Today we’d like to introduce you to Dan Dowding and Brian Fox.
Please kick things off for us by telling us about yourself and your journey so far.
Filmmaker Dan Dowding and electronics engineering whiz Brian Fox met in 2013 on Naud St. in Downtown Los Angeles California. Dan was building a 20×20 foot TV Installation titled “POLLUTION” at BigArts Studios. Brian was a block away managing recycling electronic waste for a Startup, Isidore Electronics Recycling. Naturally, their worlds connected and as soon as their love for electronics was shared, Brian started sending Dan palates of old recycled CRT Televisions for his installation. Later in 2016 they directly collaborated on their first installation for the Skyline Music Festival in the Los Angeles Historic State Park. “MEDIA POLLUTION” was channeled and ever since then, they have been collaborating on interactive installations with a focus on recycled technologies.
Fast forward a few years; Isidore is now Homeboy Electronics Recycling, Dan moves into the Brewery Artists Lofts, and collectively they have created dozens of different old technology based installations for Spotify, PUMA XO, Dept. of Mental Health(WeRISE), & TwoBit Circus to name a few. Currently, they have been working on developing their own custom video controller using Raspberry Pi technology for maximum control over their developing installations.
Can you give our readers some background on your art?
Rarely do the TV installations end up the way they were conceived. TVs fail, things don’t line up, space constraints change. Planning how 100 random TV’s will fit together to make a wall of 50 is nearly impossible, so a huge part of the installation is the process of discovering what fits where to make the whole thing Tetris together. We tend to go for symmetry, which adds another layer of complexity. Sometimes a piece can go up and down a dozen times before its just right. It’s this process of sculpting that’s just as important as what it ends up looking like.
The aim isn’t just building nostalgic, psychedelic TV walls, but we are motivated to creatively reusing electronics that are otherwise toxic to the environment when discarded. The goal is to make installations that lure you in to indulge in social media(take a selfie) while simultaneously judging the hypocrisy of the epidemic.
In general it gives us an opportunity to talk about electronics, more specifically electronics that are produced without the forethought of what to do when it’s at the “end of its life” CRT’s contain toxic lead embedded in the glass that has no way to be extracted, so the only option is to stick in a hazardous waste landfill, where it will not breakdown for tens of thousands of years. Unfortunately, this is one of many vintage and modern products that are likely to have the same fate.
Dan has a more extensive background as a filmmaker, which allows him to focus on both content creation and operations. While Brian’s background in engineering, reuse, and repairs creates a perfect balance for technical support. The two draw inspiration through video art as a means to elevate their focus’ through the CRT video installation medium.
The prevailing narrative around screens these days is that they “disconnect us.” That said we try to use screens to bring people together. Not only with interesting images, but we find that when we use modified live video feeds, people tend to put down their phones and start looking for themselves and their friends. Little kids almost always start dancing, some for the first time, in front of a CRT. We like to think its cause CRTs are rad, but it may be because analog TVs actually beam electronics into your head.
What would you recommend to an artist new to the city, or to art, in terms of meeting and connecting with other artists and creatives?
It almost goes without saying that accessibility to our audience has increased dramatically. A few dives into the social media world can lead to a direct line to the people/forums/communities that are intrigued the most by visual installation art. Which, in turn, creates a feedback loop because we get to see what they are doing, which instantly inspires us. In some ways these communities are a place of virtual visual mashups, building on each others style and technology as well as successes and failures. Thankfully the visual installation is small sharing community, and the world doesn’t seem competitive or too saturated, in fact, it seems to be in a revival period, so we feel really good about our timing and where we’re at. This seems to be partially driven by the public’s desire for experiential art, aka selfie art. People love taking pictures in front of cool looking visuals. We’ve also noticed that visual art has become a huge part of smaller art and music shows. It used to cost a lot of money to get the equipment to make that happen, but some items that were once thousands new are barely even $100 on the used market.
On the same thought, cities like LA are extremely supportive towards artists’ and their communities. This is why living in the biggest artist community in the country, The Brewery Artists Lofts, has been such an immense inspiration to us. We are surrounded by people chasing their dreams on the daily, and as soon as I step outside, I’m greeted with some of the most fascinating minds, ideas & conversations I’ve ever encountered. It all contributes to further growth and inspiration, which I find instrumental to the development of our art. On the other side of that, I feel like 50% is doing the actual work. LA has done such a wonderful job of providing spaces and communities to do so. We see a slow change washing through LA of gentrification, which I think is going to make things a lot harder, which is why communities are so important.
CRTs are a blessing and a curse. They are a reusable canvas, but they don’t store well, which means it’s hard to save as many as we’d like.
Space is at a premium in this city, so it would be amazing to see more government/publicly supported art spaces that have some subsidies/scholarships. The amount of work we get each month is still extremely uncertain, so we have to be conservative with how much space we dedicate ourselves to financially. This, in turn, limits what we try to create. All that said the thirst for unique art is LA seems unprecedented, especially 70’s/80’s/90’s video/CRT related stuff. Even if we had more space in another less expensive part of the country, I doubt the interest in this type of art would be as high. So it’s obviously a trade-off that so far seems to be working out.
What’s the best way for someone to check out your work and provide support?
www.mediapollution.tv
http://art.breweryartwalk.com/portfolio/dan-dowding
Follow us on Instagram @mediapollution
Use Homeboy Recycling Electronics Services
Donate your old CRT’s to us at Media Pollution
UPCOMING Installation @ https://tarantinashow.com/ July 11th @ Club Bahia
– Monthly Installations @ Club Bahia for https://tarantinashow.com/
– AUG 17: 3teeth Show Stage Installation LIVE @ the Teregram Ballroom https://www.facebook.com/events/707458339656969/
– www.CreepLA.com Fall 2019 | DTLA- Haunted House Experience
– OCTOBER 26&27: FALL BREWERY ARTWALK
Contact Info:
- Address: The Brewery Artist Lofts
- Website: www.mediapollution.tv, https://www.homeboyrecycling.com/
- Email: dandowding@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mediapollution/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mediapollution.tv/
- Other: http://art.breweryartwalk.com/portfolio/dan-dowding
Image Credit:
35mm Photos by
Conner Sorenson
Getting in touch: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition, please let us know here.
