Angeles based and whose work "is at the intersection of critical history, community engagement, feminism, revolution, sustainability, and visual resistance."

The Incongrurous Body
A group exhibition curated by Timothy John Berg, in which Mann was one of fourteen featured artists. Was on display in the American Museum of Ceramic Art (AMOC) from August 2018 to February 2019. Mann's "blame-game-rattle" was created from a wooden handle with a spikey dandelion head of waggable clay fingers and could be activated through performace. The exhibition is based on the incongrous theory of humor that there is humor when there is a mismatch between the conceptual understanding of something and the perception of it. Each artist's work used observational storytelling and invites the viewer to revel in the awkward by defying logic and challenging the status quo.

Grants and awards
Elana Mann has been the recipient of numerous awards including:
 * The California Community Foundation’s 2009 Visual Arts Fellowship
 * a 2012 and 2013 ARC grant from CCI.

Her work is in several public and private collections including the Getty Research Institute. She has presented her work in city parks, buses, museums, empty lots, and galleries internationally, including:
 * REDCAT, Los Angeles;
 * The Ford Foundation, New York;
 * A Gentil Carioca, Rio de Janeiro;
 * The Getty Villa, Los Angeles
 * Luxun Academy of Fine Arts, Shenyang, China.

Additional Awards

 * 2021: Sustainable Arts Foundation Award and Future Art Award. The latter was a celebration of of the theme of "Re-Imagining Democracy".
 * 2020: International Artist-in-Residence, Artpace San Antonio and City of Los Angeles (COLA) Individual Artist Fellowship
 * 2019: The Stone & DeGuire Contemporary Art Award and Artist-in-Residence at the Los Angeles Clean-Tech Incubator (AIR LACI)
 * 2017-18: Ceramics Artist-In-Resident, Pitzer College and Cultural Trailblazer; City of Los Angeles, Department of Cultural Affairs, and Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grant
 * 2015: Artist Community Engagement (ACE) Grant, Rema Hort Mann Foundation
 * 2013: Artist in Residence, Amy Marie Sears Memorial Visiting Artist Series, St. Catherine University, St. Paul, MN and Durfee Foundation Artist's Resource for Completion (ARC) Grant (for Chan & Mann)
 * 2012: Durfee Foundation Artist's Resource for Completion (ARC) Grant
 * 2010: Philadelphia Art Hotel residency in Philadelphia, PA
 * 2009: California Community Foundation Visual Artist Fellowship for Emerging Artists and the Kitty Chester Series of Curator’s Laboratory Projects, Fellows of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, CA.

Propositional Attitudes: What do we do now?
An anthology of recent performance scores, directions,and instructions. Mann co-edited this work with John Burtle in 2018. The anotholofy is meant to explore the politics of listening, determining who is the speaker or listener. Critiques of of historical conflicts and tools for social organizing are included and explored.

"Searching for Murmurs of History"
A publication written by Mann for her interactive artist project at the Getty Villa in July of 2014. Mann discusses her "histophone" statue and the process, inspiration, and background behind the creation. Mann's inspiration behind the "histophone" was the sound technology created by Frank Alvord Perret. The statue's purpose was to amplify the the "murmurs of history" at the Getty Villa, as she explains that histophones function as both speaking devices to amplify an individual's voice while also covering the mouth. Mann created the statue using a hollowed-out sculpture of her right hand and forearm, and casted it in a plastic medium. Mann discusses vistor interaction with the piece and the exploration with sound and imagination. Mann writes, "In an age of technologically mediated communication, I believe that listening is a dying art, but one that is vital to a healthy society."