13. But dont betoo fooledby appearances'Likeits
predecessors,TotollyF***ed Up ("Another
i-lomo Movie by GreggAraki") and The Living
End ("An lrresponsibleFilm by GreggAraki")'
The DoomGenerationflauntsan irreverent,self-
conscioussubtitle that both anticipacesand
mocksanycritical attemptsto labelAraki'ssex-
ual politics.And while it may be true that the
film depicts only'.heterosexualsex,the homo-
eroticism prevalentin Araki's Previouswork
herefuncdonsassubtext,deniedfullexpression
in a homophobicmilieu.
fn a sense,then, TheDoom Generationis het-
erosexualby default'"Thefilm islessaboutsex-
ualitythan it is aboutAmericai'Araki asserts'
"The charactersthemselvesform a union of
their own that! more omni-sexualthan any-
thing else.Despitethe portrayalof sexualdal-
liance,thefilm is most concernedwith the hos-
dle context that wont allowthis kind of union
to survive.In America,only the heterosexual
couple is condoned.A sexualitythat's uncon-
ventionalmustbe destroYed."
At once a twisted road movie,teenpic parody'
cinematicacidtrip and ferocioussociopolitical
satire,The DoomGenerotionchroniclesthe mis-
Heterosexual Film bY Gregg
Araki?"At first glance'the film-
maker's new feature might
seem like a radicaldeParture
for an artist Proclaimeda Pio-
of the Queer NewWave.
adventuresof threeyoungAmericanson a jour-
ney duringwhichthey unwittinglydiscoverthe
inevitablytragic limits to personaland sexual
freedomin a repressivesociery.Amy Blue(Rose
McGowan),a Post-Hedthersspeedqueen,and
JordanWhite (JamesDuval), her slap-happy
toyfriend, inadvertently pick up Xavier Red
flohnathan Schaech),a suPernaturallysexy
drifter,after an eveningof unsatisfyingsex,drugs
and nightclubbing.Stoppingin for some junk
food at the localQuickie Mart,the threesome
becomeimplicatedin the bizarredecapitation
of the storel clerk.Fleeinginto the consumer-
saturated and dislocated landscapeof Los
Angeles,the trio are pursuedby high-strung
neuroticsin a dizzyingseriesof darkly comic
and graphicallyviolent episodeslinkedby the
logicof a nightmare.
TheDoomGenerotionisthe secondinstallment
of an apocalyPtic"teen trilogy" which Aralci
beganwith TotollyF***ed Up.Thefinalfilm of the
triptych will be titled Nowhereand was in pro-
ductionthis Pastsummerin LosAngeles,where
on the set Araki was candidabout his inten-
tions."l like makingmovies about teenagers'
There'ssomethingmonumentalandheightened
abouttheir hormone-madlives- likethey get
a zit andthe world ends.Theyliveand die ten
times a day.For now,at least,they're interesting
subjectsand express how I feel about the
worldi'
While this point-of-viewis consistentlymain-
tainedasa thematicthrough-linein allofArakis
work the newest films are something of a
departure from Araki! notorious "guerrilla"
shoot-and-runtechnique.Unlil<ehis previous
four features,Doornwasshotin 35mmwith a $ |
millionbudget,a full crew,SAGactorsand'yes'
locationpermits.The experiencehad its pros
andconsfor the filmmaker."ltlatrade-offdoing
a bigmovieafterfour little movies'Youlosethe
ability to move fast and be completelysponta-
neous....Butyou gainthe abilityto do thingson
a completelynew anddifferenttier of ambition'
It was excitingto work with a DP (Jim Fealy)
and a production designer(ThereseDeprez)'
becauseI was freer to create my vision of the
world. Manyof the film'sse$ and locationsare
strange and surreal, like the black-and-white
checlieredhotel room. I wanted the world of
the film to be asfar out as possible,like a bad
drug trip, so it was great working with compa-
nieswho gaveme the freedomand moneyto
create such a bizarre vision without saying'
'Look,this istoo weird'"'
Doomwas pickedup by executiveProducer
PascalCaucheteuxand financedby UGC' a
Frenchcompanythat hasbackedonly a select
number of Americanproductionssuch as Hal
Hartley's Amateur.Aral<i'sscript for Doomwas
shot aimostentirelyat nightin Januaryof 1994
in LosAngeles,where the productionhadmore
than its shareof hardships:the first day'spho-
tographywasruinedin a labaccidentandon the
36 FILMMAKER
A

14. second day,the Northridge earthquakestruck.
