But no all here in this town amounts to red carpets ad nauseam… some Hollywood-related events actually have some brains behind.

Enter Freewaves 11^th Biennial Festival of New Media Arts… probably rightly so, they call it media because their architectural escapades make them evade the purely cinematic realm. Avoiding the obviousness of mostly every other film fest in town, this fest takes place in the streets. In the Streets of Hollywood to be exact. This includes of course, our star studded Hollywood Boulevard. Or 'your' start studded Hollywood Blvd if you live in that part of town.

New Media… does that ring a bell in your mind?

No, we ain’t talking here about news media… no s at the end: New Media… as in, exploratory art, as in video installations that exploit the surrounding architectural features as much as they exploit the light.

Ok, enough chattering, following are the hard facts:

Freewaves Presents Its 11th Festival of New Media Arts
“Hollywould...”
160 Experimental Videos, Films and Media Art From Around the World
Hollywood Blvd. Transformed
October 9 - 13, 2008

In October, Freewaves, a global arts organization, will present “Hollywould,” its 11th festival of new media art along Hollywood Blvd. in the heart of Hollywood, California. For five days and nights - from Thursday, October 9 through Monday, October 13, 2008 - the festival will showcase 160 experimental videos, films and media art from around the world on the Freewaves web site and on the iconic Walk of Fame. The festival will transform the world-famous boulevard into a massive, multi-faceted screening room. Selected works will be activated by live events, displayed on LCD screens inside stores and installed in storefront windows. Special events, screenings, and site-specific happenings – most free unless otherwise noted - will take place at various venues such as LACE, American Cinematheque’s Egyptian Theatre, the Roosevelt Hotel, the Musicians Institute, and the Knitting Factory as well as portals connected to the festival’s unique web-based content.

Over 40 physical venues and locations along seven blocks of Hollywood Boulevard will participate in “Hollywould,” from the Knitting Factory at N. Sycamore Avenue to the west (one block east of La Brea) all the way to Kung Pao Kitty at Wilcox Avenue to the east (one block west of Cahuenga). Visit Freewaves’ office inside LACE (Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions) at 6522 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90028 where patrons will find ongoing video installations and pick up festival program guides during “Hollywould.” For more information (coming soon) please visit http://www.freewaves.org.

“Hollywould,” the theme for this year’s festival, is a playful and evocative turn both as an international symbol of the American entertainment industry and as a Los Angeles neighborhood very much in flux. By placing Hollywood in the conditional tense, Freewaves’ Director Anne Bray invited artists to imagine what could be, while exploring the role of art in mass-media-saturated culture and the future of gentrifying neighborhoods.

In-store screenings will take place at the following participating venues during Freewaves’ Hollywould:
Abyssinia Gifts from Africa, Bizzy B, Café Audrey, Famima!!, Hollywood & Highland Center’s LED sign, Hightech Electronics, Hollywood Book & Poster, Hollywood Camera and Music, Hollywood Magic, Hollywood Toys & Costumes, Hookah Lounge, Kayden Tattoo, King King Club, Kino Sushi, LACE, Larry Edmunds Bookshop, LAXXY Sunglass store, Los Burritos, Loteria Restaurant, Lucky Devils, MH Internet Lounge, MVA Jewelry, Outfitters Wig Co., Page Time, Paul Jardin Suits, Petros K, Prestige Jewelry, Second City Theater, Snow White Cafe & Restaurant, Suit City, Swatch, Tarot Card Reader, The Blue Stone, 25 Degrees Restaurant, Venice Pizza, Virgin Megastore, Woodbury Hollywood Exhibitions, World of Wonder, Yogurt Star, Yonni's Café.

See the “Schedule of Special Events” at site-specific locations below.

The wide variety of festival sites reflects Hollywood’s changing character and Bray’s determination to challenge any preconceived notions of where art belongs: tattoo parlors, adult-entertainment and electronics stores, trendy bars and restaurants. Freewaves will also challenge the border between the real-time festival and its online counterpart, Freewaves’ enhanced web site www.freewaves.org. In October, the site will feature web-based works as a distinct genre of media arts.

