Seeds and a dish with chicken and berries on a decorative table

Paige Emery: The Banana Leaf is a Container Technology, 2024, produced by Active Cultures and The Brick at Arlington Garden Pasadena. Photo by Jessica Howes.

Active Cultures is a public arts nonprofit in Los Angeles that explores the intersection of art, food, and ecologies through artist-led projects and programs.

Upcoming Projects

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ECOTONES

A program series with Life on Earth

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Enzo Camacho & Ami Lien: Langit Lupa (Heaven and Earth)

An ongoing artist residency

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colectivo amasijo: offering

A procession and communal meal

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FEATURED PROJECT

Meech Boakye: watering

Watering was a communal hydration ritual, a gathering facilitated by artist Meech Boakye that considered hydration as a medium for collective healing. The gathering centered on a screening of Jumana Manna’s Foragers (2022), a film that explores the restricted practices of foraging wild edible plants in Palestine under Israeli law. To introduce the film, Boakye drew parallels to American postbellum property laws, discussing how access to wild land was systematically restricted to limit autonomy and erase Indigenous traditions. This program invited participants to question how ecological conservation can be weaponized as a political tool for displacement.

Meech Boakye: watering, October 13, 2024. Presented by Active Cultures and The Brick. Photo by Gina Clyne.

Join us at The Brick for an afternoon gathering wi

Join us at The Brick for an afternoon gathering with colectivo amasijo, including a procession and communal meal to root us to the specific earth underneath the East Hollywood concrete. This action from the Mexico City-based collective seeks to recreate moments when the land was common, when paths and biodiversity were sown.

For the final program of ECOTONES, a series co-presented by Active Cultures and The Brick, the artists ask: How do we reweave ourselves with the territory? How do we make seeds trust that human hands will sow them again? What are the technologies that we must (re)create where our reproduction of life is interconnected to the forests, the pastures, and the wetlands?

🌽 Link in bio for full details and to RSVP!

Support for this program series is provided by Kim and Keith Allen-Niesen, The Maurice Marciano Family Foundation, and Olivia Marciano.

@thebrick_la @colectivo_amasijo @lamilpalaescuela @tianquiz_tli_al_atardecer @cat.taft.cat @lauramfried

New York, Manila, and Berlin-based artist duo Enzo

New York, Manila, and Berlin-based artist duo Enzo Camacho and Ami Lien share an artistic practice that moves from the Philippines outward, addressing localized iterations of labor and capital from the perspective of imperial damage. Throughout their field research, they work alongside activists, survivors, and other local community members to both attend to the loss of lives and livelihoods and gesture towards an undergrowth of resistant practices.

Active Cultures culminates Ami Lien and Enzo Camacho’s residency in Los Angeles weekend of public events at 2220 Arts + Archives, illuminating the interconnected struggles over land, memory, and militarization on the road to Philippine liberation.

The artists have invited activists, artists, culture and knowledge workers, and food folks based in Southern California to convene across a series of programs, and we invite you to join us all!

🌱 Saturday, Nov. 9: Screening of the artists’ film, Langit Lupa, followed by a talk and celebration headlined by The Bootleg Orchestra, with food by chefs Ria Dolly Barbosa and Cat Castenada
🌱 Sunday, Nov. 10: Symposium featuring presentations by the artists, along with Josen Masangkay Diaz and Joy Sales, moderated by Lucy MSP Burns.

We look forward to being in community with you all. This weekend’s events are free and all are welcome! Link in bio for tickets.

Portrait of the artists by Diana Pfammatter.

@2220arts @t_j_shin @gabrielalosangeles @carolannemcchrystal @josen.diaz @bootlegorchestra @riadollybarbosa @cattyboombatty

Enzo Camacho & Ami Lien: Langit Lupa (Heaven and Earth) is supported in part by the California Arts Council, a state agency. Learn more at www.arts.ca.gov @calartscouncil Langit Lupa’s public programming is also made possible in part by a grant from the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs.

Enzo Camacho & Ami Lien: Langit Lupa (Heaven and Earth) is organized by Active Cultures with support of artist TJ Shin as Project Manager.

Enzo Camacho & Ami Lien: Langit Lupa presents Dap

Enzo Camacho & Ami Lien: Langit Lupa presents
Dapat Bawiin (We Shall Reclaim), a Community Celebration
Nov 9, 7–10 PM

This Saturday join chefs and friends Cat Castenada and Ria Dolly Barbosa as they make a meal for Dapat Bawiin, a Community Celebration. The two create a menu for the evening inspired by Anakbayan Manhattan’s "recipes for revolution," a radical recipe zine composed of 6 recipes that fed and nourished the fights for the liberation of Filipino and oppressed people across the globe.

To learn more about Anakbayan Manhattan’s work and zine, follow @anakbayanmanhattan

🌱 This weekend’s events are free and all are welcome! LINK IN BIO for tickets.

@anakbayanmanhattan @2220arts @t_j_shin @gabrielalosangeles @carolannemcchrystal @josen.diaz @bootlegorchestra @riadollybarbosa @cattyboombatty

Based in Los Angeles & Long Beach, Bootleg Orchest

Based in Los Angeles & Long Beach, Bootleg Orchestra is a trio that creates electronic/soul music as a soundtrack for collective and personal transformations occurring in the growing anti-imperialist and anti-fascist movement. As cultural workers, Bootleg Orchestra's mission is to create music that educates listeners on issues, advocate for community-led campaigns, and inspire listeners to create change through organized community-based action.