Yet none of these obstaclesultimatelydetract-
ed from the film'sfinalcuc which boastsAraki's
most strikingimagesto date.While all of Araki's
films havebeen rigorouslycomposedfrom sto-
ryboards - whose frames frequently fore-
ground his charactersin the urban detritus of
advertisements,strip mallsand parkinglots,and
whose witty juxtapositionsof printed word and
imageoften speaklouder than his dialogue-
Doom'scomoositionsseemmore,well,beautiful.
experienceto be like fallingasleepin front of
theTV lateat nightand havingtheseweird peo-
ple enter your nightmares.
Of the three main leads,only one Part was
written specificallywith an actor in mind -
JamesDuval,who asJordanWhite, represents
the soul of Doom.ForAraki, Duval'sleadper{or-
mances in each film of the teen trilogy have
beenthe emotional centers of their narratives.
"Jordanmore thanAmy or Xavier embodiesthe
purity and idealismwhich motivatesthem all,
insult,andon top in bed,Amy assertsher oPin-
ions,demandsanddesireswith a vengeance.lt is
no accident that she drives the car, always
behindthe wheel. Araki conceivedof the role
"as a little girl who hasto be tough in order to
survive in a tough world. In fact, she comes
acrossas unlikableonly when she'sinteracting
with the outside world, but when she's safe
within her own ca[ or in Joqdan'sarms,she's
altogetherdifferent.I castthe part more for the
role'sinner qualitiesthan for its outer,technical
requirements.Amy is strong,but I didnt want
to cast someone who was hard or physically
imposing.WhenRoseread for the part, I knew
intuitivelythat shewas right."
Finally,there's Xavier Red,better known to
JordanandAmy as"X": the unpredictablevari-
able,the enigma,the Gen-Xer who entersthe
couple's lives and changesthem forever.The
film's most controversial characte6somewhat
reminiscentof Luke in The UvingEnd,Xavier is
the seductivehunk representingthe irresistible
dangersof unbridledsex.Amy describeshim,in
Doorn!funniestline,as"a lifesupport systemfor
a coc(' but as he is played by Johnathan
Schaech,Xavier is more complex,perhaPsthe
most truly "queer" figure in the film. Araki
wrote the role "as both angel and demon.
Xavier hasanotherworldly qualitythat provides
the character with a sense of mystery.And
althoughhe'solder andcomesacrossasa dan-
gerousseducer:he'salsovulnerable.The mur-
ders committedin his presenceare lessinten-
tional than happenstance.Xavier isnt a bad
influence.He just alwaysseemsto be at the
wrong placeat the wrong time."
TheDoomGenerationwas eventuallypickedup
for distributionat the SundanceFilm Festivalby
the now financially-beleagueredSamuel
'When you hoveso muchmonemoneY'time
TOP; 141495DUVATAND ROSEMCGOWAN lN GREGGARAK'S THEDOOM GENERATON; ABOVE:ROSEMCGOWAN AND
OHNATHANSCHAECH.OPPOSTEPAGE:A BLOOD-DRENCHED.IOHNATHANSCf-IAECH. Photos:J.C.Lother
That'swhy he'sthe literal lanib of the slaughter
at the end,becausehe personifiesthe kind of
unselfishinnocencethat'sdoomed in a cynical
world. He'siust too defenselessl'
As playedby Rose McGowan, Amy Blue,on
the other hand,is a strong character whose
defensesare crucialto the balanceof the film.
Vulgar to the extreme, deadly with a barbed
qndnesounces,you can reolize more fully the
some row beouty evident in the films with
very low budgets."
