Velaslavasay Panorama

Velas reflects that by situating the panorama as “pre-cinematic” creates a hierarchy between “BC” (before cinema” and “AD” (after digital), when in reality it is representative of changing evolution of popular entertainment formats throughout history.

[11] Velas envisioned the panorama's design from photographs and histories collected from the Los Angeles Public Library and imagined, like those elsewhere in the nation at that time, what California landscape looked like.

The second panorama installation, Effulgence of the North, depicting scenes of the Arctic from the era of its nineteenth-century exploration, debuted at the new Union Theatre location in July 2007 and remained on display until September 2017.

This project developed in 2005 after the Velaslavasay received a copy of what had been the accompanying document to an original moving panorama which traced the journey from the East coast down through South America and to California during the Gold Rush era.

A second, smaller version of the panorama painting was recreated for traveling shows and has been displayed in Berlin and Seoul as a part of Clemens Krümmel's “Talking Picture Blues” exhibition.

In 2014, the Velaslavasay Panorama added a new attraction, the Nova Tuskhut, replicating the interior of a trading post in the Arctic regions, and featuring a miniature dioramic view through its window.

[12] In 2017, the Velaslavasay Panorama collaborated with Parkeology (a public art program that excavates histories from urban parks and museums through live interpretive events) to create A Border Peepshow.

Shengjing Panorama depicts an urban Chinese landscape during an era of great technological change, global exchange, and diversity in architecture, religions, and culture.

[15] On May 2, 2017, the artists and Velaslavasay had a handover ceremony in the auditorium of the Tiexiyu School, which provided the third and final studio location large enough to accommodate the painting size.

Throughout the years, the Velaslavasay has hosted numerous events including unique programming, book and poetry readings, illustrated lectures, musical performances and cinema showings and festivals.