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Best Things to Do in SoCal and LA This Week: February 2 - February 8, 2026

Every week, I highlight a few events across the SoCal region. This week, celebrate Black history and Lunar New Year, get immersed in time-based media, and travel across time and space.

An after-dark journey through moving images

What a Wonderful World marks the U.S. debut of the Julia Stoschek Foundation, transforming the Variety Arts Theater into a six-floor cinematic journey through 120 years of time-based media. This immersive presentation gives a new definition to arthouse, pairing contemporary works by Arthur Jafa, Marina Abramović, and Doug Aitken with silent-era pioneers Alice Guy-Blaché, Luis Buñuel, and Walt Disney.

WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD: AN AUDIOVISUAL POEM , person holding large white flag, sitting atop a white horse
VARIETY ARTS THEATER, LOS ANGELES
940 S Figueroa St
Los Angeles, CA 90015
Friday, February 6, 9:01 PM
Free

Moving art across time and space

Crossing Temporalities: A Conversation with Beatriz Cortez is a timely exploration of messages, stories, and elemental particles across space and time. Multidisciplinary artist Beatriz Cortez joins scholar Jasmine Magaña for a conversation unpacking Cortez’s investigations into simultaneity, nomadism, and speculative futures. The program concludes with a tour led by curators Elena Shtromberg and Zanna Gilbert.

Crossing Temporalities: A Conversation with Beatriz Cortez, Beatriz headshot next to sky writing saying "no cages no jaulas"
California Museum of Photography & Culver Center of the Arts
3834 Main St
Riverside, CA 92501
Saturday, February 7, 1:01 PM
Free

Celebrate Year of the Horse

Ring in the Lunar New Year at the City of Santa Ana’s annual Tết Lunar New Year Festival, an all-ages celebration honoring the city’s rich Asian and Vietnamese cultures. Rain-or-shine, this festival welcomes the Year of the Horse with a full day of cultural performances, live music, dancing, exhibits, and food. From family-friendly activities to library resources, this community favorite is a colorful way to celebrate renewal and heritage in the heart of Santa Ana.

Tết Lunar New Year Festival
Centennial Park
3000 W Edinger Ave
Santa Ana, CA 92704
Saturday, February 7, 1:01 PM
Free

Black history, pride, and community spirit

46th Annual OC Black History Parade & Unity Festival returns to the heart of Anaheim for an empowering day celebrating culture, history, and collective pride. This free, family-friendly tradition invites the community to line the streets for a vibrant parade and festival filled with music, performances, and moments of reflection to honor Black history while uplifting unity across generations.

46th Annual OC Black History Parade & Unity Festival
Center Street Anaheim
W Center Street
Anaheim, CA 92805
Saturday, February 7, 8:01 AM
Free

Remembering the wildfires

Artist Hayv Kahraman presents Libations, her third solo exhibition with Vielmetter Los Angeles and first since being displaced as a result of the 2025 Eaton fire. Ritualistic and magical, Kahrman’s new works respond to the question: What does one do when the world collapses? Drawing from her childhood in war-torn Iraq and her adolescence as a refugee in Sweden, Kahraman’s new works are an offering, a libation, to a burning world. To learn more about Hayv Kahraman, watch Art and Science Collide on the PBS app.

Hayv Kahraman - Opening
Vielmetter Los Angeles
1700 S Santa Fe Ave #101
Los Angeles, CA 90021
Saturday, February 7, 10:00 AM
Free

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