Carmen Zella joins Fenix LAX on the ARTWARS.LA RADIO Podcast to discuss her journey into public art, NOW Art’s latest project, Attune 1.0, and what’s ahead. Listen now! 

Below is the transcript: 

Fenix L.A.X. (FL): We’re usually out in the field, but today’s podcast is at the Octavia Lab. Let’s get started.

On Valentine’s Day this year, something different happened across Los Angeles. As the sun set, parks throughout the city transformed into immersive sound and light experiences—designed not just to be seen, but felt. I was at Exposition Park that evening, standing in the middle of it all, watching strangers slow down, breathe together, and experience public space in a completely new way.

Today, I’m sitting with the owner and chief curator of NOW Art, the visionary behind Attune, a citywide activation redefining what public art can be. We’ll talk about her curatorial philosophy and how projects like Attune are reshaping the cultural landscape of Los Angeles.

Welcome to the Task Podcast. Please introduce yourself.

Carmen Zella (CZ): I’m Carmen Zella, chief curator of NOW Art.

FL: Awesome. Talk to us a little bit about those who may not be familiar with your work. Tell us what goes on behind the scenes and enlighten us if you can. And thank you so much for being here with us today.

CZ: Oh, it’s a total pleasure. I run NOW Art, and NXT Art is our 501(c)(3). I like to think of NOW Art as a catalyst for public art expression and creative agency; while NXT Art is our incubator, where we explore ideas, experiment, and create incredible platforms with prestigious artists.

Living in Los Angeles, we’re in the second-largest city in the country and the capital for the number of artists per capita in North America. That’s a big statement, and it’s true. The privilege here is that we’re in a city with sunshine, which serves as a playground for public art expression. My goal with both organizations is to introduce public art to the broader public and highlight the talent that surrounds us.

FL: Fantastic. I love that. Let’s backtrack a little bit and talk about your entrance or your “aha” moment into the public art space. What was your first kind of like, man, I need to share this with the world?

CZ: Yeah, there have been a few really important moments in my art career. I come from a theater background, so I was producing, doing set design, and theater production at the Royal Court Theatre Upstairs, which is Peter Brook’s space in London, England. At the time I was also doing many jobs, and one of them was as a theater critic. I went to a festival where an Argentinian group, De La Guarda, was doing physical theater. I was attending their premiere performance in a warehouse space, an unconventional theater space. I walked in. There were all of these very formal audience members, and the place exploded. We heard sounds, saw lights on the ceiling, and suddenly, a body pierced through the ceiling, broke through, and then was on a bungee cord, grabbed an audience member, and went back up. The walls came down, there was scaffolding, and all this stuff started happening around you. It was really this moment where I realized theater isn’t about being on a stage or hanging on a wall. It’s about something that captures you and is all-encompassing. It’s in the space where we exist, and that changed me in the direction of thinking about art as life, life as art, quoting John Cage in the Fluxus movement.

I went back to art school, and when I came out to California, it was really with the impetus of: where’s all of this going? Who are all these people? What is Burning Man? What is this whole trajectory of no walls, live in the theater, live in the space, introducing art? It was really that kind of gas in the engine. At the time, it was before the street art movement started happening. I produced some of the first murals in the downtown landscape of that milieu and worked with Bryson Strauss. We went to Art Basel in Switzerland with Mear One, El Mac, Retna, and other incredible artists of the time, including Kofie. Watching the work they did, the idea that an artist can take control without going through an institution and create projects for the public, who are the adjudicators, felt punk rock to me, and I loved the movement.

It created a causeway for me to start looking at public art and then come back to my fine art training, thinking about how to break space into locations accessible to all people to understand and enjoy. I always say, one of my big taglines is: the public is not stupid. We are a lot smarter than people give us credit for. If we sequester art only into institutional spaces, we’re not allowing the public to connect, understand concepts that bridge us culturally, and have the privilege of an education that questions the world we live in and our surroundings.

FL: My question to you is, do you consider yourself more of an executive artist, or what label do you generally put yourself under? Because I feel like for me, I try to say, yeah, I’m an artist, but I like being the executive behind it a little bit more. I like making sure that everybody’s taken care of. I like to make sure that everybody’s heard. Although I may like to display my art or, you know, do different, you know, I guess collaborations. I like to look after the whole as opposed to just looking for individual pieces.

