Moving Image Media Art Program

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Digital Art on Sunset Boulevard

BODY POLITIC by Nancy Baker Cahill, October 1, 2024 - February 28, 2025

The West Hollywood Moving Image Media Art Program (MIMA) is an exhibition series presenting moving image artworks on multiple digital billboards along Sunset Boulevard. At the top of every hour, MIMA engages the diverse perspectives of up-and-coming creators,

established innovators, and legendary, celebrated artists. MIMA is a fluid framework that disrupts the status quo by reclaiming public space and reaffirming the Sunset Strip as a dynamic, artistic, and cultural destination within the rich context of the City of West Hollywood.

All billboards in the Sunset Arts and Advertising Program are subject to the MIMA Art Program. Each billboard site is required to exhibit 17.5% per hour (or 10.5 minutes of artwork every hour) to the program.

Click here to view still images of artworks exhibited in the MIMA Program

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Applications for the Prequalified List are reviewed in May and November (Online Application). Approval for the list does not guarantee exhibition.

The Moving Image Media Art Program Process and Guidelines have been approved by the Arts and Cultural Affairs Commission to ensure consistency, cultural equity, and aesthetic value in the community.

About the MIMA Program

The West Hollywood Moving Image Media Art Program (MIMA) is an exhibition series administered by the City of West Hollywood and is presented with the Sunset Arts and Advertising Program.

The exhibition series offers artists the opportunity, and the funding, to create immediate, remarkable, and ambitious works of art that engage with the unique visual landscape of the world-famous Sunset Strip, and experiment with the state-of-the-art technology of high-definition digital signage. MIMA enables artists to occupy, contest, and play with the boundaries and uses of public space and manifest moments of connection and inspiration.

Artwork is unique to each location and exhibitions rotate on a quarterly schedule. Schedules are determined 18+ months in advance of the exhibition.

All artworks exhibited in MIMA must be approved by the City. All artists, curators, and nonprofit arts organizations must be approved by the City for the Moving Image Media Art Prequalified List which serves as a resource for the City to curate the program.

The curation of the City of West Hollywood’s Moving Image Media Art Program fosters cultural equity, expands accessibility, inspires communication, and ultimately enhances the human experience of the Sunset Strip.

Moving Image Media Art Program Guidelines [Download Document]

The curation of the City of West Hollywood’s Moving Image Media Art Program fosters cultural equity, expands accessibility, inspires communication, creates public space, and ultimately enhances the human experience of the Sunset Strip. The goals of the program are as follows:

Curate the artwork exhibitions to represent a diverse group of artists at all career stages. Priority will be given to artists and artwork that authentically and impactfully amplify the stories and perspectives of underrepresented communities of all colors.
Plan public artworks to air on a reliable and published schedule to encourage viewership, elevate existing public spaces, enhance viewing, and encourage community gathering.
Increase the accessibility of exhibition opportunities to artists through targeted outreach, partnership, mentorship, and education. Share opportunities extensively with cultural institutions that support historically underrepresented groups.
Anticipate and address cultural shifts. Allow and encourage the artwork content to reflect these by being responsive and aware.
Establish a standard for supporting artists through significant financial investment in moving image media art.
Encourage proactive actions to control and offset any harmful environmental impacts of filming or production. Encourage the use of West Hollywood locations, crew, and talent.

REVIEW AND APPROVAL PROCESS

The City’s Art on the Outside Subcommittee of the Arts and Cultural Affairs Commission will convene at its regularly scheduled meeting to review artworks, proposed by City staff, for the MIMA Program. The Subcommittee will evaluate the artwork quality, potential visual impact, innovation/risk in concept, and prospective social interaction of the proposal using the City’s Art on The Outside Review and Evaluation Criteria for artworks. In addition, the City may use the following criteria in its evaluation and comparison of proposals submitted. The criteria listed are not necessarily an all-inclusive list. The order in which they appear is not intended to indicate their relative importance:

The applicant's ability to execute/curate a high-quality moving image artwork and narrative statement that is conceptually, aesthetically, and technically compelling.
The artwork’s ability to make use of the physical space of the billboard and the surrounding environment of the building location on the Sunset Strip.
The applicant's ability to complete the project within the schedule.
The applicant's proven artistic merit and strong professional qualifications as demonstrated through previous exhibitions; and the applicant's communicated interest and desire to present a moving image media artwork that successfully meets or exceeds the goals of the program.
The applicant’s consideration of the scale of the artwork within its intended exhibition location, and consideration of the audiences that may encounter the work.

QUESTIONS? Contact Rebecca Ehemann, Arts Manager at (323) 848-6846 or rehemann@weho.org. For people who are deaf or hard of hearing, please call, TTY: (323) 848-6496. To learn more information about the City of West Hollywood and its arts programs visit www.weho.org/arts.

