Aire Libre is a dance-based video installation that examines toxic air and soil pollution in Los Angeles County and its disproportionate effect on lower-income communities of color living amid the heavy industry, infrastructure, and polluting facilities that underpin our capitalist, fossil-fuel-based economy.

Aire Libre is a collaborative project led by artist Erin Cooney, bringing together 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.