Past

In 2020 and 2021, DIS…MISS artists, writers, and activists entered more cross dialogues through our new Instagram Live interview series DIS…MISS: connecting the dots and Zoomed with each other around curated groups and topics, summarized in the culminating book and archived at our Instagram.

Racial Radical was produced in connection with the Designing Equity initiative. Launched in 2016, Designing Equity is a partnership among Greater Together, Zeidler Group, MKE<->LAX and Anne Bray (LA FREEWAVES), in collaboration with Milwaukee-based creatives and with support from the Greater Milwaukee Foundation. With support from USC Visions and Voices: The Arts and Humanities Initiative and Race, Arts and Placemaking (RAP) Initiative.

Racial Radical: Generating New “Woke” Words focuses on recognizing familiar but so far unnamed racial experiences and generating new vocabulary from those experiences.

A Celebration of Genders: a public art event emerging as the second iteration for Dis…Miss, bringing together over 35+ artists, art collectives, and organizations to celebrate the spectrum of gender identity, build community, and launch a “SEXUAL HARRASSMENT FREE ZONE” in partnership with the advocacy organization, Peace Over Violence.

The first installment of the DIS…MISS project manifested as a promenade at LA Historic Park that brought together 20 independent artists, 10 art collectives, audiences, and activist organizations to collectively expand our definitions of feminism, gender, and intersectionality.

60 outstanding L.A. artists are engaging in dialogues around evolving attitudes toward gender and intersectional feminism. The artworks present nuanced imagery and ideas on these complex topics as they simultaneously aim to confront stubborn inequalities and stereotypes. Audience engagements have taken the form of screenings, workshops, exhibitions, surveys and discussions. Learn more here.

A subtle sound installation by Inouk Demers in the outdoor courtyard responded whenever pedestrians triggerered an interaction. Their passage activated the courtyard with music and ambient sound 24 hours a day, seven days a week (except for special events.

Two performances of handmade musical instruments by Robert S. Hilton, also performed live, were incorporated in the sound installation. In March 11, members of the Hands On’Semble performed on various percussion instruments from around the world, as well as on many non-traditional, custom-built and found instruments.

At these two live performances, video projections showed a wide assortment of real lion activities.

Over five months Freewaves gathered over 1000 responses about the lions’ reasons for existence on City Hall. Responses were recorded and made into a new art work presented at the finale.

Drum circles inviting anyone and everyone occurred on several Saturdays to partake with international recording artist Rasheed Ali.
“Lions, Tigers, And…” is the first in a year long series called My Pasadena, produced by City of Pasadena and Side Street Projects and funded by the National Endowment for the Arts grant called Our Town.

In 2013 Freewaves, funded by a grant from the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, commissioned a distinguished group of artists to create videos addressing the public health crisis facing Los Angeles County for a program entitled: Long Live LA. Using a variety of styles, narratives, images, and music, the artists created original videos for the bus addressing issues of heart disease, obesity, lead poisoning, and diabetes. A launch event and public discussion was held at ForYourArt in February 2014, followed by a community screening and panel discussion with the South Pasadena Arts Council in March 2014.

In the Summer of 2014, Freewaves commissioned six new artists to create a second series of health videos for the buses. The 2014 series addresses the issues of mental health, violence and addiction.

Freewaves expects to expand distribution of the videos beyond the bus to include health organizations and clinics.

Freewaves conducted surveys of the riders in 2011-2014. With 1000+ riders having positively evaluated the program, Out the Window has become a powerful social engagement tool.

PROJECT AWARDS:

National Endowment for the Arts and California Endowment grants in 2013

Recognized nationally by the Americans For The Arts’ top Public Art Year in Review 2012

The Atlantic declared it one of The World’s 10 Best Transit Poems in 2011

Ranked in LA Weekly’s “Top Art Moments of 2011”

MacArthur Foundation award winning project launch in 2010

A series of discussions about Socially Engaged Art in L.A.

• Rebuilding the on-line archive to allow users to make shareable playlists of videos;

• Presenting Out the Window Uncensored at Occidental College, West Hollywood Library and Barnsdall Art Park;

• Creating Out the Window Uncensored phone application with advertisements on Artslant.com and KCET.org/Artbound;

• Presenting bi-weekly column about Los Angeles media arts on KCET.org/Artbound;

• Curating and produced See Change at Los Angeles International Airport’s Bradley Pavilion, presenting 17 artists on 83 TV screens as a permanent installation;

• Instigating and promoting SOC(i)AL, 12 panels and lectures on socially engaged art at Self Help Graphics,The Getty Museum, LACE, USC, La Culebra, Chiparaki and others;

• Posting 2 channel video on K-PST.org as part of Pacific Standard Time.

