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The 18th Street Arts Center Years
| 2000-present

Kate Johnson projections onto buildings of the Getty Center for the grand opening of Pacific Standard Time (PST), 2011

Since 2000, Santa Monica’s 18th Street Arts Center has been the home of EZTV and its longest-running venue. Here, many of EZTV’s most notable projects have been achieved as members have nurtured, mentored, and promoted its place in the diverse history of Southern California’s arts-based practices.

During the first 7 years of its 18th Street organizational residency, EZTV was the LA-based meeting place for the Association of Independent Film & Videomakers, having hosted meetings for LA-SIGGRAPH, California Lawyers for the Arts, and presented a series of Salons which have brought community diverse voices in fields ranging from social justice to architecture, modern dance choreography to digital art.

In 2011, EZTV’s early history was included in the Getty Center & Museum’s massive region-wide initiative Pacific Standard Time, as part of COLAB, 18th Street’s exhibition of 4 seminal and exemplary artists and organizations involved in the alternative space arts movement.

EZTV logo and projections for the grand opening of Pacific Standard Time (PST), 2011

During its time at 18th Street, works for which EZTV has been an author or major collaborator have premiered at places such as the Cannes Film Festival, SIGGRAPH, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, and PBS, and has been presented and recognized by UCLA and USC’s ONE Archives and Museum. In 2015, USC’s ONE Archives acquired much of EZTV’s early video works and some seminal ephemera as part of its permanent collection. 

Works made during this time, in which core EZTV artists have been major collaborators, have been awarded the Emmy Award, Golden Mic Award, and Cine Golden Eagle.

Members of the core group have also given guest lectures internationally on EZTV’s rich history as well as topics ranging from Transhumanism (aka H+) to Cyber Security at institutions such as the Centre Pompidou, Paris; delivering keynotes at the EU-sponsored SULA Conference in Helsinki; and presenting at in conferences at Cal Tech, the College Art Association’s National Conference in NYC, Disneyland Paris, New School University/Parsons, as well as the School of Visual Arts, NYC.

After 40 years, EZTV has had an extremely rich, perhaps confusing, and decidedly influential role in the story of the media arts. But its story is really only beginning as new generations of artists, working with the existing core members, continue to experiment, create, and present their personal works and stories. 

We thank you for being here and hope you learn more, and possibly even reach out to collaborate with us on a future project.