Inside the Wave: Six San Diego/Tijuana artists construct social art

March 8–June 22, 2008

This new exhibition organized by the San Diego Museum of Art showcases regional artists producing thought-provoking social art. Inside the Wave features six artists and artist collectives from the San Diego/Tijuana region working within spheres of alternative cultures to produce works that combine material culture and everyday life. Participating artists include bulbo, Brian Dick, Adriene Jenik, particle group, Zlatan Vukosavljevic, and Allison Wiese.

The artists featured in Inside the Wave all produce art that engages ideas about how societies construct meaning through material objects. They create works that allow for interaction with the art object, either by the artist or the viewer, in order to express their personal explorations of social and political issues. They achieve this by manipulating existing cultural materials or by creating a physical environment through digital technology.

The works in the exhibition create an individual experience with the fragility of the present and the contingency of objects, actions, and ideas. The social nature of these works is also apparent in the artists’ presentations of situations that shape human behavior. Additionally, various sciences, from psychology and sociology to biology and chemistry, play a conceptual role in shaping the content and structures of these artworks.

The works on view include bulbo’s reenactment of a 12-step program with a Tijuana twist; Dick’s photographs documenting his daily ritual of making an artwork out of bedding; Jenik’s “speculative social cinema” that creates a scenario of near-future libraries through characters and situations representative of technological frontiers; particle group’s sensor-equipped sniffing sculptures that educate viewers on the possible risks of nanotechnology in current consumer products; Vukosavljevic’s sculptures and drawings that externalize his feelings about Serbia, his home country; and Wiese’s nod to Americana, ingenuity, and alchemy with her homegrown whiskey distillery.

Inside the Wave: Six San Diego/Tijuana artists construct social art is generously sponsored by RBC Dain Rauscher, presenting a season of fine art at the San Diego Museum of Art. Support is also provided by members of the San Diego Museum of Art, the City of San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture, and the County of San Diego Community Enhancement Program. Particle group was funded by CALIT2 and the Division of Arts and Humanities, UCSD.

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