CZ: Yeah. So I mean, my formal hat is a curator, but my informal hat is a muse because I think, if I’m doing my job correctly, then I’m allowing for a public art platform and inspiring other people to consider themselves to participate in that creative space as well.

FL: Right, right. Perfect segue to my next question. Your mission statement states that NOW Art democratizes art and makes it publicly accessible. How has this philosophy specifically shaped your curatorial approach over the years?

CZ: Every project that we do, we think about accessibility, not just in terms of it being free, but in terms of the curation itself. When selecting artists, we consider how we are representing different demographics. In a city like Los Angeles, this becomes a huge feat. I don’t like to think about putting everything in the same exhibition at one time; it’s a series. Within those exhibitions, we consider accessibility of language, different abilities, and physical access so people can attend. We think about senior populations and how the concepts are being met.

In Luminex, we had a curator at every site to explain the projects. We had QR codes that allowed people to hear any spoken word in multiple languages. We think about accessibility in a holistic way, striving to make the project truly accessible to the public. We may not meet every single need, but we really strive to, because if we’re in the public space, the public must be able to engage with the projects.

With Attune, we had 10 locations and aimed to reach neighborhoods that are often underserved, including Porter Ranch and Hanson Dam. We worked with community organizations in those areas and offered them space to table, creating a neighborhood vibe at the installation sites. Within the installations, we had MCs at every event who were representatives from those communities.

We aimed to create public art that reflects the nuanced neighborhoods of Los Angeles while being culturally representative. Los Angeles is a cornucopia of culture, and that is an asset. We need to lean into each unique cultural location and amplify it; allowing communities to stand on their own terms, bring their own artists and beauty, and have a dialogue that comes together as a unified exhibition or experience.

FL: 100%. And like I said, being there and just being able to see the community vibing out to it, and you know, in a sense, it was an exploration of sound as well, because without the sound, it was only a partial story. But I do wanna ask you, when did Valentine’s Day become a part of the whole project? Was it always gonna be on Valentine’s Day? What’s the connection there?

CZ: Originally, we were going to do the project in November, but we needed more time. Doing a project of this magnitude, I thought, since we weren’t using projection, it would be easier than Luminex. But it turned out to be like doing 10 Luminex projects at once, so we needed more time. I thought now was the time to do a project amplifying love, because the media is so negative right now, and I wanted to seed this project in a moment already branded as a time to come together around love. That was the undercurrent for the creation and ideation of Attune. It felt like a really great moment.

This is not a one-off project; we are creating a cultural platform. Attune is not necessarily going to repeat on Valentine’s Day, but the first launch felt like a great opportunity to start it this way.

FL: It worked out, honestly, and I took one of the postcards home. I think it was El Mac. Oh my goodness. For those who may not have the resources to purchase one of his canvases or even have the space for a full wall installation, having just that postcard—and something tangible of his—made my day. It’s right there on my desk. It’s love. I collect things like that.

Yayoi Kusama did a collaboration during COVID with the box for the Veuve Clicquot bottle, and I waited in line at Bemo for it. Just the box was beautiful. Jeff Koons’ balloon dog at the Broad Museum, different Takashi Murakami pieces—just having one of his works was incredible. It felt right.

I do want to ask about a partnership. Collaborating with ARUP is not new. How did you approach them to come back onto this project? I know you worked with them on Luminex. What was that conversation like, and how did you get them to come on board again?

CZ: My big connection there is Paul Chavez, who’s also a musician and a longstanding partner at Arup. Arup has been a great technology partner. The curiosity for this project was embedded in how we were going to pull it off. How technologically could we create a live concert with amplification across great distances while minimizing latency issues and managing the back-end systems? That challenge was enough to bring them in and have an expert like Paul oversee and serve as the connective tissue between the artists and production companies. I feel so thankful and privileged for that partnership.

