With the many stresses of traveling, arriving passengers at Los Angeles International Airport’s Tom Bradley International Terminal now have something to take the edge off. As part of the airport’s renovation project, a 28-channel multi-HD video installation featuring 17 original site-specific artworks now greets travelers in the lower-level arrivals hall of the terminal. Sponsored by Los Angeles World Airports and the City of Los Angeles’ Department of Cultural Affairs, the exhibit, See Change, opens on Saturday (June 16) to the public (and travelers).
Among the projects playing on 58 back-to-back HD monitors installed above the arrivals waiting area, is media artist Scott Snibbe’s Transit. Snibbe, who has worked on interactive projects with musician Björk and filmmaker Jame Cameron, is collaborating with choreographer and CalArtian faculty member Francesca Penzani, videographer Noah Cunningham, and a number of CalArtian dancers and CalArts Community Arts Partnership student participants on the project.
More on the piece from Snibbe:
The 15-minute video features hundreds of pedestrians in silhouette who take part in a loose narrative grounded in their ceaseless movements left to right. Against this backdrop, travelers occasionally put down their bags and break into exuberant dance routines in styles that reflect L.A.’s diversity: from Hip-Hop to Salsa, Ballet, and Punk.
Midway through, the high-definition story shatters into abstracted fragments as multiple copies of travelers wipe forward across the screens; moon-walking travelers float backwards; crowds spew out from single travelers; and a Lady in Red appears who is ignored by them all.
Snibbe says that the CalArts Center for Integrated Media offered substantial facilities and support for the project’s production.
A reception in celebration of the completion of See Change on Saturday (June 16) from 5-8 pm at the terminal is free, open to the public and parking at LAX will be validated.
The 17 artists featured in See Change:
- Monika Bravo: BREATHING_WALL_LAX
- Patty Chang and Noah Klersfeld: Current
- Seoungho Cho: City of Light
- Felipe Dulzaides: Taking Chances
- Todd Gray and Joseph Santarromana: Intersect
- Kurt Hentschlager: View
- Louis Hock: Homeland
- Hilja Keading: Splash
- Ryan Lamb: Five-Dimensional Parade
- Chip Lord: To & From LAX
- Megan McLarney: Landscapes
- Esther Mera and John Reed: Crossroads
- Paul Rowley and David Phillips: Local Time
- Steve Shoffner: Cloud 29
- Pascual Sisto: Cumulous
- Scott Snibbe: Transit
- Caspar Stracke: Cities Out of Cities
For full details on the event, visit the Department of Cultural Affairs’ Facebook page.
Tom Bradley International Terminal
Los Angeles International Airport
June 16, 5-8 pm