In Simulacra and Simulation, Baudrillard refers to Los Angeles as a "perpetual pan shot": more a cinematic circulation of hyperreal fantasy than a space-bound city of definable dimensions. This association is strengthened by how the city's sprawling urban landscape is typically traversed, rendered as a steadily-streaming assortment of images scrolling through the letterbox framing of … Continue reading City Scenes: Mediated L.A. Spaces
Tag: Los Angeles
2022 cycling montage (w/ music!)
To cap off 2022 here’s a montage of cycling videos I shot this year, mostly from this past Fall. The footage includes rides from Pittsburgh, Los Angeles, New York, and Toronto. Special thanks to Ben McSpadden who wrote and recorded original music for the montage! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IP-O1r2aeT0
West Coast Reflections
Just as this year’s Fall foliage was flourishing throughout Pittsburgh I slipped off to the west coast to meet my parents who were on their own California vacation. It was a bit of a Southland homecoming for all of us; we hadn’t been together in L.A. since our family lived in the area in the … Continue reading West Coast Reflections
A “Canyon Carving” Playlist
A couple of weeks back I was in California for a brief getaway. I hadn’t been in the Los Angeles area (or even on the West coast) in six years, and much has changed in my life during the interval. So this return visit was both a reprieve from my current cloistered existence researching in … Continue reading A “Canyon Carving” Playlist
City Scenes: Cycling L.A.’s new 6th Street Bridge (w/ video)
While I missed out on all the excitement surrounding the opening of L.A.’s new Sixth Street Viaduct back in July, I finally got to see the bridge in person during a visit to California this October. I also got to try out the city’s bike share system. There is a Metro Bike station near the … Continue reading City Scenes: Cycling L.A.’s new 6th Street Bridge (w/ video)
L.A’s 6th Street Bridge as urban communication convergence zone
Last month the city of Los Angeles celebrated the opening of the new 6th Street Viaduct bridge. The new structure replaces the original 6th Street bridge, an iconic landmark that spanned the L.A. river, connected downtown to Boyle Heights, and appeared in numerous films and other media. The original bridge was constructed in 1932 and … Continue reading L.A’s 6th Street Bridge as urban communication convergence zone
Belcourt Appreciation & Pandemic Media Memories
For the Thanksgiving break last week I visited my family in Nashville. My parents have only been in Tennessee for a few years, so there’s not much personal history connecting me to the place, but after having lived there through the first 18 months of the pandemic returning this time felt like a true homecoming. … Continue reading Belcourt Appreciation & Pandemic Media Memories
City Space as Projective Medium: From Coronavirus Quarantine to Urban Uprisings
The current confluence of the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic and popular political demonstrations has provided strikingly urgent examples of how city space may be actualized as a projective medium. By “projective medium” I mean to describe a repurposing of urban environments wherein public space serves as a canvas not only for the circulation of artistic representations … Continue reading City Space as Projective Medium: From Coronavirus Quarantine to Urban Uprisings