But this project took much more than that. It involved Arup, MS Productions, Kinetic Lighting, and Media Pollution. Every location had a technician reacting live to the project with a kind of score and different parameters. Media Pollution had old-school TVs at every location with cameras circulating every nine seconds. If you stood in front of a TV, you could see all the locations live throughout Los Angeles County, with videographers capturing the experience.

The backend collaboration was just one layer. There were layers of civic partners, community organizations, volunteers, curation of artists with custom Valentine’s Day postcards being given out for free, the artists themselves, performers, and the overall production. Putting something like this together was a huge experiment and a massive privilege.

We can continue leaning into Los Angeles neighborhoods, creating cross-cultural exchange, and expanding to collaborate with cities like San Francisco, San Diego, New York, Helsinki, and Tokyo. Public art should be a shared experience. The beauty of this curation is that we turn the microphone to the audience and the artists, so you are not just an observer; you are a participant. Expanding that with art and technology feels like the future of public art.

FL: What does success look like for you? With this project personally?

CZ: Yeah. For me, success is curating the project to create a more collaborative exchange. Dance is a huge component, having a live presence of people participating in the acoustic activations. A live presence is not just musicians responding to each other, which was successful and beautiful, but also a physical dance component. Looking at neighborhoods and highlighting their cultures is also a key measure of success.

Attune is really a platform of cultural expression and cultural exchange. From a curatorial standpoint, leaning into that more is important. Our programming for Attune 1.0 tested ideas with artists. claire rousay went up to the microphone and whispered memories, which could be heard across all 10 locations with a beautiful piano piece in the background. Carmina Escobar had the audience stand up, breathe together, and go through practices. Miguel Atwood-Ferguson had a different instrumentalist at every location. Qur’an Shaheed worked with instrumentalists to create improvisational jazz pieces.

These experiences created a vibration for the audience, making the space fluid, where people could stand up, dance, and move. Increasing and amplifying those successes, moments where it was clear, “this is working”, is key. When you do something that’s never been done before, it’s an experiment and a testing ground. Moving forward, we’re in an incubator stage, learning from this, and the project will continue.

FL: Yeah. I’m just here, mind-blown. I’m so happy to be in front of you, honestly, just listening to you. This is the peak for me. I was really interested in something outside of just the programming behind it. I kept thinking, where were you in all of this? I don’t take you as a micromanager. I feel like you’re past that point, and correct me if I’m wrong, but what were you doing the whole time?

CZ: I was in Altadena. I was managing the site. I love going up on scaffolding and working with an artist. In Luminex, I was sweeping when I saw that there was glass on the floor. I am here for the people and the project. With Attune, we needed to have a manager at that location, and I love it. It’s boots on the ground for me. I’m not away from these projects at all.

FL: Yeah. I gotta tell you, with such an array of locations, I was thinking, where is she? What can being in her mind look like right now? This has never been done. From an outsider looking in, it looked like an immense undertaking. I gotta commend you on that one. I do want to ask regarding the live stream. What was on the TVs? Will that ever be released, or where does that live?

CZ: Yeah, so we’re cutting documentation of it now. It’s with an editor in New York, and we’re going to be showcasing that. We’re doing a release wrap party for all of the artists and people who were participating in our gallery space in downtown LA. After the 19th, we’re going to have it available publicly. We’re going to disseminate it. It’s really great to see. I had no idea. I’m blind, I don’t know. It’s a project that you birth, and you’re like, oh my God, what’s happening over here? What’s happening in Leimert? Seeing that footage was really fun for me; seeing how the audience was interacting with the cameras from Media Pollution, how they were dancing, how they were participating, standing up at the Veda Museum and in Tonga Park, and all the different artists located in separate spaces. Seeing them for the first time performing the pieces that we had just acoustically heard and were immersed in was really wild. So, that’s the short, long answer.

FL: I love it. What was your biggest takeaway from this experience?

CZ: My biggest takeaway is that we have to do more in Los Angeles because there are communities that are so excited to be included and receptive to public art across the city.

