A Public Performance in Hollywood Will Celebrate Intersectional Gender Identities

Along a two-block stretch of Hollywood Boulevard, over 35 artists, performers, and collectives will turn the sidewalk into a stage for performance art, dance, music, comedy, and even karaoke.

Arshia Haq performance for Unraveling Collective Forms at LACE (photo by Tina Malek)

The Los Angeles-based arts organization Freewaves was founded in 1989 with the goal of supporting public art that engages a diverse audience on a range of social issues. Originally focused on video and media art, Freewaves has expanded to include performance, which they showcased in last year’s Ain’t I a Womxn? event.

Jennifer Moon (all images courtesy the artists and Freewaves unless otherwise noted)

“You experience the artist doing it right in front of your face,” Freewaves founder Anne Bray told Hyperallergic. “For an audience that is less familiar with art, you’re glued to see what they’re going to do. Video and performance are time-based. It has to move and change, that is how the mind works. Seeing the shifts happening helps you to understand what the work is about.”

Ni Santas

This Saturday evening, Freewaves is taking to the streets of Hollywood with Love &/Or Fear, an intersectional celebration of genders. Along a two-block stretch of Hollywood Boulevard, over 35 artists, performers, and collectives will turn the sidewalk into a stage for performance art, dance, music, comedy, and even karaoke.

Yozmit

“It’s a street that’s very gendered in all different ways,” explains Bray. “Sex shops, Disney princesses, the Los Angeles LGBT Center. A lot of kids from the Valley come to Hollywood to go to the clubs, and families are there before the partiers.”

Sebastian Hernandez

Two performances will bookend the evening: a solo dance piece by Sebastian Hernandez at Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions (LACE) at 8pm, and a closing performance by “Post-apocalyptic, Afrofuturistic, Women’s Liberation Artist Collective” #SNATCHPOWER on the Hudson Street Stage at 10:30pm.

The Uhuruverse of #SNATCHPOWER

In between, dozens of artists will be stationed along the route or circulating, including Jennifer Moon, Young Joon Kwok with Kim Ye, Ni Santas, Marcus Kuiland-Nazario, Arshia Haq with Cassils, Yozmit, and Martha Carrillo who will be presenting a fashion show on the Whitley Avenue crosswalk. Several organizations will also be participating including Black Lives Matter, Reach LA, and Peace Over Violence, who will be ensuring that the event remains a Sexual Harassment Free Zone.