Never beforehascolor beenso impor-
tant in conveyingmeaninginAraki's uni-
verse: bloody reds, fiery oranges and
neongreensilluminatethe overalldark-
nessof the film! mise-en-scenein flash-
es of violence, passion and disgust.
Never before hasa chili dog with allthe
works looked so unappetizingand gor-
geousat the sametime.
To those who might criticize Doom's
'vision of the "beautiful wasteland" as
iesthetically or politically muddled,
Araki replies:"Some peoplelook at the shots,
say of billboards,and think that they're ugly.I
think that they're beautiful.Beautyis in the eye
of the beholder:I see the imagesin all of my
filmsasvery beautiful,includingmy early,grainy
black-and-whitefilms.Actually, many of their
anglesand imageshavebeen recycled in each
subsequentfilm, includingDoorn.lt! iust that
when you haveso muchmore money,time and
resources,you can realizemore fully the same
raw beauryevident in the films with very low
budgets.lt's not a differenceof beauty,but of
polish.Becausemystyleisinfluencedbydreams
andsurrealism,I intentionallydesignedandcon-
structed a world as solipsisticas a nightmare.
We were carefulto avoidshootinglandmark in
L.A.whichmightorient the audienceor ground
them in a specifictime and place.Only at the
very last minute,when Amy and Xavier drive
into a bleakterrain, are we dropped back into
the realworld."
Araki was as pafticularabout choosingan off-
beatcast(includingHeidi Fleiss,MargaretCho,
Christopher Knight of TheBrodyBunch,l-auren
Tewes of The LoveBoot and Amanda Bearse
from Married ...With (hildren),whose cameo
appearancdsheighten the intended surrealist
effect.Sodont expectto recognizethem at first
glance;like much of everything in Doom,their
appearancesare often fleeting and disguised.
Araki explains:"l wanted a different kind of
cameo rather than the usual actors you see
popping up over and over again.I wanted the
FAIL 199537
^'

15. Goldwyn Company."When Goldwyn first
boughtthe filml'Aral<imuses,"lthoughtit was
the oddestmarriageI'veever heardof.In a way,
though, it's actually been a good marriage,
becauseGoldwyn bringsa cercainprestigeto
their releases- that art-film reputationthat
orecedesthem - so that their filmsare taken
seriously.lt'salsobeneficialto Goldwyn,in that
Doomallowsthem to sayto the world:'Fucl<
you,we aren'tstuckin the crypt of moviespeo-
pled by actors with Britishaccentsifilms that
maynot beterriblyexciting.Theonly realprob-
iem that I canforeseeis that Goldwyn maynot
befamiliarwith the audiencethe film shouldbe
marl<etedto."
That audience,of course, is the elusive
"GenerationX," which remainsa puzzling,still
untappedsource of revenuefor over-4Opur-
veyorsof popularculture.In order to increase
the film! exposureto youngpeople,Doomhas
beentouringwith Lollapalooza,willbe promot-
ed on MTV and will be releasedalongwith a
soundtracl<CD, includingmusicby Nine Inch
Nails,Porno for furos, and Jesusand Mary
Chain.While these promotions are significant
ROSEMCGO^/AN
efforts to reachAral<i'sintended demographic,
the film'sreleasein October without an MPAA
ratingmayforcemanytheatersto imPlementan
NC-17 policybarringadmittanceto audiences
under 18.About the possiblerating, Araki
resoonds:"l'm worried in the sensethat the
young peoplewho've alreadyseenDoomhave
relatedto it, becausethey feel it doesnt talk
down to them.l'vehadkidsasyoungas l3 tell
me that it was one of the best moviesthey've
seen.You might thinl<that such young kids
would findthe film too horrifing, but my expe-
riencehasbeenthat l<idsare pretty hip,smart
and too media-sawyfor the violenceto seem
that significantto them - which of courseis
oart of what Doomisabout.On the other hand,
despitethe nihilismand darkness,Doomis also
very much about love and its transcendent
power. Eventhough the charactersmay not
have satisfringrelationships,that's what they
yearnfor; ratherthan [being]soulless,they are
idealistsin a soullessworldl'V
Doorrt Producer,Artdrezl Jperllng .i'rojiled b'/ | iurrc .Uortirt
Egj.lE,l-,L.J-l
i;:--i he gearsof productionare grinding
, slowly on this muggyAugust evening,
,..1 and director GreggAraki is feelingthe
heat."Anhour justfor an insertshot,"he says
with a dry laugh,turningnervouslyto hispro-
ducer.'Arentwe runninglate?"
