The State of Creativity

This "Artbound" special episode, in partnership with MOCAtv, features The Museum of Contemporary Art's current programming, including an Elaine Sturtevant retrospective and exhibition "William Pope.L's Trinket." The episode also features Martine Syms, Jeffrey Vallance, Jasmin Shokrian, and music videos by Devin Kenny and Teengirl Fantasy.

A new framework for black diasporic art production is taking shape in contemporary Los Angeles. The season seven premiere of "Artbound" explores "Mundane Afrofuturism," an hour-long special that proposes a new theory of the black aesthetic of the 21st century. Created in collaboration with the award winning creative studio Ways and Means, along with artist and filmmaker Martine Syms, the episode explores the tension between conventional, segregated channels of media distribution and the black imagination.

Artbound collaborates with the Museum of Contemporary Art to feature videos from their channel MOCAtv. The series showcases exhibitions, historical segments, artist documentaries, and original video art pieces created in collaboration with artists, musicians and fashion designers. The episode also features interviews with Museum Director Philippe Vergne, and leading curators.

"Artbound" explores art created amidst social upheaval, including the life and work of Noah Purifoy whose practice was radically transformed by the Watts Riots; the emergence of Chicano printmaking in response to the Chicano Moratorium; Andrea Bowers and Noe Gaytan whose work engages with the contemporary struggle for raising the minimum wage and unionization of adjuncts in higher education; and Michael Maltzan's design of Star Apartments which addresses the issue of homelessness in Downtown Los Angeles.

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. See what other exciting episodes this new season will offer!