“Hollywould” will showcase 100 works chosen from an estimated 2000 submissions, with an additional 60 works on the Freewaves web site. “In the past, we’ve used the web site primarily as a form of documentation for the larger festival,” Bray says. “This year, the site will function as a kind of autonomous virtual festival, with works selected specifically for their virtual relationship to the street.” Bray plans to expand the web site to facilitate an ongoing dialogue about the works and themes of “Hollywould,” long after the boulevard reverts to “Hollywood.” The website shows both the glamorous Hollywood myth and its gritty but changing reality.

The selected works were chosen by a distinguished group of international and local curators. The international jury includes: Magali Arriola, an art critic and independent curator sharing her time between Mexico City and Los Angeles; Suhjung Hur, a curator at Art Center Nabi, a non-profit media art center, as well as a writer, based in Seoul, Korea; and Jennifer Teets, an independent curator based in Istanbul and New York, formerly Chief Curator of "El Cubo" at the Sala de Arte Público Siqueiros.

The local curators are: Ciara Ennis, the Director and Curator of the Pitzer Art Galleries at Pitzer College; Julie Lazar, independent curator and Director of International Contemporary Arts Network (ICAN), Kenneth Rogers, a visual culture professor at UC Riverside, whose research is focused on artists' film and video production; Chris Scoates, the Director of California State Long Beach University Art Museum; Thenmozhi Soundararajan, Executive Director of Third World Majority, as well as a filmmaker, singer, grassroots media organizer; and Reggie Woolery, the Curator of Education for the California Museum of Photography at the University of California Riverside, artist and writer.

An online magnet for the media arts, Freewaves is a grassroots yet global nonprofit arts organization connecting innovative, relevant, independent new media from around the world. The organization produces major biennial festivals with follow-up tours and a website for media artists, curators, teachers and students. Since 1989, the organization has shown new media work by more than 3,300 artists in venues throughout the Los Angeles region, from large-scale projections, screenings and web to public television programming. Educationally, past workshops have informed artists about new digital technology and software, while teachers have received curriculum materials to present media arts at the high school and college levels.

Executive Director Anne Bray founded the concept of Freewaves and has administered the program since its inception. She has been working in the field of media arts since the mid 1970s as an administrator, artist and art teacher. As the Director, she has continued to see the organization through the technological, social and aesthetic changes of the 1990s to the present. Creating intersections of public art and media art has been her path to providing art for many people much of the time. She teaches graduate seminars in new genres and public art at Claremont Graduate University and the University of Southern California. Her own multimedia artwork is widely exhibited.

The “Hollywould” festival is funded by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, The James Irvine Foundation, City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, Getty Grant Program, Pasadena Art Alliance, National Endowment for the Arts, Los Angeles County Arts Commission, and Freewaves’ members.


Freewaves' "Hollywould" Schedule of Special Events - Thu. Oct. 9 - Mon. Oct. 13, 2008 ~

Every Day:

Remapping - LA Hollywould
Starting at LACE
- Pick up a mobile media device and explore the cultural itineraries and portraits created by neighborhood youth, seniors, street cleaners, movie star impersonators, Business Improvement District employees, and new loft owners
- Cultural Civic Computing by Fabian Wagmister and Jeff Burke of REMAP
- See Superficial Superglow — an interactive LCD installation on the façade of LACE
Thu. 10/9 - 12noon - 6:00pm
Fri. 10/10 - 12noon - 9:00pm
Sat. 10/11 - 12noon - 12midnight
Sun. 10/12 - 12noon – 6:00pm
[Mon. 10/13 - 6:00 – 9:00pm - see last day's activities below... Lucky Strike Lanes will host the "Remapping" projecting party... self-authored community media collages screened at the end of each lane]
LACE - 6522 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90028, 323.957.1777
www.welcometolace.org

