About

BroadCast is a collection of unique and peculiar works of art created for the public, strangers and the unsuspecting. Like seeds broadcast into a field, the artists scatter their art objects, entering the public realm with a spirit of generosity, risk or anonymity.

Since its inception in 1995, BroadCast has involved several hundred visual artists, poets, musicians, and performance artists. The art includes diverse formats, narratives, abstractions, and metaphorics that are distributed in a variety of manners. From killer balloons and talking parking meters to faux fossils and chocolate bars, some are intended to be surreptitiously placed in the environment while others actively seek their audience. Artist Dana Fritz labels and tags each tumbleweed before returning it to the desert. Beverly Naidus' Stick Its are labels to be placed on cans in the grocery store; she refers to these commentaries about merchandising as "Ra-Decals for the Angry Consumer." Michael Yamamoto's pogs are primarily distributed through kids, as is José Lozano's paper doll named Victorina who is a career woman, mother and masked wrestler. Some of the works are performance in spirit, such as the art by Lauren Gohara who took her best drawings to Skid Row and traded them for items that people offered.

The word "broadcast" was originally used to describe the method of scattering seeds into a field. BroadCast art differs from conventional forms of public art because the objects are often intimate in scale, or the contact with the viewer takes on a more personal nature. The approach is in respectful kinship to the bold ideas promoted by Dada and Fluxus artists.

The first BroadCast exhibit organized by Kim Abeles was displayed at Rio Hondo College, Whittier, CA in 1995. Venues that followed included University of Pennsylvania, Clarion, PA; Fresno City College, CA; and Eagle Rock Community Cultural Center in Los Angeles. Each venue added artworks and conceptual engagements. In 2016, musicians and poets performed alongside the BroadCast installation co-curated with Abeles and Ken Marchionno for Los Angeles’ Keystone Art Studios Gallery. Bus Bench BroadCast was energized by Dread Scott's 2025 Fall of Freedom action and offered an opportunity to further explore art intended for public and strangers. Thanks to all!

Abeles also taught about the concept of BroadCasting art at schools, including the California College of the Arts, ArtCenter College of Design, University of Southern California, Scripps College, and California State University Northridge where students created marvelous examples of this type of work. As a class, it presents students with alternative ideas about how to show art, and to raise questions about audience. Who are they? How does an artist connect with them? Is this an audience that is already "convinced"? Are you communicating?