Freewaves commissioned and presented 60 two minute artists’ videos and 75 youth-made videos exploring specific locales throughout Los Angeles County. The videos were presented on 4,400 screens on 2,200 L.A. Metro buses with approximately 1,200,000 boardings per day. Each artist’s work was shown 16 times over the 16 daily hours of Metro Bus operation. In addition to the Metro bus screenings, videos were also presented on www.out-the-window.org, cross-referenced by locale, keywords and artist. Freewaves also presented screenings at Inner City Arts, Occidental College, KAOS Café and Self-Help Graphics. Freewaves coordinated a free panel discussion about the cultural effects of technology as part of the L.A. Public Library’s Aloud series.

Freewaves celebrated its 20th anniversary at the LACMA Late Night Art Event. The event animated the museum’s north plaza with 20+ experimental media art works produced over the previous two decades. The videos presented spanned perspectives from identity politics of the 1990s to post-9/11 reality checks, from deep inside the mass media landscape to observations from media makers in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

OXY FREEWAVES
An  annual night of global experimental and documentary films.  10 works by international artists from Freewaves were paired with works by Occidental College students in a customized outdoor campus setting.

Freewaves’ web site was completely redesigned with a new architecture and interactive interface including an expanded video archive showcasing 400 works from past festivals. The new site included a web version of Freewaves’ 20th anniversary publication, Freewaves Video on the Loose and Twenty Years of Media Arts, with essays, interviews, and an accompanying program of video work from the previous twenty years of Freewaves festivals.

STATUES UNFROZEN FOR ONE HOUR – Clothed Women and Unarmed
Men: Shown at Rooftop of eighteen-thirty on Sunset Blvd in Echo Park, Los Angeles and at the Moscow Film Festival, the two-channel screening featured 18 short videos on actions in public space by artists from USA, India, Kazakhstan, France and Dubai.

HOTBED – Video Cultivation Beside the Getty Garden
Projected onto the exterior walls of the Getty Center court yards, 20 artists’ videos from 1984 to 2007 explored the theme of the body as nature or culture. Spectacularly displayed between the architecture and gardens, viewers strolled the grounds from the tram to the cactus garden in this special 2-evening installation curated by Anne Bray, Director of Freewaves, with an essay by Holly Willis.

Freewaves transformed the stores, sidewalks and art centers of Hollywood Boulevard, into a six block long screening room for one of the world’s most ambitiously pluralistic media arts festivals.

Click here for a digital tour of the festival.

Freewaves curated a live immersive video event featuring wallto-wall video, live video mixing, installations and helium.  A benefit for the 2008 Hollywould Festival, the event featured  DJ Paul V., Kristinasky, DJ Coolwhip, Mexican Dubwiser, Louisahhh!!!, Franki Chan + VIP Guests from Check Yo’ Ponytail, DJ Clutch, Gina Turner.

VJs:  Animal Charm, Digital Vic, Eye Pscience, Jim Ellis, Mekanix, Michael Allen, Momo the Monster, Mr. Tamale, Phi Pheno, Salty Robot, Shikaku, VJ Fader VJ Fill.

The most international festival to date took place at the Hammer Museum, Pomona College Museum of Art, The National Center for the Preservation of Democracy, LACE (Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions) and KCET-TV.  Over 150 works of new media art were exhibited live and online.

with approximately 25 videos from all continents, curated thematically, with attached artist video interviews and supporting materials.  Another 100 artists’ videos became available without video interviews.  To support the archive and move into a wider distribution mode, extensive use was made of existing online marketing methods, resulting in an increase from 5,000 to 10,000 daily visitors to the site.

The 2005 festival was a matrix of live presentations, television and Internet features for over 150 Los Angeles and international artists. The festival took place in four downtown venues (MOCA, REDCAT, Chinatown and Strategic Actions for a Just Economy) over four November weekends.  “How Can You Resist?” Festival content also appeared on LA City Channel 36, videostreamed on the Internet and showed on three video billboards.

Freewaves produced 2 one-hour pilot video programs, projected as a 13-part TV season exploring the depth and diversity of new media arts and its relevance for contemporary viewers.

With more than 150 works of video, film and digital media addressing the question “How Can You Resist?”, Freewaves engaged the public’s growing skepticism about commercial media in hopes of creating a consensus for change beyond the 2004 presidential election. With this in mind, Freewaves expanded its reach to include artists from Latin America, Southeast Asia, Africa, China and the Middle East.

Certain works took us on an intimate journey through addiction, sexuality, and suffering; while others challenged us to consider such politically-charged issues as security, paranoia, and moral culpability in a time of war.