AndreaSperlingshrugs,unhzedevenasthe
drab baseballfield servingastonightt location
is suddenlybathed in an eerie greenglow for
the next shot."We're finel' Reassured,Araki
gets backto business.
With producing credits for several films
(includingAral<i'slotolly Fxx*edUp and lhe
Doom Generation,as well as Jon Moritsugut
Mod Fuck Explosion,Terminal, USA and
ChristopherMunch'slatestfilm,TheColorof o
Briskond LeopingDay),it! hard to believethat
Sperlingis only 26 yearsold.But Sperlinghas
never wanted for focus."l always
knew I wantedto produce,evenin
highschool.In college,| first started
studyingeconomicsbecauseI want-
ed moreof businessbaclqground,but
I hatedit. I started studyingfilm his-
tory, theory and criticismat U.C.
SantaBarbarainstead."
It wasthere that Sperlingmadeoffo
imoortant discoveries.The first
involved the denigrated status of
exoerimentalfilm. "l realizedthat
there wasa type of film I was study-
ing that I didnt see in theaters-
experimentalfilms,films that really
push the medium,and ones that
Phcto:J.C.Lotherdont justtell a story butexperiment
with the frcrmat.So I decidedthat I
wantedto oroducefilmslikethatl'
This decisionluckilycoincidedwith her sec-
ond discovery:Aral<i.An alumnusof UCSB,
Araki hadreturnedto teacha classin guerrilla
filmmakingduring Sperling!last quarter."He
showeda lot of contemporaryfilmsthat were
similarto what I'd been studying,lil<eAllison
Anders'first film,the earlyfilmsof Moritsugu,
andfilms by EverettLewis,RoddyBogawaand
ToddHaynes- allthesereallyinterestingfilm-
makers.Thatwaswhen I realizedthat this kind
of filmmakingwcsgoingon,and I knew that I
wanted to be a part of it."
During the summer beforeshe graduated,
Sperlingworked at Avenue Pictures,where,
with ClaudiaLewis,she learneda lot about
financingand how to put together a film from
the beginning.That,combinedwith the educa-
tion gleanedthrougha pileof hands-onbook
about filmmaking,gaveher the tools to start
her careerfor real.
SperlingapproachedAraki prior to lhe Uvrng
End"l offeredto do anything,arldit turned out
that I was very usefulto GreggbecauseI was
able to take care of many aspectsof putting
together the filml' Sperlingfigured out post-
production working on TheLivingEndandwas
introduced to the world of other filmmakers,
producersand investorson the festivalcircuit.
Bythistime,shed reallylearnedthe basics,and
when Araki was readyto shoot TotallyF*x*ed
Up heaskedSperlingto be hissoleproducer.
While Sperlingisdedicatedto producingfilms
that "critique socieryJ'condemningmanyso-
calledart films as "merely studio films with
lower budgetsl'shefeelsno pressureto push
a rigidfeministagenda."ldont think I'vebeen
affected by being a woman producer in the
sensethat I feelthe needto prove myself.But
if I readsomethingthat | find offensive,I wont
touch it. And I would liketo work with more
women directors,and makemoviesthat focus
on women'sissues."