The City of West Hollywood's Arts Division delivers a broad array of arts programs including: Art on the Outside (temporary public art), City Poet Laureate, Drag Queen Story Hour, Free Theatre in the Parks, Grants, Holiday Programming, Human Rights Speaker Series, Library Exhibits, National Poetry Month, One City One Pride LGBTQ Arts Festival, Summer Sounds + Winter Sounds

MIMA Exhibition Standards & Guidelines

MIMA Exhibition Standards & Guidelines

Each billboard site plays unique artwork to that location and exhibitions rotate on a quarterly schedule. Schedules are determined 18 months+ in advance of the exhibition.
All artworks are licensed exclusively for the four-month exhibition period through a contract with the City of West Hollywood.
All artworks exhibited in MIMA must be approved by the City’s Arts and Cultural Affairs Commission.
Moving Image Media Prequalified List - All artists, curators, and nonprofit arts organizations must be approved by the City’s Arts and Cultural Affairs Commission for the Moving Image Media Art Prequalified List. The List serves as a resource for the city to curate the MIMA Program. Approval for the Prequalified List does not invite or guarantee exhibition and does imply an invitation to create work for the MIMA Program. Selected artists will be contacted by the city and enter into a contract agreement for exhibition. Moving Image Media Art Program Prequalified List [Online Application]
Curators, artist representatives, and/or commercial galleries are eligible to participate. Artists exhibited by a curator, artist representative, and/ or commercial gallery must also submit a separate and individual application for the Prequalified List.
Nonprofit arts organizations, with federally recognized nonprofit status, who represent moving image media artists are eligible to apply. Artists associated with the exhibitions by nonprofit organizations are not required to submit a separate application.
Submissions are evaluated using the Art on the Outside Review and Evaluation Criteria taking quality, potential visual enjoyment, innovation/risk in the artwork, aesthetics, and the exhibition schedule into consideration.
Only those applications that provide complete information before the deadline will be considered for evaluation. City of West Hollywood Arts Division staff will review submissions and recommend a list of applicants for the Art on the Outside Subcommittee of the Arts and Cultural Affairs Commission for final approval.
Applicants can apply to the Prequalified List at any time and applications deadlines are May 1 and November 1. Applications received between May 2 and November 1 will be reviewed in November. Applications received between November 2 and May 1 will be reviewed in May.
Applications will be reviewed by the Art on the Outside Subcommittee of the Arts and Cultural Affairs Commission on a bi-annual basis (November and May). The Art on the Outside Subcommittee generally meets the 4th Thursday of each month at 3:30pm. Check the City’s calendar for the most current information.
On rare occasions, the City may commission an entirely new artwork.

Requirements for Artwork

All forms of moving image media artwork including film and video, photography, animation, and other forms of digital media are eligible. Advertising of any type (including art advertising) is not accepted.

Artwork is silent. The billboards do not allow for audio.
Artworks will be licensed for a period of four months exclusively through a contract with the City of West Hollywood.

Art displays in one of the following three configurations* to allow for accommodation to individual artworks.

One 10-minute artwork that airs at the top of each hour
One 5-minute artwork that airs at the top and 30-minutes past each hour
One 3-minute artwork that airs at the top, 20-minutes past and 40-minutes past each hour
*8497 Sunset accommodates 3D art and requires different time configurations
- One 5:15-minute artwork that airs at the top of each hour
- One 2:38-minute artwork that airs at the top and 30-minutes past each hour
- One 1:19-minute artwork that airs at the top, 20-minutes past and 40-minutes past each hour

Artworks exhibited in the Program will be displayed on screens of unique dimensions and specific locations on a curated schedule. Artwork must be formatted by the artist to the billboard’s specified codec, dimension, frame rate, and format.

Artists will be notified of the specific board specs when invited to exhibit in the Program.
City will provide a template or pixel map for all boards with multiple angles, sides or dimensions.
The City will provide a countdown leader, a card that identifies the artist and artwork information, and an end credit with a city logo. All of these are required for exhibition.
Flashing, strobing, or rapid editorial intercuts of high-contrast colors are all prohibited. Flash frames create hazardous blinding visual bursts.
Solid white backgrounds (RGB=255, 255, 255) are not allowed. Solid white backgrounds pose a potential safety issue with excessive light emission and glare. Artists may use RGB= 231, 231, 231 instead to create less intrusive solid white.
Solid black (RGB=0,0,0) is the equivalent of “off” to an LED, meaning no light is emitted. In instances of large solid black areas, the individual LED tiles become visible and distracting. Artists may use near black colors instead (e.g., RGB=10,10,10).

Artists are strongly encouraged to visit the billboard locations along Sunset Blvd. where the work will be exhibited. The environment of the Sunset Strip significantly informs how the art on the digital billboards will be experienced.