In Los Angeles, our artists are often celebrated outside of the city. We have opportunities, like the Frieze magazine in front of me here, and moments where people show up in droves to activations like the 99 Cents. What we need to do is create more accessible public art platforms that support artists in our community. It really comes down to funding. Everyone looks over their shoulder, thinking the next person will take care of it. The city budget for public art for the Department of Cultural Affairs is 19 million, which might seem like a lot, but it has to fund all cultural locations, theaters, and more. The budget for New York is 300 million, which shows where Los Angeles stands. We need to reclaim this city as an arts capital. Successful projects like Desert X happen in surrounding areas, but we need to lean into our city more.

Art is a catalyst for revitalization. It creates a better understanding of each other, secures our streets, uplifts people, and makes us an international destination. We see it happening in other locations, and we need to embrace that here for ourselves. We deserve better.

FL: I totally agree. If we’re nitpicking here, within you and your team, when you look back at Attune and the work that was put out, what’s something you feel like you can improve on?

CZ: Turn up a little bit more next time. 2.0, I think I mentioned it a few times, but 2.0. I think we would like to amplify, bring the curation into more of a collaboration between locations and neighborhoods. I think having some of the locations further out, creating collaborations with cities like San Diego or San Francisco, would be really interesting.

There are a few things, but the main one is probably doing it when it’s a little warmer, because it was pretty cold in February. For a nighttime activation, I wanted it to happen on Valentine’s Day, but it was a little chilly. We’re going to look at repositioning it around the summer months to take advantage of our beautiful weather here.

FL: Okay, I gotta look out for my artists. For my artists who are looking to be part of this movement, the ones sitting on the sidelines and waiting for their turn, raising their hands, like, “Hey, I’m ready to go.” What are some of the things you look for when you select artists and bring different artists into the fold? What are some of the keys they have to hit to be part of what you’ve got going on?

CZ: Yeah, that’s an interesting question. When we’re looking at curation across different types of media, what I want to see happen with all of our activations is room for all levels of artists. They don’t have to be established; they can be emerging. The key for me is concept. If you’re an artist creating a piece of work, Jeffrey Deitch talks about this too: it’s not about the aesthetics, it’s about the meaning behind the work. You look at artists like Man Ray, and you think about what he was creating. He was creating moments from a concept, trying to move people and make them think. Work that is conceptual is always attractive, and I think it has a space in the public realm. Oftentimes, we see things that are just commercial or eye candy because they have to meet standards or be family-friendly. You can have family-friendly artwork that still has a concept behind it.

There are different opportunities in each project. They’re not always opportunities to be projected on a 200-foot wall, but there’s always a chance to bring your artwork to the table and have a conversation. There are places for everybody to play in the public art space. It’s just a matter of what your art is, what you want to say, where you want to say it, and the mechanisms of how you envision an installation in the public art realm. From there, it’s about carving it out and making smart decisions, whether associated with an existing project or something you’re doing on your own. Now there’s a different branch with NOW Art and the NXT Art Foundation. When we talk about 501(c)(3)s, we talk about board members and more people collaborating on what the end product looks like.

FL: Talk to us about why starting the nonprofit was something that had to happen.

CZ: Well, we actually started as a nonprofit. Then we started the LLC because we were taking on projects like interior design and consultation projects that weren’t necessarily toward the mission. Then, with NXT Art, we created the identity of NXT Art. So there’s NOW and NXT, they’re in the same family. In NXT Art, we wanted our board members—from Panasonic, public art curators, to international gallerists—to represent both the business and art communities and look at projects with an understanding of prestige.

When thinking about a public art exhibition, I always think of it like flipping the gallery experience inside out. We don’t want to do things that are dumbed down, with inferior equipment, or with artists who aren’t already in a prestigious landscape. We want to give the public access to these things. The board helps form these projects and provides connections to help fund them. That was the idea behind the facilitation of NXT Art Foundation.

FL: Mm-hmm. Okay, cool. And when we talk about funding these projects, or being financially responsible for these projects, how do you generally approach it? Is it like, “hey, we have a grant that we’re going to go after?”, or is it more like, “hey, I know this partnership with this organization can benefit us both. Let’s approach them and see if we can meet halfway.”