As Araki! star continuesto rise,andwith it
Sperling's,the possibilityof the youngproduc-
er beingableto "get financingfor anyfilm ld
liketo get made"seemscloserand closerto
realicy.Ihe DoomGenerationis alreadygarner-
inga big buzz andthis is bound to createnew
pressures,but Sperlingremainsrypicallyunruf-
fled."l dont worry about it too much.Doom
hasmade its moneyback plussome already,
and it hasnt even been releasedyec And I
dont think Greggwould evercompromisefor
a biggerbudget.lf Gregggot $ l0 millionfor his
next movie,it would begreatbecauseit would
iust mean we'd havemore resourcesto play
withl'
Despitethe possibilityof hittingthat $ l0 mil-
lion motherlode,Sperlingis anxiousto get
backto micro-budgetfilmmaking."Withthese
no-budgetfilms you can reallydo anythingl'
Sperling'scurrent roster includesfilms with
JonMoritsugu,a filmmakerwho sharesAraki's
ultra-low-budgetroots,and Britta Sjogren.
While Sperlingcontinuesto work with some
of the most experimentalfilmmakerson the
indiecircuit,her approachto the creativeend
of thingsisstrictlyhandsoff."Themostimpor-
tant thingto me is gettinginsidea director!
headand seeingwhat he or shewants to see
in the script,and if it's not there,pointingthat
out.Myjob isto getthe moviemadeandmal<e
sure it's done the way the director wants it
done.lf I wanted my own visionup there,ld
write my own script."'
38 FILMMAKER
^.

16. ALLOIJERTHE[l|APL.A. FreewdqresGetsWheels
ture with a selectionof tapesproducedby
minors. Coming of agein an era of informa-
tion control,theseteensatlempl to revise
and re-envision images of youth through
satireand critique,humor and pathos.
The festival also showcasedinnovative
installations at three alternative sites.At the
Montgomery Galiery of Pomona College,
LockdownU.S.A.,an installationproducedby
DeepDish Glevision, ran 10hoursof single-
channelviJeosrecordingrepresentativevuic-
es of the 1.7 million Americans currently
imprisoned.At the Long BeachMuseum of
Art, Lourdes Portillo's Thls Is Your Day
exploiteddual screenprojectionto juxtapose
a varietyof contemporarymediaexperiences,
from campy Spanish-languageTV astrologer
Walter Mercado to disturbing news broad-
castsabout unprovokedbeatingsof Mexican
laborers.The layeredsoundtrackcreatesa
synaestheticexperienceas complex as the
issuesit raises about Latino identity and
always about what's
next."
Among the 17 video
programs, for example,
"ImpersoNation" touch-
ed on theoriesof identity
by exploring how Etang
Inyang (Badass Super-
mama), Jennifer Reeder
(Law of Desire), and
jakob Hogel (The Warhol
Nation), among others,
destabilize notions of
fixed identity. Here we
find the self performed as
a surrogate,projectedas
an "other,"or analyzedin
its rhetorical relations to
the culture of celebrity.
Global politics were
examined in two provo-
cative documentaries:
Odo Ya! Life with AIDS
(Thnia Cypriano) exam-
ined the response of
Candombl6, an Afro,Brazilian religion, to
minority subculturesaffectedby AIDS in South
America, while The Other HaIf of Allah's
Heawen(Djamila Sahroui) featured interviews
with a group of women who, transformed by
their participation in the Algerian War of
Independence,expresstheir opinionsregarding
the rise of Islamic fundamentalism in their
country.
"Eyeof the Beholder"illustratedhow beauty
may be perceivedthough a processof creative
vision. Pieces such as Deconsrruction(Remi
Lacoste, Canada), Monkey Loue (Fetish,
Sweden),Aletheia (Mariela Cadiz and Denis
Lelong,Spain,lFrancelJS),and CtterposdePapeL
(Ximena Cuervas,Mexico) demonstratedthe
potential of electronic imaging to humanize
their subjectsrather than transform them into
flashy cartoons. Finally, although not exhaus-
tively,"YouthMediaExplosi.rn.ParrsI and II"
verified the festival'scommitment to youth cul-
BY Jaurs Monex
'Alr Ovpn rHE MAB" THrs vEARSTITLEFoR
L.A. Freewaves'biennial festival, is most
appropriatefor the month-long seriesof events
(September8-October4) spreadout over the
vastgeographical,multi-cultural,andideologi-
cal terrain of Los Angeles. According to this
year's director, Ming-Yuen Ma, the clever
appellation is "half a joke and half serious,
becausethat's really a reflection of the art com-
munity in L.A. . . . Eclecticismis the common
thread."