QUESTIONS: For questions related to the Moving Image Media Art Program contact Jessica Rich, Public Art Consultant, publicart@ weho.org, or Rebecca Ehemann, Arts Manager, rehemann@weho.org, 323-848-6846.

On Screen Now: Explore MIMA's Current Exhibitions

MIMA Map Sept 2024

ARTWORK PLAYS AT THE TOP OF EVERY HOUR

INVISIBLE FRAME (8743 SUNSET)

June 1 - September 30, 2024 - K-COSMOSIS, 2023 by Bomi Yook. Informed by Feminist and Queer philosophies of quantum physics, K-COSMOSIS, invites us to see the world through osmosis rather than duality, where perceived boundaries of individuality become fuzzier to reveal a profound and complex sharedness in being, thinking, and mattering.

NBC Artist's Reception

October 1, 2024 - February 28, 2025 - Body Politic, 2024 by Nancy Baker Cahill. At the top of every hour, the ten-minute digital artwork will be on view on the face of the multiple digital billboards. The second part of the work will exist in augmented reality, 3-dimensional space, above and around the billboards at 8743 and 8775 Sunset. The augmented reality experience extends the video artwork on the 8743 and 8775 Sunset billboards and will only be visible in person through the 4th Wall app, a free Augmented Reality (AR) art platform. The historic exhibition—part of the City of West Hollywood’s “Get out the Vote” initiative— is the first time an augmented reality experience will interconnect with an artwork on full-motion billboard. More information

Sunset Spectacular

SUNSET SPECTACULAR (8775 SUNSET)

June 1 - September 30, 2024 - Long Low Line (FORDLAND), 2019 by Danielle Dean. As its starting point, this artwork takes a collection of Ford Motor Company commercials archived in Detroit, where the company has long been based. In this work, the commercials are deconstructed and the cars have been removed, placing the viewer in the passenger seat. The piece foregrounds two locations: The Service Building in Detroit, and Fordlândia in Brazil, both designed by Ford’s architect, Albert Kahn.Curated by Jeanne Vaccaro and presented by Orange Barrel Media.

June 1 - September 30, 2024 - Televoix 2 (excerpts) by Victoria Fu. Using visuals composed from hand-processed 16mm film, stock material sourced from the internet, original video, and post-production editing, Fu’s work is a form of animated collage. Curated by Jeanne Vaccaro and presented by Orange Barrel Media.

Streamlined Arbor_Sabrina

STREAMLINED ARBOR (9157 SUNSET)

June 1 - September 30, 2024 - Aunties on Sunset by niceaunties. This artwork series began as a reaction to the ‘auntie culture’ prevalent in Asian communities. Asian ‘aunties,’ not necessarily a blood relative, are women who are a decade or two older and afforded some form of seniority in the family’s social circle. This culture highlights the often absurd, yet endearing behaviors seen in aunties, behaviors that can be found in all humans. Drawing inspiration from the artist’s 11 aunties, mother, and late grandmother, the artist explores themes of aging, beauty, and personal freedom in a light-hearted and playful manner through a surreal style that is inspired by Kawaii culture.

COMING SOON:

THE NOW: SUNSET CUBE (8497 SUNSET)

SUNSET WHORL (8430 SUNSET)

WHISKY A GO GO (8901 SUNSET)

RAINBOW & ROXY (9015 SUNSET)

STREAMLINED ARBOR (9157 SUNSET)

Exhibitions are curated by the City of West Hollywood

Where to Find MIMA's Billboards

MIMA Map Sept 2024

Sunset Boulevard began as a dusty 600-foot road in the 1880's and grew into the legendary street that it is today.

Famous for its iconic advertising billboards - from rock 'n' roll album covers to the monolithic Marlboro Man, creative signs are integral part of the Sunset Strip. The full motion reinvention of these billboards builds on the legacy and history of Sunset Boulevard. By introducing 10.5-mintues of public art at the top of every hour, West Hollywood continues its forward-thinking progress through exploration, and innovation.

The themes and architectural details of each billboard location, in combination with a location's vivid history, provide narrative opportunities unique to each address. The curatorial themes address the physical boundaries, orientation and shape of each billboard and its relationship to the surrounding environment, the architectural style of the supporting structure and edifice and potential endemic ideas within all these elements. Additional billboard locations will be added as they are approved by City Council.

Exhibition Highlights + Press Coverage

PREVIOUS EXHIBITIONS

INVISIBLE FRAME (8743 SUNSET)

2024 - Nathan Hirschaut, Child of the Screen; Bomi Yook, K-COSMOSIS; Nancy Baker Cahill, Body Politic

2023 - Sara Rara, Reverse Women; Wong Ping, Screen Shaver; Ivan Navarro, Silent Homeless Lamp

2022 - Shauna Davis, BLACK.ECO; Carrie Chen, Flutter; Leslie Foster, 59

SUNSET SPECTACULAR (8775 SUNSET)

2024 - Artworks curated by Jeanne Vaccaro, ONE Institute. Untitled; Jessica Taylor Bellamy, Redlining Hawks II; Amia Yokoyama, Promise Theory, 2023; Danielle Dean, Long Low Line (FORDLAND), 2019; Victoria Fu, Televoix 2 (excerpts), 2019; Nancy Baker Cahill, Body Politic, curated by the City of West Hollywood.

