As part of First Fridays, the ongoing performance series at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, Night Conversations 2 on April 1 brings together artists, musicians, poets – and even members of the audience – to converse in an acoustic landscape as part of the museum’s Conversations exhibition. Hosted by MOCA founder Merry Norris, the eclectic sounds-and-sights evening will feature musical performances by Build An Ark, The Postal Service’s Jimmy Tamborello, Daedelus, Dengue Fever and Dublab Soundsystem.

Also on hand for the spoken word portion of the evening will be the artists of this exhibit, six visual artists from L.A. who were invited to work with curators to make selections from the collections and create installations from them. What’s revealed, says the curators, are "the different ways in which curators and artists approach similar objects, examining the array of stories these objects can tell and bringing new meaning to them."

For example, abstract artist Ed Moses – who will speak at Night Conversations 2 – took totems from Africa and Papua New Guinea and displayed them, according to the curator, "exactly as we house them in our collection storage facilities." Ed refers to his exhibition as Bound and Gagged and strives to personify these objects by comparing them to prisoners held against their will in the bowels of the museum.

And, in case you don’t have A.D.D. by this point, video DJs – including Mekanix – will mix live footage of the event with images of the Conversations exhibit. You’ll be talking about Night Conversations for awhile.

The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County is located at 900 Exposition Boulevard, in Los Angeles. Convenient parking is available in the lot across from Menlo Avenue. Price: $15 general admission, $12 for museum members and students with valid ID. Tickets are available online at www.nhm.org/FirstFridays or by phone at (866) 468-3399. For more information, visit www.nhm.org.