Featuring: Black Woman Rest by Patrisse Cullors, Una Pagina Mas by noé olivas, and چشمه Cheshmeh by alexandre ali reza dorriz
The City of West Hollywood debuts the next cycle of its Moving Image Media Art (MIMA) program, an ongoing exhibition of digital artworks displayed on billboards along Sunset Boulevard. This series continues to transform the urban landscape with thought-provoking moving image pieces, each engaging with themes of identity, history, and presence.
The new exhibitions, running from February 1 through May 31, 2025, showcase three powerful works:
- Black Woman Rest by Patrisse Cullors premieres at 9157 Sunset Boulevard (Streamlined Arbor billboard), airing at the top of every hour for 10 ½ minutes. This meditative piece challenges societal biases around rest, drawing inspiration from Tricia Hersey’s Nap Ministry and the artist’s own Abolitionist Meditations.
- Una Pagina Mas (One More Page) by noé olivas debuts at 8775 Sunset Boulevard (Sunset Spectacular billboard) and plays at the top of and 30 minutes past every hour for 5 minutes. This poetic film interweaves personal family history with the Odus of Ifá scripture, all within a magical textile created by the artist’s Tía Concha.
- چشمه Cheshmeh, a three-part short film by alexandre ali reza dorriz, screens at 8743 Sunset Boulevard (Invisible Frame billboard). Each segment offers a visual journey from the Iranian village of Sangesaar to California’s Central Valley, reflecting on water as both a literal and symbolic source of life.
- Part A airs at the top of every hour
- Part B airs at 20 minutes past
- Part C airs at 40 minutes past, each for 3 ½ minutes
MIMA transforms the Sunset Strip into a dynamic art space, fostering public engagement through digital storytelling. Each billboard is carefully curated to highlight themes relevant to West Hollywood’s cultural and historical identity:
- The Streamlined Arbor billboard (9157 Sunset Boulevard), rooted in historical architecture, inspires reflections on visibility and agency.
- The Sunset Spectacular billboard (8775 Sunset Boulevard) provides a platform for artists to explore cultural memory.
- The Invisible Frame billboard (8743 Sunset Boulevard) highlights issues of transparency and marginalization.
About the Artists
Patrisse Cullors is a Los Angeles-based artist, educator, and abolitionist. Her work, exhibited at institutions such as The Broad and MOCA, centers around Abolitionist Aesthetics, a framework that challenges artists to reimagine justice through art.
noé olivas, a South Central LA-based interdisciplinary artist, uses his work to weave together spirituality, cultural heritage, and personal narrative. His art has been showcased at MOCA, The Hammer Museum, and Hauser & Wirth.
alexandre ali reza dorriz, an artist, writer, and researcher, explores the intersections of economics, ecology, and museum politics. His projects investigate water privatization and its sociopolitical implications, with works featured in Artforum and the Los Angeles Review of Books Quarterly.
About the MIMA Program
MIMA is part of West Hollywood’s Art on the Outside initiative, bringing contemporary moving image art to the public realm. The program offers artists both funding and a unique platform to engage with the Sunset Strip’s visual landscape. Artists are selected through a biannual open call reviewed by the City’s Arts and Cultural Affairs Commission.
For more details, visit: www.weho.org/community/arts-and-culture/visual-arts/mima
For inquiries, contact Rebecca Ehemann, Arts Manager, at (323) 848-6846 or rehemann@weho.org. For California Relay Service (CRS) assistance, dial 711 or 1-800-735-2929 (TTY).
The City of West Hollywood public arts program is a political propaganda agenda, pure and simple. Can’t wait to see what indoctrination programs come through the planned playhouse. Private individuals and foundations have a right to fund art that has an agenda while public dollars must remain politically neutral without agenda or indoctrination. Public art can challenge the mind, but it must not control the mind. The West Hollywood apparatchiks want to tell us what and how to think. There is zero difference between that agenda and the trumpian actions emanating from Washington DC.
Agreed!
Agreed.
The streamlined billboard is the most distracting digital one. These films draw one’s attention away from the pedestrian crosswalk and any motorist for keeping their eyes on the road. Tired of the hypocrisy of this city on safety for our streets. Too many distractions for one to focus on what needs to be priority
Im all for art but very little public knowledge of what these are about.
Good grief.
Pitiful
It is pitiful. You are correct.
“Each billboard is carefully curated to highlight themes relevant to West Hollywood’s cultural and historical identity” I’ve lived here for a very long time and I do not see how these selections relate to West Hollywood’s cultural and historical identity. I would love to hear how this commission selected these pieces of work to represent West Hollywood. Certainly it’s not a reflection of the population demographic.
Unfortunately the arts commission makes these decisions and aren’t brought to the public vote. I asked why no QR code to explain what these are and told that would be distracting to drivers Yet a moving short film isn’t?! Agreed that these don’t necessarily relate to promoting the city. If so all artists would be from here