Thomas Mann House Events
Émigré vs Exile Modernism and Architecture in L.A.
Thomas Mann House (1550 N San Remo Drive, CA 90272)
Language: English ・ By Invitation Only
Info
Join us in the living room of the Thomas Mann House for an insightful conversation between Volker M. Welter, an architectural historian specializing in modern architecture at UC Santa Barbara, and The New Yorker music critic Alex Ross, whose research explores German-speaking émigrés and exiles in California and their influence on music, literature, architecture, and the arts in Los Angeles.
When influential German Studies scholar Erhard Bahr remarked in his seminal book Weimar on the Pacific: German Exile Culture in Los Angeles and the Crisis of Modernism, that the architects Rudolph Schindler and Richard Neutra “were, strictly speaking, immigrants rather than exiles,” the historian established the year 1933 as a significant caesura separating “immigrant modernism” from “exile modernism” in California. Many German-speaking professionals already immigrated to California in the 1920s and earlier to pursue careers and progressive ideas of modernism before the Nazis even came into power. The exiles, such as Thomas Mann, Theodor Adorno, or Bertolt Brecht, who arrived in California as refugees after 1933, often had a much different and less enthusiastic understanding of modernism after their traumatic experience in Germany.
When architectural history ponders the works and influence of German-speaking, Central European architects in Southern California, a much simpler trajectory is often discussed: Schindler and Neutra brought modernist architecture to California when the two came to the U.S. Subsequently, other German-speaking architects working in architecture in the Los Angeles area are evaluated in comparison with the two “masters.“ In sharp contrast, the works of those exiled architects who fled to California after 1933 are rarely considered at all. Recent scholarship on these architects suggests that distinguishing, analogous to Bahr, between immigrant architects and exile architects allows an astonishingly differentiated picture of the impact of German-speaking architects on Southern California to emerge.
In their conversation, Welter and Ross will explore the nuances around different concepts of modernism in California before 1945, as these transatlantic currents and theoretical frameworks did not only leave their mark on architecture, but can also be seen, discussed, and exemplified in film, music, literature, and the visual arts.
Participants
Transatlantic Feedback: A Listening Session with Thomas Meinecke & Lauren Goshinski
Thomas Mann House (1550 N San Remo Drive, CA 90272)
Language: English ・ By Invitation Only
Info
Join the Goethe-Institut L.A., dublab, and the Thomas Mann House for a transatlantic sonic exchange. German author, musician, and DJ Thomas Meinecke meets DJ, curator, and dublab Executive Director Lauren Goshinski for a live listening session that explores how music travels across oceans, countries, scenes, and political imaginaries. The evening will uncover unexpected resonances between cultural movements in Germany and the United States.
Meinecke and Goshinski will curate a special playlist with songs weaving through time, place, genre, and communities, playfully breaking down rigid genre categories and the idea that music belongs to just one nation or place. How is music created and transmitted across national, cultural, and political boundaries? Why do we often reduce musical innovation to a handful of global cities, such as Los Angeles, Berlin, or New York, while overlooking the wider geographies and histories that shape sound cultures? The Midwest’s foundational role in techno, Düsseldorf’s international influence through Kraftwerk, and Cologne’s experimental Krautrock scene around CAN are reminders that cultural production frequently emerges from unexpected nodes, challenging narratives of center and periphery.
Drawing on his literary and musical practice, Meinecke will also read short selected excerpts from his work (Odenwald, Hellblau, TomBoy), which often engage with transatlantic cultural histories spanning P-Funk, Afrofuturism, and Detroit techno.
The conversation will be followed by an open DJ-style listening session and reception. Guests are invited to bring their favorite records/songs to share and discuss (vinyl or phone). The program will be recorded and broadcast on dublab radio www.dublab.com.
Participants
Lauren Goshinski is a curator, cultural producer, DJ, and the Executive Director of dublab, the Los Angeles–based nonprofit radio station and arts platform broadcasting independent music and culture worldwide for over 26 years. Her work spans festivals, public programs, and site-responsive projects that connect artists, DJs, technologists, and communities across nightlife, sound art, and experimental music scenes. With a background shaping international programs such as VIA Festival and New Forms Festival, Goshinski advocates for music and “musicking” as a form of civic infrastructure—an approach that positions sound cultures as vital connective systems linking people, places, and cultural networks across cities and borders.
Thomas Meinecke is a writer, musician, and DJ based between Munich and in Marseille. Since 1986 he has published numerous acclaimed novels with Suhrkamp Verlag, most recently Odenwald (2024). In parallel to his literary work, he co-founded the influential German post-punk experimental band F.S.K. in 1980, whose albums have appeared since 2008 on Daniel Richter’s label Buback, most recently Topsy Turvy (2023). Among many other creative endeavors, Meinecke has collaborated on electronic music projects with influential German electronic music producer Move D. and worked extensively as a radio host and club DJ, performing in iconic venues such as Berghain, Robert Johnson, and Pudel Club. His interdisciplinary practice extends into curatorial and academic contexts, including the long-running discussion series Plattenspieler in Berlin and teaching appointments and residencies at universities in Europe and the United States. He received the Berlin Literature Prize in 2020.
Partner
An event presented by the Goethe-Institut Los Angeles, dublab, and the Thomas Mann House Los Angeles.
Book Launch: The California Camera Club - Collective Visions in the Making of the American West
Los Angeles Public Library (630 W 5th St, Los Angeles, CA 90071)
Language: English • This event is open to all
Info
Author Carolin Görgen will discuss her new book about the California Camera Club, a San Francisco–based photographic association that emerged as the largest organization of its kind in the United States at the turn of the 20th century. Although the club played a decisive role in advancing the careers of Ansel Adams and other famous American photographers, its most significant legacy lies in fostering collaborative outdoor practices. In telling the story of these largely unknown photographers, Carolin Görgen offers a new perspective on American photography.
The book was partially researched and written during her 2023 residency at the Thomas Mann House. During her Fellowship, Carolin Goergen explored an extensive archive of Western American photographers, including celebrated artists such as Carleton Watkins and Ansel Adams, from an environmental perspective. The project focused on the historical and contemporary role of photographers by challenging the common image of the lone artist/explorer in seemingly untouched nature. It considered photographic work against the backdrop of ongoing conflicts over expansion, indigenous dispossession, and violent transformation of the landscape.
For ADA accommodations, call (213) 228-7430 at least 72 hours prior to the event.
Participants
Carolin Görgen is Associate Professor of American Studies at Sorbonne Université. A historian of photography and the American West, she researches the histories of photo networks in the western United States and their environmental afterlives. Görgen’s research has been supported, among others, by the Terra Foundation for American Art, the Huntington Library, and the Thomas Mann House. She was a 2025 Fulbright Visiting Scholar at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Partner
This event is organized by the Los Angeles Public Library.
