1) Artistic:
Cai Guo-Qiang: A Material Odyssey
https://pst.art/en/exhibitions/cai-guo- ... al-odyssey
The exhibition Cai Guo-Qiang:A Material Odyssey fill the first floor galleries at the USC Pacific Asia Museum. Based on years of research by the Getty Conservation Institute and the Getty Research Institute, A Material Odyssey will explore the nature and properties of gunpowder and chronicle its use by the artist.
This explosive material, invented in China over 1,100 years ago, has come to define Cai’s work. Its unpredictable nature dictates his artistic process and determines the outcome. Through gunpowder, the artist invites uncontrollable forces to participate in the creation of his work.
We Live in Painting:The Nature of Color in Mesoamerican Art
https://pst.art/en/exhibitions/we-live- ... erican-art
Mesoamerican artists held a cosmic responsibility: as they adorned the surfaces of buildings, clay vessels, textiles, bark-paper pages, and sculptures with color, they (quite literally) made the world. The power of color emerged from the materiality of its pigments, the skilled hands that crafted it, and the communities whose knowledge imbued it with meaning. Color mapped the very order of the cosmos, of time and space. By engineering and deploying color, artists wielded the power of cosmic creation in their hands. We Live in Painting: The Nature of Color in Mesoamerican Art explores the science, art, and cosmology of color in Mesoamerica. Histories of colonialism and industrialization in the “color-averse” West have minimized the deep significance of color in the Indigenous Americas. This exhibition follows two interconnected lines of inquiry—technical and material analyses, and Indigenous conceptions of art and image—to reach the full richness of color at the core of Mesoamerican worldviews.
2) Scientific:
Energy Fields: Vibrations of The Pacific
https://pst.art/en/exhibitions/energy-f ... he-pacific
Our exhibition, Energy Fields: Vibrations of the Pacific, prompts a consideration of the material and immaterial vibrations that surround us. While our experience of the world is shaped by encounters with vibrations, the limitations of our anatomies make our observation of them finite and conditional. Our bodies are our first point of contact with the world, and the receivers of sensory input which shapes our most fundamental understanding. The works in this exhibition, including the two works chosen for this educational resource, reveal perceptions of vibrational energies beyond those we can glean with our limited sensory apparatus. Virginia Katz’ work enlists the wind as a body. WIND, On-Shore Flow, 7 Hours of Observation makes visible in a metallic “painting” the vast energies of a localized wind event. Steve Roden’s ear(th) translates data of the effects of the earth’s movement during an earthquake, into a score for a sound composition. Both works are revelatory, making visible or audible waves of energy that we cannot bodily perceive without the intervention of these artists.
Cyberpunk: Envisioning Possible Futures Through Cinema - Visions of the Future
https://pst.art/en/college-and-universi ... the-future
Cyberpunk examines the global impact and lasting influence of the science fiction subgenre on cinema culture. Featuring near-future scenarios that are earthbound rather than in outer space, Cyberpunk films juxtapose technological advances with social disorder, envisioning a future characterized by alienation, totalitarianism, and urban decay. The Academy Museum’s exhibition features production materials, costumes, props, and concept art from iconic Cyberpunk films like Blade Runner (US, 1982), Tron (US, 1982), and The Matrix (US, 1999), and also spotlights international films such as Sleep Dealer (Mexico/US, 2008) and foundational animated features like Ghost in the Shell (Japan, 1995). At the exhibition’s core, an immersive installation illustrate the genre’s 20th-century origins and the new, global directions it has taken in the 21st century as Cyberpunk has expanded and merged with Afrofuturism, Indigenous Futurism, and other genres. Through these films, the exhibition confronts the ongoing challenges of climate change, capitalism, and colonialism and offer visions of possible futures.
