By Thom Vest
Photo Provided by Dawn Jansen
Los Angeles has long been a city of contradictions: glamorous yet gritty, traditional yet rebellious. It’s a place where avant-garde artists thrive in the shadow of Hollywood, carving out spaces behind its golden facade to redefine creativity and push cultural boundaries. From the rebellious underground galleries of the 1970s to the chamber music revivals of the 1980s, LA has been home to bold experimentation.
Dawn Jansen’s Bedchamber Jam, the latest creation from her erotic performance art company Sweven, embodies this spirit. By fusing the centuries-old tradition of chamber music with avant-garde performance, fashion, and sensuality, Bedchamber Jam rewrites the rules of intimacy and spectacle in the city’s artistic narrative.
One of the first chamber music concerts performed at the Doheny Mansion in 1973, when the Da Camera Society was founded. (Via msmu.edu/)
The Roots of Chamber Jams: From Renaissance Europe to Modern LA
The concept of chamber music originated in Renaissance Europe, where music was a deeply personal and communal experience. Performed in intimate settings such as bedrooms and salons, these “chamber jams” offered a private alternative to the grandiosity of public theaters, emphasizing collaboration and creativity in spaces shielded from societal scrutiny.
Bedrooms, in particular, were multifunctional, serving as both private retreats and semi-public venues for gatherings among close friends and esteemed guests. These intimate settings allowed the delicate nuances of instruments like the violin and harpsichord to resonate fully, fostering profound emotional connections between performers and audiences. They symbolized harmony between personal expression and artistic experimentation, momentarily blurring social hierarchies as music became a universal equalizer.
These gatherings were transformative for both performers and listeners. Composers such as Bach, Mozart, and Haydn used these small, informal spaces as laboratories for innovation, presenting raw, exploratory works alongside more polished compositions. Unlike the formalities of courtly or religious music, chamber performances invited audiences to engage deeply with the creative process, heightening the immediacy and emotional impact of the music. The intimacy of these settings made chamber music not only an artistic experience but also a deeply human one, where shared discovery and connection took center stage.
The Mozart Twins at historic Cherokee Studios - 2023
In the 1970s, this tradition found new life in Los Angeles through MaryAnn Bonino’s founding of The Da Camera Society. Inspired by the historical roots of chamber music, Bonino paired live performances with iconic architectural landmarks like Frank Lloyd Wright’s Ennis House and the Pompeian Room of the Doheny Mansion.
These venues evoked the spirit of Renaissance salons, where art, music, and space converged to create immersive cultural experiences. By bridging the past and present, Da Camera’s concerts redefined chamber music for modern audiences, inviting them to engage with both the music and LA’s rich architectural heritage on an intimate level.
New Hollywood String Quartet performing in the Pompeian Room in May 2022 Via Da Camera
Chamber Jams Enter the LA Underground
While The Da Camera Society elevated chamber music in historic settings, LA’s underground art scene also embraced the intimacy and adaptability of the medium. In spaces like the Woman’s Building and LACE (Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions), chamber music intersected with feminist performance art, experimental theater, and visual storytelling. These venues, which often doubled as artist-run collectives, became incubators for daring, multidisciplinary art that pushed social and cultural boundaries.
Los Angeles Institute of Contemporary Art, exterior view (1974) (Los Angeles Institute of Contemporary Art records, 1973-1988, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution)
“Dreva/Gronk 1968-1978 / Ten Years of Art and Life” (March 9–19, 1978), a collaboration between Los Angeles-based artist Gronk and Milwaukee artist Jerry “Wiz” Dreva based on their art and life of the past 10 years. (image courtesy LACE, Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions)
During this same period, WACKO and its La Luz de Jesus Gallery were revolutionizing LA’s art scene with their subversive, theatrical exhibitions. One iconic example involved a boxing ring built into the gallery for feminist-inspired “foxy boxing” performances alongside controversial artwork by Robert Williams. Events like these exemplified the fearless experimentation that defined LA’s underground ethos, blending high art with provocative entertainment.
