by osmosis

Galleries may be closing, museums slashing budgets, and collectors holding tight to their billfolds. But this is an exciting time for art. After the economic crash of the early ‘70s, underground movements flourished. After the crash of the ‘80s, under-represented artists finally found an audience. Why should today’s situation be any less promising? Two weeks ago, New York Times critic Holland Cotter voiced the hope of many an optimistic art fan when he asked, “will artists — and teachers, and critics — jump ship, swim for land that is still hard to locate on existing maps and make it their home and workplace?"

But, in our eagerness to welcome a new era, let’s not forget the artists and collectives who have made it a point to stay off the map all along. One such non-conforming organization is Freewaves, a non-profit founded by artist Anne Bray in 1989 to promotes experimental new media work from around the world. This past year, during Freewaves’ annual Los Angeles festival, video infiltrated Hollywood Boulevard. Films were projected onto buildings, screened in restaurants, and displayed in retail shops. Called HollyWould, the festival fleetingly imbued showbiz' legendary main drag with some fugitive, freethinking verve.

The digital version of the festival–including Rahne Alexander’s witty montage about “getting out” of the movies and Dario Bardic’s haunting Etude—can be viewed here. To quote Holland Cotter one more time, “Long live the art!”