LA Forum/Woodbury Hollywood Exhibitions
"Who Is in Charge Here: Authors, Authority and Authoritarianism"
Fri. 10/10 - 12noon - 9:00pm
Sat. 10/11 - 12noon - 12:00midnight
Sun. 10/12 - 12noon – 6:00pm
- In an architectural installation, video projections by 10 artists investigate the small spectrum between creation and control in our times of political decisions and lethargy
6518 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90028

Kung Pao Kitty
Happy Hour Screenings
Daily 5:30 - 7:30pm
- Visual Cocktail Mix, The End!, Bad Boys All Ages, and CNN Remix (music, violence, disasters, and artists’ TV interventions) will be showcased instead of the nightly news, in daily rotation
6445 Hollywood Blvd Los Angeles, CA 90028 323.461.4481
www.kungpaokitty.com

Art Videos on National City Buses
All city buses will exhibit Freewaves-curated new Art Videos refreshed twice daily on Transit TV throughout Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, Orlando and Milwaukee!
The material: Most of the bus pieces are excerpts from longer pieces shown during "Hollywould"


Thursday, October 9 - "Art Launch" – 7:00pm – 12midnight

Roosevelt Hotel Tropicana Bar
"Hollywould" Launch Party: Part I
- Private Poolside Art Reception
- A throng of artists' short videos on screens around the pool and projections in the pool
- Complimentary hors d’oeuvres and drinks
7:00 - 10:00pm
7000 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90028; 323.466.7000
- Free for members of Freewaves, LACE, LACMA, MOCA, and Hammer
- $25 to become a member of Freewaves at the door
www.hollywoodroosevelt.com

The Knitting Factory
"Hollywould" Launch Party: Part II
10:00pm – 12:00am
- DJ Christine Lang with VJ Safy Sniper
7021 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90028; 323.463.0204
http://la.knittingfactory.com


Friday, October 10 - "Visual Music I" – 8:00pm – 12midnight
Park at Highland & Hollywood Center for $2/4 hours with validation or bike or Metro

World of Wonder
Opening of Uncensored
- A program of uncensored Freewaves’ videos
8:00 – 10:00pm
6650 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90028, 323.603.6300
http://wow-storefront-gallery.wowtv.tv

Musician’s Institute
The Goethe-Institut Los Angeles presents: Style in Motion curated by Christoph Dreher
- Screening of selection of artistically exceptional music videos 2002 – 2008
8:00 - 10:00pm at The Green Room
6752 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90028, 323.462.1384
www.mi.edu

The Knitting Factory
Visual Music
- Pfadfinderei w/DJ Live V.J. performances
- Highly acclaimed visualist crew
10:00pm – 12:00am
7021 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90028, 323.463.0204
- $10
http://la.knittingfactory.com


Saturday, October 11 - "Visual Music II" - 2:00pm – 4:00pm

Musicians Institute: The Passage
- Christoph Dreher, Christine Lang, and Safy Sniper will be joined by Alan Calzatti to discuss the effects of music video on international culture
- Courtesy of Goethe-Institut Los Angeles
2:00 – 4:00pm
6752 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90028; 323.462.1384
www.mi.edu; www.goethe.de/losangeles


Saturday, October 11 - "Streetwise Mobile Media" - 3:00pm - 12midnight

6500 Block of Hollywood Boulevard
- Eco activities along the street with info tables, street puppets, man-made parks by Park(ing) day L.A.! a Fender Blender juicer, Interactive Watershed Suitcase, Biodiesel FAQ's answers, etc.
3:00 – 9:00pm
Between Schrader Blvd. and Wilcox Avenue

LACE + LA Forum/Woodbury + Paul Gleason Theater
Video screenings and installations
6:00pm – 12:00am
6518-6522 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90028; 323.957.1777
www.welcometolace.org

Bike Valet by LACBC (Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition) on Hollywood Blvd. near Hudson St.
http://la-bike.org

