Visual Communications Media

Fund: $25,000

Visual Communications Media presents First Street North Open: An Interactive Multidimensional Timeline, a multi-disciplinary art activation that is inspired by the changing terrain of businesses, dwellings, and cultural institutions that make up Historic First Street North in LA’s Little Tokyo. The project begins with artist Tina Takemoto’s research into Little Tokyo’s nuanced histories. Utilizing Takemoto’s research, First Street North Open will invite audiences to engage with the legacies of the neighborhood through an interactive website and an audio-visual walking tour. While audiences can explore the interactive website from their homes, the audio-visual walking tour will be designed to invite visitors into the neighborhood. Visitors can access the guided tour content on their mobile devices via QR codes, which will be available for several months starting in January 2021 at various sites on Historic First Street North. To enrich Takemoto’s research, Visual Communications Media will commission community artists to activate six buildings along Historic First Street North. The lineup of artists will reflect Los Angeles’s diversity, both culturally and in the art disciplines represented. The artists will use a variety of media, including print, projection mapping, virtual reality, Japanese calligraphy, live theater, film, and photography. The activations will reflect the history specific to each of these six sites. With these artists and their work, First Street North Open will celebrate how the diverse cultures and histories of Los Angeles converge in Little Tokyo.