Eclectic indeed,the festivalofferedup a ver-
itable cornucopia of cutting-edgeworks by
mediamakersand activistswho have stretched
the boundaries of "video art" to the breaking
point. In addition to single-channelvideo at
the Museum of ContemporaryArt (MOCA),
there was a smorgasbordof performances,
installations,websites,CD-ROM exhibits,and
evenvideo bustours.
According to founder Anne Biay, the need
to instill a communalspiritin L.A.'s ever-shift-
ing arts coalitions inspired her to initiate L.A.
Freewaves.In 1989, after years of making,
teaching, and curating media art, she realized
that her various colleaguesthroughout L.A.
county were sffangers,both personallyand
professionally,despite their shared aesthetic
and political goals.Envisioning a democracyof
arts organizations,schools, libraries, public
accesscable stations,mediamakers,activists,
and teachers, Bray inaugurated the festival.
Nearly a decadelater,'All Over the Map" has
successfullyadvancedher mission.
Vith 10 elected curators who rotate out
eachyeaqthe festivalrepresentsthe L.A. art
scenein microcosm.The curators, a multicul-
tural cross-sectionof academics,artists,and
activists,screeneddozensof submissionsto
developa uniqueseriesof programs,eachuni-
fied by an aesthetic or political theme.
According to Bray, "they are never what is in
the news,never what the galleriesareshowing,
neveraboutlastyear'strendytheories.They're
14 THE INDEPENDENT Decemberl998

17. explore the relationship
of lTeimar Germany to
contemporary neo-Nazi
propaganda and strate-
giesof resistance.
The Web is gradually
transforming this locai
festival into a global
auditorium. Simply by
loggingonto the festival
website[www.freewaves.
org], visitorsmay access
Joyce Dalla's Finding
Home, Jody Zellen's
Ghost City, and Joe
Rabies'IcelandSundaes.
Interactive works like
these not only redefine
what "video" means,
they illustrate how the
Internet (at least for
now) has surpassed
cable television as a
democratic medium.
With the advent of
these global links, how-
ever, a question arises:
will the festival lose its
indigenous connection
to Los Angeles, dis-
placedinto the unchart.
international politics. Perhapsthe most inno-
vative installation wasMilkstained,a webcast
performanceby M.A.M.A., a recentlyformed
collaboration of artists who have become
mothers.Performedlive (with the addition of
pre-recorded video segments) at the
Electronic Cafe iri Santa Monica and also
broadcastlive on the Web through audio and
video streaming,this unusualwork addressed
the contradictory cultural meaningsthat sur-
round breast feeding and the dual role of
artist/mother.
Like Milkstained,many works in the festi-
val took advantage of new computer.based
media. Christine Thmblyn's CD-ROM
Archiual Quality interrogates the irrational
bureaucratic desire to partition experience
into categories,resulting in oppressivemeth-
ods of surveillance and control. Hans
Breder'sThe Nazi Loop,a multimedia collage
of sound, image, and text, takes full advan-
tageof the software'sinteractivecapaciryto
video bus tours. As people were transported on
various routes around Los Angeles, they could
view curatedvideo programson board.Although
eachtour had a different theme and itinerary all
foregrounded common experiences-the voy.
eurism inherent in masstransit, the oscillations
betweenthe distractedglazeand the active gaze,
and the simple notion that all passengersare
tourists in neighborhoods "other" than their
own.
For example,"The L.A. VoyeurismBus Tour"
highlighted variousformsof voyeurismprevalent
in Los Angeles,such astouring Hollywood land.
marks, street walking on Sunset Boulevard, gay
cruisingin Griffith Park, and stalking the starsin
BeverlyHills. As passengersobservedsuch activ-
ities on the outside,they in turn werewatchedby
fellow passengerson the inside, taped by a hid-
den surveillancecameraand broadcaston moni.
tors on board. This uncanny effect exposedthe
shifting power relations between spectatorship,
objectification, and performance.Nothing could
be more L.A.
