In collaboration with the LA Museum of Contemporary Art (now MOCA Geffen), Freewaves put on a citywide festival of experimental, documentary, animation and new media works by artists, activists, and media makers. Festival director Ming-Yuen Ma had this to say about it:
“I think this year’s Festival actually speaks more to what is happening globally in the media arts. We are showing over 100 works from the US and 15 other countries. However, the way we program is very much a response to Los Angeles, both as a physical and a cultural space. We are introducing international artists to L.A. and US audiences, while as before, we are showcasing a large selection of videos, installations, websites, and performances by L.A. and California artists. Some of our actual programs, such as the video bus tours and on-line exhibition at freewaves.org, are very much a response to the sprawl of Los Angeles.”
All Over the Map featured premiere screenings at MOCA, thematic video bus tours, video programs on cable TV, and an online exhibition at the L.A. Freewaves’ website (www.freewaves.org), as well as installations and performances in art and community spaces throughout Southern California. The artwork included videotapes, CD-ROMs, web pages, performances, and installations by international and California-based artists.
The bus tours transported festival spectators on various routes around the Los Angeles area while curated video programs are screened on board. One tour, Writing Urban Space, organized by ADOBE L.A. and videomaker Bob Bryan, combined graffiti and Latino vernacular architecture. Other tours focused on food, housing, voyeurism, indigenous cultures of Los Angeles, and a re-visitation of Chinatown as the site for Roman Polanski’s film of the same name.
Freewaves is currently deepening and reorganizing our archive of 35 years of public art in Los Angeles. Check back in 2025 to explore more of our history.
