A collaborative public art project with Jose Ramon Garcia, Team Hybrid, Raul Espinoza, DJ Mane One, ThaiMex, and DJ Marlino 'da5footafunk'
SOME KINDLY MONSTER / UN CIERTO MONSTRUO AMABLE (2005) was a commissioned public art project that premiered at inSite_05: Art Practices in the Public Domain, the fifth incarnation of the bi-national art event between Mexico and the U.S. that explores the cultural, social, and political dynamics of the San Diego-Tijuana border region.
Some Kindly Monster focused on the interaction between car customizers that hailed from different car cultures in San Diego. Given the task of modifying a 1970s Chevy step van to become a traveling ice cream truck-DJ station, the engagement between collaborating customizers, hip hop DJs, and drivers constituted the core aesthetic experience and form to the project. Sonically, the DJ-musicians responded to the specific sound/music cultures of various San Diego-Tijuana communities.
The 'public' form of the project consisted of weekly informal drives and music events in specific areas of San Diego and Tijuana as well as formal events in which collaborating DJs spun music to activate space and people in a shared communal experience. The processes of creation, collaboration, and public engagement became literalizations and metaphors for the cultural, social, and political dynamics of the San Diego-Tijuana region.