2023 - Andrea Marie Breiling, Untitled Translucent 2; Olivia Taussig & Tom Rees, Dual Carriageway; Artworks curated by Jeanne Vaccaro, Jacolby Satterwhite, We Are In Hell When We Hurt Each Other; Jennifer West, P22 on Film; Rami George, Untitled (Donna Mae Stemmer); Christine Sun Kim, Time Owes Me Rest Again; Lukaza Branfman-Verissimo, We Hold; Patrick Martinez, Untitled

2022 - Artworks curated by Rick Garzon, Residency Art in Inglewood, and Jeanne Vaccaro, ONE Institute. Ann Lee, What We Lost in the Ocean; Amiee Goguen, Title Sequence and Debbies Barium Swallow; Devon Tsuno Shikata ga nai; Eve Fowler A Spectacle and Nothing

STREAMLINED ARBOR (9157 SUNSET)

2024 - Shaghayegh Cyrous, Xvarnah; niceaunties, Aunties on Sunset; Nancy Baker Cahill, Body Politic

2023 - Thania Petersen, Kassaram (adapted); Jen Liu, The Land at the Bottom of the Sea; Ray Anthony Barrett, Go Tell it on the Mountain (adapted 2023)

2022 - Sabrina Gschwandtner, Three Overlooked Women Filmmakers

ARTISTS who have previously exhibited on the electronic billboards on the Sunset Strip include (alphabetical by last name): AES+F, Lucas Ajemian, Basma Alsharif, Barry Anderson, Skip Arnold, Chad Attie, Marco Branbilla, Andrea Marie Breiling, Nancy Baker Cahill, Nick Cave, Andrea Bowers, Jedediah Cesar, Carrie Chen, Patrisse Cullors, Shauna Davis, Andy Featherston, Jesse Fleming, Leslie Foster, Eve Fowler, The Guerrilla Girls, Aimee Goguen, Sabrina Gschwandner, David Harrt, Magnus Hastings, Kate Johnson, Amy Jorgensen, John Knuth, Barbara Kruger, Ann Lee, Kang Seung Lee, David Lewandowski, Jen Liu, Adam Mars, Jilliam Mayer, Kenzo Minami, Cedric Mizero, Virginia Lee Montgomery, Nikhil Murthy, Rashaad Newsome, Alison O'Daniel, Catherine Opie, Thania Petersen, The Propeller Group, Sarah Rara, Tom Rees, Rob Reynolds, Pipolotti Rist, Rachel Rossin, Jacolby Satterwhite, Emilija Skarnulyte, Pascual Sisto, Frederico Solmi, Cauleen Smith, Cole Sternberg, Ilu Susiraja, Martine Syms, Mika Tajima, Olivia Taussig, Suzanne Treister, Theo Triantafyllidis, Devon Tsuno, Sita Valrún, Chris Vargas, Gareth Walsh, Julie Weitz, Jennifer West, Amia Yokoyama, YoMeryl, Sara Zucker.

Sunset Arts and Advertising Program

SUNSET ARTS AND ADVERTISING PROGRAM

The world-famous Sunset Strip is one of the most iconic places for outdoor advertising in the world. Creative billboards have long characterized the Strip and remain an integral part of the culture on this famous boulevard – from the memorable rock ‘n’ roll billboards to the iconic Marlboro Man.

Created as an effort to reimagine the Sunset Strip as a dynamic digital and cultural hub for the 21st Century, the Sunset Arts and Advertising Program was initiated in 2017 to integrate art, advertising, and architecture. In 2020, after a competitive vetting process, the first twenty-one digital screens were approved to occupy new, redesigned, or culturally significant locations along Sunset Boulevard. These artistic and imaginative installations will re- energize Sunset Boulevard and set the new standard for digital outdoor advertising. The Moving Image Media Art Program is presented as part of the Sunset Arts & Advertising Program (weho.org/sunsetdigital).

The new digital screens build on the city’s legacy and reinvent the idea of what a billboard can be. They integrate art, advertising, and architecture to act as a catalyst for new and/or upgraded development, building renovations, facade remodels, historic preservation, and public spaces. They use high quality and thoughtful design to enhance the unique relationship between the street, buildings, and the advertising installation. They will increase the visibility of West Hollywood’s Sunset Strip as a preeminent location for advertising and entertainment.