No Prior Art celebrates the basic nature of human creativity by exploring the process of invention as a key feature in artistic and scientific advances. Through a major exhibition at LAPL’s Central Library and a series of 50 free programs and participatory events at branch libraries in communities citywide, the project highlights how public libraries increasingly serve as dynamic sites of experimentation and creation, as well as hubs for curiosity. Inspired by and drawing from LAPL’s patent and intellectual property resources—the most extensive on the West Coast—No Prior Art features the work of more than a dozen artists and inventors, many with ties to Los Angeles. The project includes work from Mixografia, a multigenerational art studio that invented and patented a unique three-dimensional printmaking process; Pippa Garner, a trans artist whose outrageous inventions act as an exploration of the body and a critique of consumerism; and KAOS Network, an Afrofuturistic innovation lab in Leimert Park founded by artist/filmmaker Ben Caldwell.

No Prior Art: Illustrations of Invention Higher Ed Curricular Resource