Other bus tours included "lmmaculate
Mastications," a rolling bistro featuring food,
culinary destinations,and a newwork by George
Kuchar, Fat of the Lond; "The Reality Tour,"
which crisscrosseddowntown L.A. to illustrate
the history of public housing in the city; and
"Writing Urban Space,"a tour of Latino vernac-
ular architecture and graffiti art accompaniedby
Bob Bryan's
award-winning
documentary
Grffiti Veritl.
and live com-
mentary from
graffiti masters.
Among such a
diversityofpro-
gramming, the
festival suffered
from one major
flaw: like Los
Angeles itsel{
there was far
too much to
see. Yet if
sprawlcan pro-
duce such an
embarrassment
of riches, so be it. L.A. Freewavesonce again
proved that there's something to be said for
being all over the map.
Jim Moran recentb receiuedhis Ph.D.from the
Schoolof Cinema-kleqtisionat USC, whereheis
currentb teaching.
edregionsof cyberspace?Not accordingto Bray
and Ma, who feel that the experienceof a live,
public audience should never be entirely
replaced.
In keeping with this sentiment, perhapsthe
mostinspiredprogrammingeffort wasa seriesof
Decemberl998 THE INDEPEl{DE1{T 15

18. Vrsuar-Covt,tuNIcertoNs (VC) eNo
L.A. Freewaves(LAF), two of L.A.'s
oldest media arts organizations, have
recently joined forces to create Open
Studio/L.A., a seriesof freeworkshopson web designtargetedto visu-
al artists, writers, and musicians.These two stalwarts of alternative
media art are linking arms with OnRamp@sunset, a neighborhood
computer accesscenter in Echo Park. And this collaboration should-
n't be underestimated.In an era when public funding of the arts has
disgracefully diminished to record-level lows, and in a city where
industrial sffategiesand profit motivations threaten to monopolizeall
Freewavesattemprsto link B y I t vt M o ne N
the city's neighborhoods
with on rampsand intersections.
Indeed,'All Over the Map," the sixth and most recent edition, held
in the fall of 1998,was an aproposappeilation for the seriesof events
spreadout like Los Angelesitsel( decenteredand shifting on the fault
lines of a hundred flowering subcultures.One of the festival's high-
lights wasa seriesofvideo bus tours, during which festival curatorsled
viewersthroughout the ciry,showcasingparticular placesihut resonat-
ed with the videosscreenedon board. Weird/ Sure,but alsostrangeiy
perfect,especiallyfor L.A. Imagine curator Ma standingat the front of
media production, the oddsagainstavant-gardemedia thriving in the
shadowof the Hollywood signwould seemimpossiblysteep.But both
of thesemedia arts organizationshave managedto stayafloat, mainly
by being attentive to the ever-shifting needs of their constituents'
maintaining an adventutousoutlook' and working collaborativelywith
other organizations.
L.A. Freewaves:
Finding Faultlines and Connections in the LA Sprawl
Celebrating its 10th anniversarylast year,L.A. Freewavesis an ever-
growing agglomerationofpeople and places'all dedicatedto fostering
alternative media, !7hi1e the organization is physically basedin the
Above&right:somedigitalartproiectsfrom0penStudio,
acollaborationamongoldandnewmediagroups.
Lupe), it neverthelessmanagesto spread throughout
impressivefervor during eachbiannual festival'
Undaunted by the region'ssprawland by its lack of obviouscenters,
Bray and Ma have exploited and ceiebratedSouthern California'sdis-
persalofresoutces asa strength rather than a disadvantage.Each fes'
tival infiltrates the entire city, with venuesscatteredthrough all com-
munities. And that's appropriate-after all, a significant connotation
of the organization'sname puns on the "freeways"that have acceler-
ated L.A.'s transient nature sincethe riseof the automobile;like them,
38 IHE INDEPENDENT APril 2000
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HowL.A.Freewaves&VisualCommunications
dothethingstheydo.
crampedliv-
ing room of
founder
Anne Bray
(with spill-
over in festi-
val director
Ming Ma's
Silverl ake
home, zeal-
ousiy guard-'
edbya
voraciously
affectionate
German
qL^^L^,.1
urreHrrLrv
pup named
the ciry with
a nicely appointed and air.conditioned bus riffing on voyeurism and
video, while just outside,hookersand transvestitesstrut up and down
SantaMonica Boulevard.Later,asthe viewersstepout of the bus,Ma
points out a surveillancecamera,and they shift from being the com-
fortable voyeursto being the objectsof the camera'sgaze.