Exhibition poster for Hermann Nitsch’s Orgies mysteries theatre, 1978 (Los Angeles Institute of Contemporary Art records, 1973-1988, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution)
Dawn Jansen: From Classical Dance to Artistic Subversion
Dawn Jansen 2024 - Photo by Kaylin Mae
The legacy of intimate, boundary-pushing art forms finds a modern champion in Dawn Jansen and her company, Sweven. Founded in 2019, Sweven proudly carries the torch of Los Angeles’s renegade artistic traditions. A San Diego native, Jansen began her journey as a ballet dancer before transitioning into the nightlife and fashion industries. Her eclectic background—from performing as a go-go dancer to navigating the corporate world of talent acquisition—shaped her ability to craft dynamic, rule-breaking experiences that challenge conventions and invite audiences to reimagine their boundaries. “I want to celebrate what makes people weird and unique,” Jansen says. “It’s about liberation, curiosity, and play.”
Sweven’s shows blend art, sensuality, and individuality, transforming private estates, nightclubs, and boutique venues into spaces for artistic exploration. In these intimate settings, sensuality becomes a powerful tool for storytelling and self-discovery, encouraging audiences to confront and embrace their own complexities. Jansen’s Bedchamber Jam exemplifies this ethos, blending the centuries-old tradition of chamber music with provocative, modern elements.
Hosted in unconventional venues like boutique hotel garages, the performance transforms these spaces into contemporary salons where classical music, fashion, and experimental art collide. With its bold mix of serene string serenades, house beats, and avant-garde vignettes, Bedchamber Jam reinvigorates the intimacy and innovation that have defined chamber music for centuries. In doing so, Jansen bridges the past and present, offering a modern reinterpretation of a timeless art form. Bedchamber Jam invites a new generation of audiences to experience the personal connection and creative exploration that lie at the heart of Los Angeles’s enduring tradition of artistic rebellion.
Bedchamber Jam: A Remix of History and Subversion
Jansen’s latest endeavor, Bedchamber Jam, takes inspiration from the intimate gatherings of chamber music’s past while injecting them with a distinctly modern, provocative edge. Hosted in the garage of a boutique hotel—an eclectic space filled with antique props and vintage furniture—the experience blends classical string serenades with house music, experimental lingerie fashion shows, and erotic performance art. It’s a sensory overload designed to disrupt comfort zones and spark curiosity.
The format is intentionally dynamic: serene classical music gives way to house beats and provocative runway shows, which culminate in intense, theatrical vignettes of avant-garde nudity. Between acts, guests are treated to champagne, caviar, and box wine—a playful nod to both opulence and the DIY spirit of LA’s underground art scene. “We wanted to capture that feeling of elegance undone,” says Jansen. “It’s not about perfection—it’s about finding beauty in disruption, and maybe even in discomfort.”
Photo Provided by Dawn Jansen
Bridging LA’s Artistic Traditions
In many ways, Bedchamber Jam mirrors the experimental ethos of LA’s most iconic artistic movements. Like The Da Camera Society’s chamber music concerts, it embraces the intimacy of small-scale performances while reimagining the possibilities of the medium. At the same time, its provocative energy and interdisciplinary nature echo the feminist art experiments of the Woman’s Building and the subversive spectacle of WACKO’s La Luz de Jesus Gallery.
By hosting the event in an unconventional space—a garage doubling as an artistic underbelly—Jansen also pays homage to LA’s history of transforming ordinary locations into extraordinary cultural experiences. Whether it’s the boxing ring at WACKO or the music-filled architectural landmarks of Da Camera, these spaces remind us that art thrives where creativity and accessibility meet.
A New Era of Intimacy in Art
As LA continues to evolve as a cultural capital, Bedchamber Jam stands as a testament to the city’s enduring legacy of artistic innovation. In a metropolis that has always valued reinvention, Sweven represents a bold new chapter in the story of experimental art. For Jansen, the performance is more than an event—it’s an invitation to explore the intersections of history, music, sensuality, and self-expression. “We’re building on centuries of tradition while creating something entirely new,” she says. “It’s about connecting the past and the present in a way that feels alive and relevant.”
Click The image above for more info!
Tickets for the February 12th debut of Bedchamber Jam are limited to just 30 guests, ensuring an intimate evening of disruption and discovery.
For those willing to step into this bold new space, it’s not just a performance—it’s a journey into the heart of LA’s creative underground.
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