Mobile Media Nightmares
On Hollywood Blvd.
- Reversed surveillance at MacDonald’s, ballooned cameras at an altitude of 50-feet, drive by horror projections counteract barcodes, RFID's and ID Targets
8:00pm – 12:00am

Bicycle Bell Ensemble, Bike Cite and Bike Ballet
- Musical and dance performances on the street!
9:00pm
Hudson St. at Hollywood Blvd. on the north side, opposite LACE

Second City Studio Theatre
Pre-Election Improv Satire
Shows at 8:00pm, 9:30pm, and 11:00pm
6550 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90028; 323.464.8542
www.secondcity.com/?id=theatres/losangelesand www.etix.com


Sunday, October 12 - "DeTours" - 4:00 - 10:00pm

DeTours Around Alt. Hollywood
- Starting at LACE

Five different 1.5-hour walking tours of Hollywood from alternative perspectives start every 15 minutes beging at 4:00pm, sponsored in part by LA Forum.
- Each group will receive mobile media devices to document their tour (Media architecture by REMAP)
- Each tour has a different guide and perspective:
4:00 – Ryan Griffis, artist – Parking Public: a Tour of Parking Lots and Utopias: Hollywood
4:15 – Elizabeth Lovins – Excavating the Lost Hollywood Art Colony, a walking pod tour, BYO mobile video player & download from www.freewaves.org/tours/excavating
4:30 – Greg Goldin, architecture critic – Stepping on the Cracks: Skeptical Promenade thru Hollywood Redevelopment
4:45 – Matthew Reynolds, visual culture scholar – The Glamour of Surveillance: A User's Guide to Looking in Hollywood
5:00 – Sara Wookey, choreographer and Deborah Murphy, urban designer– Actions of Time and Space on the Walk of Fame
6522 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90028, 323.957.1777
reservations at freewaves.org

Workshop at LA Forum/Woodbury Hollywood Exhibitions
5:00 – James Rojas, urban planner – playful brainstorming workshop with props and 3D model about Hollywood’s future

Pig’n Whistle - 5:30 - 7:30pm
5:30 – 6:30pm - Tour groups will regroup and refresh at this classic Hollywood restaurant, while participating in the creation of a tour media collage
6:30 – 7:30pm - Norman Klein talk and video: The World’s Most Schizophrenic Street, Hollywood Boulevard’s Imaginary 12-step Program
6714 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90028, 323.463.0000
www.pignwhistle.com

American Cinematheque at the Egyptian Theatre
8:00 – 10:00pm
Two media art screenings at the Egyptian-themed theater that is forever Hollywood
- Steven Spielberg Theatre – LA Filmforum presents Freewaves’ Holly Would If She Could: Artists’ Replies to Hollywood
- Lloyd E. Rigler Theatre – Los Angeles Plays Itself, by Thom Andersen
6712 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90028, 323.461.2020
– Tickets via Fandango.com or at the box office
www.americancinematheque.com


Monday, October 13 - Day 5: Remapping - LA Hollywould – 6:00 – 9:00pm

Lucky Strike Lanes
Remapping - LA Hollywould
- Smart-phone installation will project self-authored community media collages at the end of each lane
6:00 – 9:00pm
- Happy hour prices 6:00 – 7:00pm
Within Hollywood & Highland Center on ground level - 6801 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90028, 323.467.7776
www.bowlluckystrike.com

For a deeper understanding of Freewaves and this festival feel free to check out this 11-minute interview with Freewaves' Founder and Executive Director, Anne Bray:
- PDF text version: www.freewaves.org/hollywould/interview.pdf
- Audio-only version (opens iTunes): www.freewaves.org/hollywould/interview.m4a
- Audio with accompanying slide show: www.freewaves.org/hollywould/interview.mov

And for the visually oriented, here's a map of Hollywould's festival zone along Hollywood Blvd.:
http://www.freewaves.org/reservations/schedule.html

For more information, images and interview requests, please contact Green Galactic’s Lynn Hasty at lynn@greengalactic.com and 213.840.1201.