Art + Exhibition News

AIRE LIBRE Public Film Screening at UCLA

Plus a conversation with the project collaborators after the screening

Thursday, October 9, 2025

4:00 PM - 6:00 PM | 314 Royce Hall | UCLA | Parking Structure 5, Level 6
RSVP Here

AIRE LIBRE is a dance-based film that examines the disproportionate effects of toxic air and soil pollution on lower-income communities of color in LA County who live amid the heavy industry, infrastructure, and polluting facilities that underpin our fossil-fuel-based economy. AIRE LIBRE is a collaborative project led by visual artist Erin Cooney (Assistant Adjunct Professor in the Department of European Languages and Transcultural Studies) that brings together East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice, CONTRA-TIEMPO Activist Dance Theater, LA-based poet Rocío Carlos, and vocalists Carmina Escobar and Joung-A Monica Yum.

The 30 minute screening will be followed by a conversation with Erin Cooney and project collaborators, including Jessica Antonio, Honey Bizarro, and Guadalupe Valdovinos of East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice, Ana María Álvarez and Jannet Galdamez of CONTRA-TIEMPO Activist Dance Theater, and poet Rocío Carlos. The conversation will be followed by a reception.

Erin Cooney’s I AM A RIVER debuts at Shatto Gallery this summer, as part of the show, OUR RIVER: Floodplain and Future

Aire Libre Debuts at the Torrance Art Museum

Video Installation Explores Local Environmental Injustice Through Dance and Community Voices

March 29 - May 24, 2025

opening reception:
March 29, 2025, 6-9 PM

**with a special performance by CONTRA-TIEMPO Activist Dance Company + CARMINA ESCOBAR at 7 PM**


THE TORRANCE ART MUSEUM
3320 Civic Center Drive
Torrance, CA 90503

(LOS ANGELES, CA) — Artist Erin Cooney is pleased to announce the opening of Aire Libre at the Torrance Art Museum from March 29 through May 24, 2025. An opening reception will be held Saturday, March 29, from 6:00 to 9:00 PM, featuring a special live performance by CONTRA-TIEMPO Activist Dance Company and vocalist Carmina Escobar at 7:00 PM.

Aire Libre examines the critical issue of air and soil pollution in Los Angeles County, highlighting its disproportionate impact on lower-income communities of color living amid heavy industry, infrastructure, and polluting facilities like Exide Technologies, which has contaminated the soil with heavy metals such as lead and is associated with higher rates of cancer in nearby communities. This powerful exhibition merges art with activism to create awareness about environmental injustice while celebrating community resistance and resilience.

The installation is the result of a collaborative effort led by artist Erin Cooney that includes East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice, CONTRA-TIEMPO Activist Dance Company, poet Rocío Carlos, and vocalists Carmina Escobar and Joung-A Monica Yum.

CONTRA-TIEMPO's dance performances in Aire Libre materialize the interconnectedness of our bodies with the air we breathe and the ground we tread. The vocal performances by Escobar and Yum convey the profound emotions of communities long affected by environmental harm overlooked by corporations and government officials. Poet Rocío Carlos has crafted the exhibition's script by combining original poetry with oral histories from East Yard community members who have experienced toxic exposure.

Aire Libre features East Yard community members and CONTRA-TIEMPO dancers performing at various locations, including the iconic 6th Street Bridge in Boyle Heights, Bandini Park beneath the 710 freeway in Vernon, the residential streets of East LA, and the concrete banks of the LA River. The footage documents a range of environments—from transportation hubs including ports, freeways, and rail yards, to industrial zones comprising warehouse complexes, refineries, and oil derricks—as well as the residential areas and parks situated within these industrial and manufacturing landscapes.

In addition to its presentation at the Torrance Art Museum, Aire Libre will be publicly projected onto various industrial sites within affected communities represented by East Yard. These guerrilla-style projections will aim to shine a light on the perpetrators of environmental harm while symbolically reclaiming and reoccupying these spaces of extraction through the vibrant presence of dancers’ bodies and the faces of community members.

Exhibition Details:

  • Title: Aire Libre

  • Dates: March 29 - May 24, 2025

  • Opening Reception: Saturday, March 29, 2025, 6:00-9:00 PM

  • Special Performance: CONTRA-TIEMPO Activist Dance Company and Vocalist Carmina Escobar at 7:00 PM during opening reception

  • Location: Torrance Art Museum, 3320 Civic Center Drive, Torrance, CA 90503

  • Admission: Free and open to the public