Join us on November 9 when Bootleg Orchestra will screen their documentary. Although Vanessa Acosta (singer) is unable to join, the screening will be followed by a live Bootleg Orchestra set featuring Devin Pruden (drums), Silahis (vocals), and Kinaiya (poet).

Drawing influences from electronica, R&B, and jazz, Bootleg Orchestra released their first full-length album, MAKIBAKA, in August 2021. The album reflects their lived duality of organizing in the community and serving the people while working through their own personal journey of healing. In May 2024, Bootleg Orchestra premiered their short documentary, "Reach Out", which follows the process of co-writing a song with Roger Rigor of the iconic Filipino disco band VST&Company. Their work highlights the role of music and cultural work in movements for social and environmental justice, especially among indigenous communities across the world.

To learn more about how you can campaign for human rights in the Philippines and abroad, follow @ichrp_us and @malayalosangeles

@bootlegorchestra @iamsilahis

@2220arts @t_j_shin @gabrielalosangeles @carolannemcchrystal @riadollybarbosa

Enzo Camacho & Ami Lien: Langit Lupa (Heaven and Earth) is supported in part by @calartscouncil, a state agency. Learn more at www.arts.ca.gov. Langit Lupa’s public programming is also made possible in part by a grant from the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs.

Enzo Camacho & Ami Lien: Langit Lupa (Heaven and Earth) is organized by Active Cultures with support of artist TJ Shin as Project Manager.

THE SYMPOSIUM SUNDAY, NOV 10, 11 – 4 PM Join us

THE SYMPOSIUM
SUNDAY, NOV 10, 11 – 4 PM

Join us for a second screening of Langit Lupa, followed by a symposium fashioned by Enzo & Ami, including presentations by the artists, along with Josen Masangkay Diaz and Joy Sales. Lucy MSP Burns moderates.

Friends, comrades, and colleagues in neighboring universities, presenters intertwine research, writing and community-based activist collaborations to analyze and enact the Philippine liberation struggle as a trans-Pacific effort.

The Langit Lupa programs center on a weekend of public events at 2220 Arts + Archives, illuminating the interconnected struggles over land, memory, and militarization on the road to Philippine liberation. Camacho and Lien have invited activists, artists, culture and knowledge workers, and food folks based in Southern California to convene across a series of programs, which will include a film screening, symposium, and community celebration, entreating various publics across LA to learn from, share space with, and act in solidarity with the Philippine people’s struggle.

🌱 Events are free and all are welcome!

Link in bio for tickets.

Images: Enzo Camacho & Ami Lien, Langit Lupa (2023), film still, courtesy of the artists. Portrait of Josen Diaz, photo by Julia Rhee. Portrait of Joy Sales, photo by Nicole Albrecht. Portrait of Lucy MSP Burns.

@2220arts @t_j_shin @gabrielalosangeles @carolannemcchrystal @josen.diaz @bootlegorchestra @riadollybarbosa

Enzo Camacho & Ami Lien: Langit Lupa (Heaven and Earth) is supported in part by the California Arts Council, a state agency. Learn more at www.arts.ca.gov. Langit Lupa’s public programming is also made possible in part by a grant from the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs.

Enzo Camacho & Ami Lien: Langit Lupa (Heaven and Earth) is organized by Active Cultures with support of artist TJ Shin as Project Manager.

Ami Lien and Enzo Camacho are in Los Angeles! Join

Ami Lien and Enzo Camacho are in Los Angeles! Join us when their residency concludes for a weekend of free public programs at 2220 Arts + Archives on Nov 9 + 10. Come for film, talks, and a community celebration headlined by The Bootleg Orchestra, with treats from a community of friends in the LA Philippine food world.

On Saturday, Nov. 9, we are thrilled to present the LA premiere of Enzo Camacho and Ami Lien's newest film, Langit Lupa (Heaven and Earth) (2023).

The film will be followed by a conversation between Enzo, Ami and Xenia Tupas, a movement elder who grew up on Negros Island, and whose personal history is intimately woven with the story in the film.

Stay through the evening for Dapat Bawiin (We Shall Reclaim), a community celebration featuring a performance by Bootleg Orchestra, cash bar, more music and incredible food from a cohort of chefs.

Events are free and all are welcome!

🌱 5 PM: Screening of Ami Lien & Enzo Camacho: Langit Lupa (Heaven and Earth) (2023)
🌱 6 PM: Talk with the artists and Xenia Tupas
🌱 7–10 PM: Dapat Bawiin, a Community Celebration featuring Bootleg Orchestra

Link in bio to RSVP!

@2220arts @t_j_shin @gabrielalosangeles @carolannemcchrystal @bootlegorchestra @riadollybarbosa #enzocamachoamilien

Images: Enzo Camacho & Ami Lien, Langit Lupa (2023), film still, courtesy of the artists. Portrait of Ami Lien and Enzo Camacho, photo by Diana Pfammatter. The Bootleg Orchestra, courtesy of the artists. Enzo Camacho & Ami Lien, Langit Lupa (2023).

Enzo Camacho & Ami Lien: Langit Lupa (Heaven and Earth) is supported in part by the California Arts Council, a state agency. Learn more at www.arts.ca.gov. Langit Lupa’s public programming is also made possible in part by a grant from the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs.

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