Published in L.A. Weekly

 

By Eve Weston and Zachary Pincus-Roth

At the recent opening of Levitated Mass, better known as the “LACMA Rock,” the sculpture was heralded as a new landmark for Los Angeles — like the Washington Monument in D.C. or the ancient obelisks in Egypt.

Such landmarks are feats of human engineering and marks of civic pride but, more importantly, they are things in front of which tourists take photos. And within minutes of the ribbon-cutting, the rock was initiated into this grand, gigabyte-draining tradition.

Visitors quickly discovered the “I’m holding up the rock” pose, which consists of putting your hands up in the air raise-the-roof style and having your photographer squat to alter the perspective and make it seem like the rock is resting in your palms. Two weeks later, the pose is already a classic, destined to take its place alongside other legendary L.A. photo poses, like putting your hands in Jennifer Aniston’s handprints at Grauman’s Chinese Theater, or standing in front of the silver robot impersonator at Venice Beach.

But for a 340-ton rock, one pose hardly seems enough. After all, something this massive merits more than just a wall post — it deserves an entire Facebook photo album.

But how to fill it? Here are 20 other soon-to-be-classic LACMA Rock poses.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(photo credits for this article: Eve Weston & Zachary Pincus-Roth)

Follow @eveweston and @zpincusroth on Twitter. For more arts news follow @LAWeeklyArts and like Public Spectacle – L.A. Weekly Arts & Culture on Facebook.