Beyond the Conflicts : A nearly 3-hour traveling program offers 10 video works that explore the area’s continuing clash of race, culture and custom.

A definitive video exploration of race relations among Southern California’s dramatic mix of cultures has yet to emerge, suggests video maker Michael Cho. If so, the traveling video festival “Beyond the Color Line: Reflections on Race” at least offers a creative reflection on the area’s continuing clash of race, culture and custom.

These are issues that have existed here for generations, or certainly long before this year’s Los Angeles riots, Cho says. “People could have told you years ago that this sort of thing was going to happen. The rap community has been talking about this for years. In the United States, it’s always timely to discuss race relations.”

Cho’s “Animal Appetites,” an 18-minute documentary that explores the trial of two Cambodian immigrants arrested for killing their dog for food, is just one of 10 works in “Beyond the Color Line.” The program--commissioned by the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery in conjunction with the L.A. Freewaves video festival--will travel to several Los Angeles-area arts centers, including the Artspace Gallery in Woodland Hills and the McGroarty Arts Center in Tujunga.

The nearly three-hour program was at least partly inspired by the recent riots, says guest curator Claire Aguilar, who also works as program manager for KCET-TV. But, she explains, the video collection is “not really a program about the riots, but about civil rights and racism, from young video makers primarily based in Los Angeles.”

Among the videos, which range in length from five to 20 minutes, is Dave Swofford’s “Fire,” which takes news footage from the riots and edits it together in what Aguilar described as “a kind of music video style.”

“But it really renders a whole different effect,” she says. “You get to look at it from a really different point of view, and it’s very powerful, because you see lots of brutality without commentary from news sources.”

Other videos explore Vietnamese gangs in Santa Ana and American attitudes toward Mexican culture. One, titled simply “Anger,” captures the passions of several people who responded to a newspaper ad placed by video maker Maxi Cohen that asked: “Are you angry? Talk to me about it.”

“I like the fact that this was assembled and is being shown in different parts of L.A., because it is often difficult for people to come out and see art,” says Cho. “And I appreciate that it offers a lot of different perspectives.”

Where and When

What: “Beyond the Color Line: Reflections on Race.”

Location: Artspace Gallery, 21800 Oxnard St., Woodland Hills.

Hours: Noon to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Oct. 17.

Price: Free.

Call: (818) 716-2786.

Other: The program is also screened Oct. 16 at 7:30 p.m. at the McGroarty Arts Center, 7570 McGroarty Terrace, Tujunga. Call: (818) 352-5285.