PHOTOS BY GAYLE ANDERSON

Now Playing at 7th & Metro

MetroLab presents

Jessica Rath's "Return Engagement to Garment City"

Metro Art Sponsors Experimental
Art Works at Rail Stations

• Enhancing the Transit Environment

The MTA's Metro Art Department has initiated a new transit arts program called "MetroLab" that will feature experimental works by artists who have not previously exhibited significant public art projects.

MetroLab's first efforts will be newly commissioned works that include street theater, light and sound projections, photographic images and digital animations. The works will be on exhibit at various locations throughout the Metro system.

The four projects, says Maya Emsden, MTA Metro Art director, are designed to "enhance the transit environment in innovative ways, engage existing transit customers and attract new users."

Two of the four projects, "Return Engagement to Garment City" by artist Jessica Rath and "Plotting Along Parallel Lines" by Daniel Marlos currently are available to the public.

"Return Engagement" features live ensemble performances inspired by International Ladies Garment Workers Union organizing efforts in Los Angeles in the 1930s and '40s. Actors in period costumes perform songs and dialog to choreographed movements.

Admission is free

Performances of "Return Engagement" are scheduled at 5:30 p.m., Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays throughout February on the west mezzanine of the 7th and Metro Center station. Admission is free; no reservations are required. No seating is available.

With "Plotting Along Parallel Lines," artist Daniel Marlos uses photographic images to illustrate human movement through time and space. The photos, which are projected above the subway platforms, feature the street numbers of buildings that pass overhead as the trains move beneath Vermont Avenue.

"Plotting Along Parallel Lines" is on view at the platform levels of the Vermont/Santa Monica and Vermont/Beverly stations, daily, at 8-9 a.m., 12 noon-1 p.m., 5-6 p.m. and 9-10 p.m.

Two other works sponsored by MetroLab are "Untitled [gel/sound]" by Cindy Bernard in collaboration with sound artist Joseph Hammer, and "Chance Encounters" by George Legrady.

Bernard's work will employ sound and color aboard selected light-rail cars to "activate the eyes and ears of Metro riders, encouraging them to experience their transitions through the city.."