Collecting the Contemporary: Harry Gamboa Jr. @MOCA

Uploaded December 2021 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

"The idea was to transform a site of despair and suffering..." Our next video in the #CollectingTheContemporary series features Los Angeles artist #HarryGamboaJr, who discusses this 1974 performance he organized with the Asco group in East LA. First Supper (After a Major Riot) involves four Asco performers, including Gamboa Jr., dressed up in absurd costumes while eating at a small dining table set up in the middle of Whittier Blvd. This performance documentation is one of five Harry Gamboa Jr. performances to recently enter MOCA's collection. New videos from Collecting the Contemporary will be released every Wednesday through the new year.

Collecting the Contemporary: Harry Gamboa Jr.

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