The San Diego Museum of Art Investigates News, Information and History in Third Summer Salon Series

“Beyond the Banner” hosts artists, lecturers and performers through August 31

San Diego –Inspired by the French beaux-arts salon, The San Diego Museum of Art transforms into a place of community and conversation every Friday evening this summer. The third annual Summer Salon Series is hosting its most impressive lineup to date, welcoming local and nationally-renowned artists, lecturers, poets, musicians and performers, who will investigate the topics of historical fictions and the dissemination of information in contemporary society.

This year’s lineup features big names and entertaining shows:

• The Yes Men (Andy Bichlbaum and Igor Vamos) are best known for their stunts of impersonating a Dow Chemical Company Spokesman on the BBC in 2004 and for printing approximately 80,000 fake copies of the New York Times in 2008. On Friday, July 27, they will deliver a keynote lecture on their work and their films. 
•  On August 3, Andrew Dinwiddie will re-enact an hour-long, 1971 sermon by the preacher Jimmy Swaggert, which he found on an out-of-print vinyl record. The Summer Salon will reflect upon what Swaggert’s words now mean to us 40 years removed from their initial place in history. 
• Steve Lambert will present his large-scale sculpture Capitalism Works for Me! on August 10, consisting of a 10-foot sign connected to an electronic voting kiosk, at which visitors can vote “yes” or “no” in response to the statement Capitalism Works for Me. The sign’s stop in San Diego is a part of its national tour leading up to the 2012 Presidential Election. 
• The Museum is proud to present a special selection of works by Yinka Shonibare, MBE, one of Britain’s most celebrated contemporary artists, all summer long as a part of the program. Shonibare has been nominated for the Turner Prize (2004) and was commissioned to install a public work on the Fourth Plinth of London’s Trafalgar Square.

Building on the success of the past two years, the Museum has moved the Series to Friday nights to accommodate larger audiences. This year the Museum will also implement a 36-hour event as part of the Series. The building will be open from Friday, July 27 at 10 a.m. until Saturday, July 28 at 5 p.m. with continuous performances and workshops. After the building closes on Saturday, the event will continue on the east lawn of the Museum for another installment of its popular Screen on the Green film series, making for a total of 36 hours of programming. 

The 2012 Series has taken the historical re-examination of the 15^th century tapestries on view in this summer’s exhibition The Invention of Glory: Afonso V and the Pastrana Tapestries.  For their beauty and historical importance, these tapestries are essentially propaganda, meant to glorify the king and popularize his version of the battles waged under his leadership. Based on these issues, the Museum has asked Summer Salon Series artists to respond to such questions as “Where do we get our news from?” and “Who and what controls our access to information?”  The title of the Summer Salon Series 2012, Beyond the Banner, was inspired by both military banner imagery found in the tapestry exhibition, and to contemporary marketing strategies, such as digital website banners.

Schedule and artists:

July 20: Omar Lopez & Alberto Caro, Omar Pimienta with John Pluecker, and The Third Party 

July 27: The Yes Men, Katherine Brook, Century of the Self, Stephanie Lie, Jacob Turnbloom, and The Third Party

August 3: Andrew Dinwiddie, Joe Yorty & Kelly Eginton

August 10: Steve Lambert, Peaking Lights, and The Third Party 

August 17: Allison Cobb, Zac Montanaro, and Jamilah Abdul-Sabur

August 24: Rina Banerjee and Gary Garay

August 31:Salon Round-up, Mark Dzula, Joshua Tonies, Andrew Printer, and The Third Party

The program takes place every Friday night, 5-9 p.m., through August 31 and is co-curated by the Museum and North Park-based Agitprop, and presented in partnership with Mission Hills-based M-Theory Records. The curatorial team consists of Alexander Jarman, Manager of Public Programs at The San Diego Museum of Art, Series Co-Curator; David White, Owner of Agitprop, Series Co-Curator; Rick Tyner, Manager of M-Theory Records, Series Project Curator for Musical Arts; Lorraine Graham, Writer and Author, Series Project Curator for Literary Arts.

Museum Information:

The San Diego Museum of Art is located at 1450 El Prado in Balboa Park, San Diego, Calif., 92101. General Information: (619) 232-7931, Group Sales: (619) 696-1935, Website: http://www.TheSanDiegoMuseumofArt.org, Twitter: @SDMA, Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/TheSanDiegoMuseumofArt

The San Diego Museum of Art provides a rich and diverse cultural experience for 350,000 visitors annually. Located in the heart of beautiful Balboa Park, the Museum’s nationally renowned collections include Spanish and Italian old masters, South Asian paintings, and 19th and 20th century American paintings and sculptures. The Museum regularly features major exhibitions of art from around the world, as well as an extensive year-round schedule supporting cultural and educational programs for children and adults. The San Diego Museum of Art presents exhibition displays in both English and Spanish.

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