Arts & Entertainment

This episode profiles four California artists who make motherhood a part of their art: Kenyatta A.C. Hinkle, Andrea Chung, Rebecca Campbell and Tanya Aguiñiga. There's a persisting assumption in contemporary art circles that you can't be a good artist and good mother both. But these artists are working to shatter this cliché, juggling demands of career and family and finding inspiring ways to explore the maternal in their art.

This episode profiles prominent artist Doug Aitken who for more than 20 years has shifted the perception and location of images and narratives. His multichannel video installations, sculptures, photographs, publications, happenings and architectural works demonstrate the nature and structure of our ever-mobile, ever-changing, image-based contemporary condition. In his newest piece, “Underwater Pavilions,” he creates a conversation with the viewer to become fully present and immersed in the sea.

Refraction features music videos from South African producer Nozinja, New York City musician Ziemba, Los Angeles multi-instrumentalist Dexter Story, U.S. band Bitchin' Bajas & Bonnie Prince Billy, Belgian producer debruit, Los Angeles musician Def Sound, and German/Japanese duo Masayoshi Fujita & Jan Jelinek.

Illuminate features music videos from British-Sudanese artist Sinkane, Japanese artist Shugo Tokumaru, Brazilian psychedelic rock band Boogarins, U.S. latin band Buyepongo, Noregian singer Farao, Seattle hip-hop group Shabazz Palaces and Dutch band Shaking Godspeed.

Resolution features music videos from Sudanese-American songstress Alsarah and the Nubatones, Swedish "antinational cabaret" group Europa Europa and the Knife, Los Angeles producer The Gaslamp Killer, U.K. beatmaker Commodo, Nigerian band Tal National, and Polish chamber musical duo Sza/Za.

"Tableau" features music videos from Japanese-born duo Cibo Matto, Mexico City punks Los Blenders, New Zealand artist MADEIRA, Italian producer Clap! Clap!, Brazilian psych band Tagore, Sierra Leonian band Janka Nabay & the Bubu Gang, and American guitarist Dustin Wong and Japanese musician Takako Minekawa.

Native American basketry has long been viewed as a community craft, yet the artistic quality and value of these baskets are on par with other fine art. Now Native peoples across the country are revitalizing basketry traditions and the country looks to California as a leader in basket weaving revitalization.

This look at Los Angeles’ Olvera Street is part-history lesson and part-immersion in stereotype of the birthplace of Los Angeles. Emmy® award-winning journalist, author and musician Rubén Martínez, explores the sometimes-violent, 200-year struggle for the political and symbolic control of the city as told in “Variedades” — an interdisciplinary performance series that brings together music, spoken word, theater, comedy and the visual arts, loosely based on the Mexican vaudeville shows of early-20th century Los Angeles.

Multiplicity features music videos from Ghanian/Swiss group OY, Spanish indie pop duo Single, Japanese artist Oorutaichi, New York avant-gardist Oneohtrix Point Never, German psychedelic pop group Fenster, and Los Angeles musician Entrance.

"Something's Up" features music videos from Berlin-based artist Perera Elsewhere, Chilean singer Alex Anwandter, Jamaican project Inna de Yard, Tijuana-born singer-songwriter Ceci Bastida, Israeli trio A-WA, Ugandan group Ennanga Vision, and South African artist Umoja.

In this new season, Artbound travels back to pre-industrial Los Angeles to explore one of its key and most controversial figures -- Charles Lummis. A writer and editor of the L.A. Times, avid collector and preservationist, an Indian rights activist, and founder of L.A.’s first museum -- the Southwest Museum -- Lummis’ genius and idiosyncratic personality captured the ethos of an era and a region. 

Throughout its history, the natural beauty of California has inspired artists from around the world from 19th-century plein air painting of pastoral valleys and coasts to early 20th-century photography of the wilderness (embodied famously in the work of Ansel Adams) and the birth of the light and space movement in the 1960s. Today, as artists continue to engage with California’s environment, they echo and critique earlier art practices that represent nature in “The Golden State” in a particular way. Featuring artists Richard Misrach, Laura Aguilar and Hillary Mushkin.

Balance features music videos from Brooklyn musician Helado Negro, Belgian duo Véronique Vincent & Aksak Maboul, L.A. artist Vex Ruffin and hip hop legend Fab 5 Freddy, Dutch/Ukrainian producer Antenna, UK musician Never, and Japanese group Networks.

"Visions" features music videos from Spanish garage rockers The Parrots, Cuban jazz singer Daymé Arocena, L.A. singer Nite Jewel, New Zealand-based rapper Raiza Biza, Chilean techno artist Sanfuentes, and Japanese artist Chihei Hatakeyama.

Artbound explores the programming of the Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles, investigating new programming and curatorial approaches that are redefining what it means to be a 21st century museum. This episode features three new programs by The Underground Museum, Wolvesmouth, and Public Fiction.

The highly skilled labor of artisans migrating from Mexico and Latin America are the backbone of high-end design and retail in Los Angeles, producing some of the most exquisite furniture, textiles, and design goods. But they represent a creative force that seems invisible to the city. Artbound uncovers their stories and their role in making Los Angeles and Southern California the creative capital of the world.

Macroscopic features music videos from British-Mauritian musician Mo Kolours, Cincinnati violinist Sudan Archives, U.S.-based The Nels Cline Singers, Japanese producer Seiho, Brooklyn duo Javelin, Portland-based musician Schaus, Danish band Lust for Youth and German group Kreidler.

"Synesthetics" features music videos from Japanese indie band Mitsume, German group Lali Puna, French artist Magic Island, Cuban rapper el tipo este, Congolese group Konono No. 1, Argentine singer Juana Molina, and US artist Visible Cloaks.

USMC Sergeant Christian Ellis was a machine gunner in Iraq, whose platoon was ambushed, leaving him with a broken back and only one of a few survivors. Ellis returned home to join millions of Americans who struggle with post-traumatic stress disorder. Ellis inspired the first opera about the Iraq war with a score composed by Tobin Stokes, a libretto by Iraqi-American Heather Raffo, and produced by the Long Beach Opera. This documentary explores how the experience of war is transformed into a work of art.