CZ: I have to be truly transparent, I’m still not great at fundraising. It’s definitely never the consideration when I start these journeys of ideation. Our LLC has often footed the bill to provide finishing funds to make these projects a reality. Los Angeles hasn’t been thinking about public art projects at scale like they do in cities such as Chicago or New York. They don’t think about the impact of big pieces. My appetite is really big, so we get behind a project and then go out to secure funding. It’s usually a trifecta: some funds from corporate, some from grants, and some from civic sources. We’re continuing to build the funding foundation because once we complete a project successfully, we can return to those partners for future support. It’s a relationship that continues to grow.

I love it. I have to acknowledge that you wear many hats. The work is endless; it never sunsets. Even with the work I do, it’s not unfinished—it’s more like, I’ll return to it in a bit. I have to cover this one for a while and feed this journey because it also involves partners who rely on the content, collaboration, or notoriety that the programs bring to the table.

FL: What inspires you?

CZ: I get very inspired when I see successful public art happening. I was just at a conference called EXMURO in Quebec City. It brought together art leaders who represent public art organizations from New York, the Public Art Fund, Hong Kong, Singapore, Brussels, Brazil, and Taiwan. It was really inspiring to see what my colleagues are doing around the world and the types of public art they’re bringing to the table and the impact on communities. The impact reports, the statistics, the numbers are staggering. That really propels me because even if we haven’t cracked the nut with public art in Los Angeles, being at a level that is well funded, with locations that are destinations—interactive sculpture parks and incredible locations around the world—I believe we’re going to get there. I am a diehard. I’ve locked my jaw onto Los Angeles and am determined to throw my heart back into its arms time and time again, because the community here is ready. The artists here are prepared and exhibiting around the world. It’s time we refocus our pride back into our city, 100%.

FL: Carmen, you’re a true inspiration. I have to tell you that from the bottom of my heart. As a public art programmer, artist, and executive artist, listening to you continues to reassure me that there are other people like me. People who are going to follow it until the end, regardless of the obstacles. We’re going to figure it out, find a way, and even after a “no,” if there’s wiggle room, we’ll try to make it happen.

What do you have planned for the rest of the year? What’s slated for 2026?

CZ: Yeah, so we’re going to do Luminex again in the fall of 2026. We’re positioning it in the South Park region of downtown. We’ve got a great lineup of artists to showcase there. It’s the premier art and technology exhibition for the city, and that’s a title we’ll continue to hold. It’s a biennial, so we’re doing 2026. We want everybody to come out and show love for this exhibition. Then we’ll do it in 2028, and that’s where we’re going to blow the lid off the ceiling. It’s a fun ride.

FL: I love it. I love hearing it. This next question is literally my favorite question, and I only bring it out when I feel like the person can handle it, but I need you to be sincere. What inspires you, but you know, with this one, I try to dig a little deeper. How do you celebrate yourself?

CZ: I celebrate myself with my family. Yeah, yeah.

FL: Fair, fair. Love it, love it. I think we spoke about it all. I just have two more for you. These are straight to the point. Go ahead and let us know where we can find your work.

CZ: Where can we tap in and be part of what you’re building? On Instagram, we’re @NowArt_LA, and our website is nowartpublic.com. There’s an artist portal page on our website with engagement opportunities for artists to reach us and connect with us. We want to be positioned as people helping to pave the way for arts and public art in the city. I’m always curious to see who’s out there, what projects they have, and how we can vision together.

FL: Love it, love it. Then lastly, this is my favorite question of all. I know I’ve heard a lot from you, and again, these are meant to be more of conversational pieces when we put these out as opposed to interviews. Go ahead and gimme your shout-outs. Who needs to hear from you? Mom, pops, your favorite coffee shop, your dog, your cat, your coworkers, your team. Let me know. Let us have it. Take your time with it.

CZ: Yeah. My shout-outs would be to Paul Chavez with Arup, he is my go-to, and Heidi Chang, who is my co-founder of NOW Art on my board. They’re real anchors. And then my team is unparalleled: Sofia Stark, Kim Phan Nguyễn, and the beautiful Claudia Oliveira. And Jeff, I mean, Jeff Moores is, you know, he’s been around. He’s put up with me for a while.

FL: I love it. It’s been a pleasure. And I know this is not a goodbye, and thank you so much for your time. I really appreciate you.

CZ: Yeah, no, thank you. This was fun.