It’s Wide Open for Temporary Contemporary : Art: The Museum of Contemporary Art’s 55,000-square-foot annex in Little Tokyo is back in business after three years of closure.

It’s still little more than a giant, tattered warehouse with a fresh coat of white paint, but the Temporary Contemporary annex of the Museum of Contemporary Art hasn’t lost its power to vitalize whatever occupies its wide-open space. And that extends to people as well as art.

“I love this space,” says curator Julie Lazar, excited and bright-eyed upon entering the newly renovated 55,000-square-foot museum in Little Tokyo. “It just has that feeling--for artists and everyone--the feeling that anything can happen in here.”

After three years of closure, the Temporary Contemporary opens its doors today. Though no formal exhibitions are on display, anyone can view rehearsals for the museum’s first presentation, a “pop action work” by New York choreographer Elizabeth Streb called “Action Occupation.”

The TC, you’ll remember, was established in 1983 to temporarily house MOCA while a permanent museum was built on Bunker Hill. But its informality and adaptability proved so popular with patrons and artists that the Temporary became permanent, until it was closed in June, 1992--temporarily.

“We thought the building on Bunker Hill was going to be substantial enough to keepMOCA going,” MOCA director Richard Koshalek says. “But we soon found out that the Temporary Contemporary was vital to what we wanted and what our audience wanted.”

In 1992, the TC fell victim to what the city wanted: a business and entertainment development called the First Street North Project, which would have required the museum to restructure most of its utilities, and put up with excavation and construction in its immediate area.

Koshalek denies speculation that the TC closed because of financial problems at MOCA.

“That was simply not true--this building and this area was going to be a mess,” Koshalek says. “If we were having financial problems with [the TC], do you really think we would be reopening it now?”

The First Street North Project got caught in city red tape and was killed last October. That was the signal for MOCA to reopen the TC.

In keeping with TC spirit, there will not be a grand reopening celebration. Instead, the museum plans a series of events that will gradually lead to a fully operational, revitalized Temporary Contemporary.

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“It’s a more organic opening,” says Lazar, who is curating Streb’s “Action Occupation.” “It’s like we’re slowly coming to life all over again.”

Streb’s open rehearsals--first on the TC’s list of events--will feature her company, Ringside, and a multilayered, multicolored set that will literally allow the dancers to climb the walls and fly through the air. Ringside practices from noon to 5 p.m., Tuesdays through Saturdays, today through Aug. 17. “Action Occupation” performances will be held Aug. 23-27 and Aug. 30-Sept. 3 at 8 p.m.

In addition to rehearsals, Streb is hosting a free five-day workshop for ages 6-18 called “Kid Action” and a onetime course for families this Saturday. The classes require no dance experience and will offer children the opportunity to be a part of the actual “Action Occupation” performances.

Non-human exhibitions begin at the TC on Oct. 15 with “1965-1975: Reconsidering the Object of Art” and “Images of an Era: Selections From the Permanent Collection.” The first will feature works by more than 55 international artists. The latter will take advantage of MOCA’s largely unseen permanent collection and inaugurate a space that will be dedicated to changing exhibitions of those holdings.

Koshalek says the permanent collection gallery is one of three main differences the public may notice about the TC. Another is a redesigned education section of the museum, which will feature reading, lecture and interactive rooms and should be ready by Oct. 15. Finally, he says, look for scale to be the hallmark of upcoming TC exhibitions. “We have an incredible amount of space here, and we’re going to take advantage of it.”

Lazar adds that patrons may find at least one positive result has come from the TC’s closure.

“It gave us time to greatly develop some deep, complex shows,” she says, “and you’ll see some very embellished presentations.”

* The Temporary Contemporary, 152 N. Central Ave., is open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays and until 8 p.m. on Thursdays. “Kids Action” starts Thursday and runs Aug. 8, 10, 15 and 17 at noon. “Together at MOCA” family workshop is Saturday at 1:30 p.m. Tickets for “Action Occupation” Aug. 23-27 and Aug. 30-Sept. 3 are $18 ($16 for MOCA members). All other events are free, but reservations are required for the workshops. Call (213) 626-6828 for tickets, and (213) 621-1751 for reservations.