Another year'sfestivalwasstagedin a seriesof artist-designedliv-
ing roomsat the Museurnof ContemporaryArt. Like the bustours,this
wackyframing deviceremindedviewersabout the very processof view-
ing, aswell asthe dynamicsof public and private. And that's what LAF
doessowell-make peopleexperiencethe processof viewing in a way
that makesus think.
Part of all this attention to the hows and whys comesfrom Bray
herseli She alwaysthinks long and hard about video and what it can
and can't do. This year,LAF's 7th Celebration of Experimental Media
will be held in November 2000, and asalways,it will be curated by a
group of video artists and enthusiasts,and will most probably feature
yet another inventive screeningidea destined to make us reconsider
how we watch what we watch.
Vsual Communications: From Asia to Chili
Celebrating its 30th anniversarythis yeaq Visual Communications is
the premier Asian Pacificmedia arts center in the U.S. Like LAE VC
servicesthe entire alternative mediacommunity in LosAngeles,but its
particular mission is to promote intercultural understanding by pro'
ducing, presenting,and preservinghonest and sensitivestoriesabout
Asian Pacificpeople.
Also like LAE the centerpieceof its year-round programming is a
festival.Beginningin 1983andpresentedeachMay (18-25,2000),the
Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film and Video Festival is both intense in
terms of the sheernumber of projectsscreenedand incredibly celebra-
torv-the vibe is alwaYsone of enthusiasmand excitement asviewers
check out the array of international projects, aswell asnew work by
Asiah-American makers, VC director Linda Mabalot, a lively and
energetic promoter of Asian Pacific media, invariably speakswith
impassionedfervor about the festival'shighlights, while the festival's
variousparticipantsjuggle an incredibly eclectic slateof projects.
In addition to its festivaland variouspanelsand screeningsthrough-
out the vear,VC hostsone of the nation's most comprehensivecollec'

19. tions of imagesof Asian PacificAmerican 1ife.
Its traveling exhibit, "Heading East," chroni-
clesAmerican notions of freedom, democra-
cy,and economic opportunity within the oral
historiesand photographsof the Asian Pacific
settlers.Equallyrevisionist,VC's "SpeakOut
for Justice"video collection recounts the Los
Angeles Commission Hearings on the war
relocation of Americans of Japaneseancestry
during 1WorldWar II. VC also published a
book in 1991, Moving the bnage:IndEendent
'sian
PacificAmericmt Media Arts, a much-
neededattempt to addressforgotten histories
aswell astactical maneuversfor getting work
out to audiences.
And if all of this isn't enough, VC is also
famous for its annual "ChiliMsions" event,
during which eight Asian Pacific American
community organizations compete for the
Best Chili in Los Angeles award.Not only is
the food damn good, but people throughout
LosAngelesseemto relish the event'sstrange
amalgamationof pleasuresand its refusalof a
narrowly defined cultural logic.
'With
Open Studio,{-.A., LAF conducts
Internet training workshopsat sitesthrough-
out Los Angeles, while VC provides artists
with a free web site and email account. By
assistingmediamgkersin overcoming the
technical hurdles and discovering the cre-
ative and professional benefits of the
Internet, both organizationsprove yet again
to have the innovative and visionarymethods
necessaryto meet the evolving needsof the
media artists they serve.Perhapsmore signif-
icantly, this successfulpartnership offers a
model for other organizations struggling to
survive by their own individual efforts.
For more information, check out the L.A.
Freewaveswebsiteat www.freewaves.organd
Visual Communications at www.vconline.org
Itm Moran is a teacherand writer
basedinlns Angeles.
cuI
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