Artbound - Season 3 (2013)

In this episode, Artbound focuses on the Optics Division of the Metabolic Studio. The Optics Division is on a quest for the perfect indexical image, an image not just of the valley but made from the valley. The team has been working on all aspects of production including the camera(s), the film stock, the developers and fixatives, all sourced from the dry lake bed. Bon and The Optics Division's tools include the "Liminal Camera," a portable camera and darkroom housed in a shipping container. The team can produce large black and white images matching the size of the container itself in a few hours. The special explores other tools that have been developed by the Optics Division including the "Silo Camera" located in a one hundred foot silo on the edge of the Owens Dry Lake Bed and Mine Camera. The rig is being used to see the mine shaft, unused for nearly 100 years, that provided the silver for the pioneering film industry.

This episode of Artbound, Songs in the Key of L.A. is a multi-platform collaboration between the Library Foundation of Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Public Library, and USC professor Josh Kun that brings to life the Library's extraordinary Southern California Sheet Music Collection. Five L.A. artists were invited to pick some sheet music, study it, and then interpret it in any style of their choosing. The finished products are now available for free download from the website of the Los Angeles Public Library, and Artbound produced short documentaries on the process.

Chicano Batman is an East L.A.-based four-piece band that fuses funk, R&B, and more.

This episode of Artbound features Paul Turounet, a photographer whose site-specific photographic portraits explore the various migrant peoples found traveling along the U.S.-Mexico Border. Next we go to on a visit to the Watts Towers to catch up on how scientists and community activists are seeking to preserve the Towers against the elements. Artbound reflects on Gary Baseman's mid-career retrospective "The Door is Always Open", which examines a long and varied career while focusing on his family and the Fairfax district of Los Angeles. Then, Artbound the travels to the High Desert where visual artist Diane Best personifies the creative spirit found throughout the Joshua Tree region. Also, featuring a live studio performance by indie band Best Coast.

In this episode, Artbound provides an exclusive look at an avant-garde opera and more.

Artbound presents a one hour special focused on the avant-garde opera, "Invisible Cities."