While I know some people find art to be alienating, the intensely commercialized streetscape of Los Angeles can feel alienating to me. I wanted to find out if other L.A. pedestrians and public transit users felt the same way, and if putting art on the bus could be a force for de-alienation. In 2010, my organization started an ongoing project called Out The Window, which screens video artworks on the Transit TV monitors aboard LA Metro’s 2000 buses. In our first round, we screened 50 video artworks by local artists about Los Angeles. We surveyed 540 riders, and overwhelmingly, the response confirmed my hypothesis. When asked, “What would your video be about?, ” riders said they wanted to make films that would reflect and uplift the lives and spirits of their fellow bus riders.
Inspired by riders’ profound reactions, we wanted to find efficient systems to reach new audiences inexpensively. Then, at the very same time, game designer Happy Dojo’s Joe Kim emerged out of the media-activist mist. Together, Freewaves and Happy Dojo developed a video art gallery app highlighting the most challenging and controversial Out the Window videos that didn’t make it onto the Metro Bus screens. The app, called Out the Window UNCENSORED, makes these videos viewable in the privacy of your own mobile device! Out the Window UNCENSORED is available for iPhones and iPads via iTunes for free until September 30th.
See samples of the 16 eclectic video experiences about LA:
Introduced by me, Freewaves’ director Anne Bray, the program’s brief text helps viewers enter an edgy set of two-minute animations, narratives, performances and documentaries created by L.A. artists:
- Skip Arnold
- Peter Bill
- Carolina Cayedo and David de Rozas
- Megan May Daalder
- Zig Gron
- Micol Hebron
- Arturo Romo-Santillano
- Nadia Hironaka and Matthew Suib
- Nancy Jean Tucker
- Elana Mann
- Poli Marichal
- Lisa Marr
- Patrick Miller
- Michael Mouris
- Yoshua Okon
- Arnoldo Vargas
Info about the videos concludes the app, so that viewers can compare their interpretations with the curator’s. If you’re among the culturally hungry, you can follow a link to even more artwork at the end of the app.
Public – yet – personal media, and viewable from anywhere, Out the Window UNCENSORED offers new opportunities to bring art with you; to share on the bus, at a party, even at school.
Art can go anywhere. This art is both collectible and sharable. iGallery!
