Artists’ videos to infuse Transit TV on 2,000 LA Metro buses with art throughout October and November

on Sep 16 in News by freewaves

Los Angeles, Calif. – Through short-form videos, presented across the Los Angeles County Metro bus Transit TV system, Out the Window shares artists’ diverse perspectives about/by/in Los Angeles.  With a different video featured each day in October and November, the project links physical and virtual worlds through digital media offerings that coax viewers to explore and reconsider what exists out their window. Out the Window aims to create a communication network among the many social, cultural, economic and creative constituencies of Los Angeles.

The 60 artists’ videos reflect a range of subjects and styles including performances in urban public spaces, background information about LA neighborhoods, animated scenarios, ruminations about nature and investigations of other art forms.  The programming tells stories, shares creative impressions and offers critical insights about Los Angeles.

Artists

Isabel Avila, Zanny Begg, Raul Paulino Baltazar, Laurel Beckman, Peter Bill, bodycity, Carolina Caycedo, The Center for Land Use Interpretation, Jeff Chabot, Allen Colombo, Megan May Daalder, Paolo Davanzo, Victoria Delgadillo, Jeremy Eichenbaum, Alyse Emdur, Jesse Fleming, Joe Forney, Zig Gron, Micol Hebron, Nadia Hironaka & Matthew Suib, Roman Jaster, Ann Kaneko, Annetta Kapon, Regina Kimbell, Ivan Limas, Elana Mann, Poli Marichal, Lisa Marr, Willie Middlebrook, Patrick Miller, Yoshua Okón, Suzanne Oshinsky, Will Oloughlen, Camilo Ontiveros, Oscar Muñoz, Tucker Neel of 323 Projects, Michael Parker, Gala Porras-Kim, Reyes Rodriguez, Arturo Romo, Michael Rippens, Khari Scott, Pascual Sisto, Marie Sullivan, Teatro Jornalero Sin Fronteras, Nancy Jean Tucker, Stephen Van Dyck, Jovanna Tosello & Cecelia de Jesus, Arnoldo Vargas and Jody Zellen.

The videos will be shown on buses in October and November 2011 and will be archived on the project website, www.out-the-window.org and on Freewaves’ Vimeo channel, http://vimeo.com/outthewindow. Additionally, the website will provide a map of Los Angeles County, geocoded according to the subjects and themes of the videos.  Other resources may also be accessed via the website, including a list of area media art centers where anyone can learn how to create digital media.

Interactivity

The project is conceived with Transit TV’s interactivity in mind, both for bus riders and web users. Bus riders can text responses to questions posed at the end of each video by artists and community curators. Questions will be presented in English and Spanish. Web users may comment on the videos after viewing them on www.out-the-window.org or on the Vimeo channel. The website also provides instructions for submitting videos for future screenings on the buses.

“Out the Window is creating a new social fabric in LA County. Networked Transit TVs, buses, riders’ cell phones and artists’ videos are all strands in the weave pulling LA closer together. Riders’ answers to evocative questions at the end of each video will shift who gets to define what’s out the window,” says Anne Bray, Executive Director of Freewaves, LA’s public media arts organization. Sample bilingual questions:  “Who is invisible in L.A.?” “What’s the difference between L.A. and Hollywood?” “Can you imagine L.A. in 1492?” “What’s your soundtrack for L.A.?”

Bus riders and access to technology

Greater Los Angeles has a wonderfully diverse population widely dispersed across its basin.  The buses with Transit TV broadcasting inside of them 24/7 crisscross its neighborhoods and social boundaries, passing unique, local cultural resources.  Out the Window targets where even the web doesn’t always reach and Transit TV allows for this logical weave.  Bus riders represent a population less reached by the Internet and new media, but our research revealed that four out of five riders have cell phones. Of those, four out of five text. We aim to bridge older and newer technologies for these riders, bringing them into a citywide public dialogue.  The videos produced for Out the Window are created by L.A. artists with this complex audience in mind and technology of Transit TV.

A one-minute Youtube video provides an overview of the project: http://youtu.be/W-ekiTrnYW0

Video screenings on the bus will take place in October and November. A different 2-minute video will play each day, appearing once per hour, every hour. For more information or to watch the videos online, visit www.out-the-window.org.

Out the Window is supported by grants from the HASTAC Digital Media and Learning Competition, The James Irvine Foundation, the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, Los Angeles County Arts Commission, California Arts Council, National Endowment for the Arts, the Getty Grant Program, and the Pasadena Art Alliance.