The history of postwar art in Los Angeles is punctuated by dramatic examples of public artworks, large-scale spectacles, expansive performances, and small-scale interventions in the public sphere. The Pacific Standard Time Performance and Public Art Festival celebrated this history through a contemporary lens, with a series of adaptations, re-inventions, and commissions inspired by the installation and performance artists working in Los Angeles between 1945 and 1980.

Throughout the 11-day festival, a group of new public artworks were on view throughout the city. In addition, new performances premiered each day, including outdoor visual spectacles, experimental theater and sound art, social and political interventions, and media art. A nightly after-party, Black Box, provided a space for socializing, and included surprise performances each evening.

The festival was presented as part of Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A. 1945-80, an unprecedented collaboration of cultural institutions across Southern California coming together to celebrate the birth of the L.A. art scene. As the festival moved throughout the city, visitors were also surrounded by dozens of groundbreaking exhibitions about the history of art in Southern California.