All events were concentrated in downtown Los Angeles. By drawing attention to the local debate surrounding downtown’s transformation, Freewaves hoped to bring awareness to the interconnected struggles taking place throughout the world.

Freewaves took first steps towards creating an alternative art channel to bring contemporary arts to new audiences. Sample programs were generated to assess the interest in commercial media, free TV, and educational TV for diverse audiences internationally.  Freewaves used cable TV in Los Angeles and Pasadena as test sites to stream video and reach audiences beyond the strictures of museums and galleries.

Celebration of New Experimental Media Art, held in venues throughout Los Angeles, was Freewaves’ most South American festival to date.

Featuring 365 artists from 20 countries in 70 exhibitions and screenings; thematic programs of experimental short works on KCET public television; documentary long works on LA Channel 36, a municipal channel citywide; South and Central American Video Art at MOCA, Iturralde Gallery and on public access TV; artists’ works on video billboards on the Sunset Strip & Wilshire Blvd for 6 months; panel discussions with 25 speakers in the fields of media and media arts addressing the creation a culture TV channel; 2 digital programs shown at a museum, a school and 2 cyber cafés.

Each of the five November weekends included a special event with video projections, live music, performers, or receptions at untraditional sites.

LA Freewaves distributed to high school and college art students, libraries, art museums, media centers, and the general public, 3 half-hour videos about the media arts in Los Angeles, plus interviews with and excerpts from works by prominent LA based media artists.  A curriculum guide made the tapes valuable resources. The documentaries, produced by Michael Cho, were broadcast on LA Channel 36 and cable.

65 events at 35 locations: thematically curated exhibitions and screenings, multimedia installations, video bus tour, video billboards, programs on public television, online exhibitions and artists’ CD-Roms at MOCA, publicity for 15 related events at other organizations, and panel discussions.

In partnership with On Ramp and Visual Communications, Freewaves launched Open Studio/LA, a series of free workshops on internet and web design, an online residency for LA artists and arts organizations, and a lecture series with critiques by web artists and designers.

Video screenings, installations, performances, CD ROM and website exhibitions as well as 6 video bus tours. The festival featured works by over 200 international artists.

Freewaves also conducted a citywide series of 25 free workshops – “Intro to the Internet” and “Web Design” – targeted to video makers, visual artists, writers and musicians.

Select Freewaves programs were screened on KCET, Deep Dish TV, Free Speech TV, 90s Channel, Moscow TV and public access in San Diego and the Bay Area.

8 video programs with curriculum guides were distributed free of charge to 74 LA libraries and 40 LAUSD High Schools.

and produced a widely distributed CD ROM of digital resources for artists.

PRIVATE TV, PUBLIC LIVING ROOMS – LA Freewaves’ 5th Festival of New Media Art
15 installations by LA artists; videotapes, CD ROMs, and websites by 140 artists at MOCA’s Geffen Contemporary; Programs traveled to 15 art centers and 32 cable stations.

LIVE N.U.D.E. ARTISTS
9 artists’ CD ROMs exposed the industry to media arts at Inscape.

Digi Days was a weekend of low-cost workshops, panels, lectures and demos on digital video and interactive media held at AFI.

Freewaves gave 8 video programs to 66 L.A. libraries and 40 LAUSD high schools.

“Artist and Activist CD ROMs” was a weekend workshop and demo held at USC that focused on the production and distribution of artists’ CD ROMs.

Events included a live performance and video projection event at the John Ahnson Ford Amphitheater, 5 shows at the AFI Video Festival, and 5 programs broadcast on cable TV.  A local media resource guide was published with the festival schedule. The festival curatorial committee was formalized.

Freewaves received non-profit 501(c)3 status, and received its first foundation grants.

With support from the Rockefeller Foundation and VIDKIDCO, Freewaves produced a catalog and video of Southern California Youth Media Programs.

Hands On The Verdict – The 1992 L.A. Uprising
Freewaves distributed the video program by Liz Canner and Julia Meltzer.

Curated by 60 independent and affiliated curators, 75 programs of 425 artists were shown widely. 8 cable programs were broadcast on 29 cable stations. A live-video-installation-performance event, October Surprise, was held at California Plaza.  The festival coalesced broad-based response to the L.A. Uprising.

A larger festival, convening 100 arts organizations, cable stations, media centers and schools. 44 thematic programs and 150 videos from high school and college makers were exhibited. Freewaves created the first L.A. media access guide.

Launched in October at the AFI National Video Festival with the participation of 35 Los Angeles media and arts organizations, 300 artists and  curators collaborated. During the 3-week festival, unique events were mounted at 30 sites, while 4 thematic programs, called “Road Shows”, traveled throughout the city.