Alex Wen

Hi, I’m Alex! I like to make things—whether it’s websites, film festivals, or magazines. My work revolves around creativity as a way to enact change, connect communities, and actualize a better world. I enjoy writing about films, bridging together creative communities, and thinking about ways to prioritize process over product.

Practices The things I like to do. » 001. Web Development—Respair Media, Sixty Collective, Center for Cultural Power, City Bureau, Mapping Nuclear Legacies, Spellerberg Associates » 002. Design—3-Act Film, subtitle, Groove Salon, ruang rantau, Autonomy is My Joy » 003. some other things—Community Food Navigator, Empire Taste Print Magazine, Hoist Music Festival 2019, Asian Cinevision, Under the Zaytoun Tree, Seashorts Film Festival
Process The way I do things. » A. www—experiments on the web » B. Design—a life worth living, designed » C. Photography—a glimmer of the ordinary » D. Writing—observations on the world

Practices

Web Development
001

Exploring technology as a means to manifest new possibilities. Over 8 years of freelance experience, working as an individual, as part of a team, and in an agency. Proficient in React, Ruby on Rails, Wordpress (PHP), and NodeJS for web development.

Respair Media

Respair is an ecosystem hub creating and supporting the media needed to reshape culture toward liberation.

Built with Squarespace.

respairmedia.com
Sixty Collective

Sixty Collective is a network of Midwest artists and arts workers as well as a platform for hiring, supporting, and fueling their creative lives and livelihoods, built by and for the folks at Sixty Inches From Center.

Built with ReactJS (Gatsby + Strapi CMS).

Center for Cultural Power

The Center for Cultural Power is a women of color, artist-led organization, inspiring artists and culture makers to imagine a world where power is distributed equitably and where we live in harmony with nature.

Built Climate Woke microsite in Webflow, built sections for the Cultural Engagement Lab and Movement to the Ballot Box, both Webflow.

climatewoke.earth
City Bureau (Annual Report 2022)

City Bureau brings people together to produce media that is impactful, equitable and responsive to the public.

Built microsite in Squarespace.

Mapping Nuclear Legacies

Mapping Nuclear Legacies is part of a broader project aimed at discerning the role that cities— their leaders, officials, and residents— play in shaping nuclear policy and security.

Built with Wordpress.

mappingnuclearlegacies.com
Wordpress Developer for Spellerberg Associates

Providing development support for museums and cultural institutions: Wordpress Maintenance, Site Migration, Advanced Custom Fields Integration, Mailchimp, Shopify, etc.

  • The Andy Warhol Museum
  • Canyon Cinema
  • Chinese American Museum
  • Hammer Museum
  • Media City Film Festival
  • Museum of Contemporary Photography
  • Rubin Museum of Art
mocp.org
Design
002

Experienced in Web Design (Squarespace, etc.), as well as Layout/Print Design and Digital Design (Illustrator).

3-Act Film

A film magazine and community on Burmese new cinema. Collaborated for Issue 6 of the Magazine. Lead Art Direction: Cover Design, Asset Designs, Layout Designs.

subtitle

A publication and community focused on covering films from Asia and the Asian diaspora. Our goal is to shift the cultural conversation of Asian cinema to recenter Asian voices in Western discourse, apply film critique through a radical lens, and broaden the definition of Asian film canon as defined by the general public.

Groove Salon

A DJ night at Superkhana International, hosted by Nick2Bomb

ruang rantau

A window photo exhibition at Co-Prosperity, in collaboration with Cinemata

Autonomy Is My Joy

A video series at CultureCon, by The Center of Cultural Power

Some other things
003

Life in collaboration.

Community Food Navigator Co-facilitator of Community Resource Pod

A hub for knowledge in a growing community: Designed by and for those who grow food, our community is a space for you to connect, collaborate, and share information and resources.

My work as a co-faciliator includes working with a cohort of creative collaborators to design an interview series with growers that will support in connecting resources with new growers.

communityfoodnavigator.org
Empire Taste Print Magazine Editor-in-Chief
with Empire Taste

A team of writers, designers, and photographers came together to create a collection of stories, photo sets, and art from our past and present. Features interviews with A.CHAL, Saba, and Naturel.

www.instagram.com/empiretaste
Hoist Music Festival 2019 Co-coordinator

We curated a one-day music festival at Subterranean featuring some of the our favorite local acts, including Rich Jones, Family Reunion, Jovan Landry, and more.

Asian Cinevision Web Team Manager

Asian CineVision is a New York-based nonprofit media arts organization devoted to the development, exhibition, promotion, and preservation of Asian and Asian American film and video.

Under the Zaytoun Tree Designer

An event series based in Taiwan sharing stories on the culture of Palestine.

SeaShorts Film Festival Webmaster

An annual film festival hosted in Malaysia celebrating short films from Southeast Asia.

Process

www

PNGs of Interest

ordinary images worth documenting

I'm glad we found each other in this virtual world.