museum-university collaboration
The Monterey Museum of Art will open an exhibit on Sept. 13 called ÒGeography of Memory: Selected Works by Hung Liu.Ó
ItÕs the first show that involves a collaboration between the museum and the Department of Visual and Public Art at California State University, Monterey Bay. Dr. Amalia Mesa-Bains, director of VPA, is the showÕs curator.
A quartet of shows, one each fall for the next four years, will make up the Geography of Memory series. The exhibits will highlight the ethnic and cultural richness of the Central Coast through the works of contemporary artists.
Hung LiuÕs works focus on the cultural history of China and Chinese in this country, borrowing from many archival sources and bringing to light the history of immigration and struggle. She is the premier artist working with Chinese historical material in the U.S. The show will run through the end of the year.
Next year we hope to exhibit the works of Roger Shimomura, a third-generation Japanese American artist whose paintings, prints, and theater pieces address sociopolitical issues and have often been inspired by diaries kept for fifty-six years by his late grandmother.
The idea for the series came about several years ago when the museum asked VPA to help support a program that would provide opportunities for people to see contemporary art coming from diverse sources. Dr. Mesa-Bains was quick to agree, saying that Òthe shows will give our students a chance to see real art, instead of looking at slides.Ó
The shows will add a contemporary dimension to California history. ÒGeography of Memory is another way of looking at cultural landscape, a way of talking about places people lived and their relationship to the area,Ó says Dr. Mesa-Bains. Each show will have an historical component as well. For the Hung Liu show, photographs of the Chinese village in Pacific Grove from the Pat Hathaway collection will be displayed.
Hung Liu will present a free, public lecture on Wednesday, Oct. 15 at 7:30 p.m. at Irvine Auditorium, Monterey Institute of International Studies, 499 Pierce St., Monterey.
WHAT: Public lecture by Hung Liu
WHEN: Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2003
WHERE: Irvine Auditorium, Monterey Institute of International Studies
499 Pierce St., Monterey
TIME: 7:30 p.m.
COST: Free, no tickets or reservations required
MORE INFORMATION: Call 582-4330