UCR-Magazine-Spring-2015

The building of the Barbara and Art Culver Center
of the Arts is rooted in history, dating back to 1895
when it was built as a Rouse department store and
celebrated as an architectural jewel of Riverside.
But what goes on inside those walls today is a
shining example of what the thought-exchange meccas
of the future could be. Opened in 2010 (and celebrating
its fifth anniversary this October), the center, in
conjunction with its sister spaces in the UC Riverside
ARTSblock, the Sweeney Art Gallery and the California
Museum of Photography, has become a state-of-the-art
playground for artists melding a multitude of
disciplines. Here, traditional academic borders seem like
a relic.
“Art does not stand outside of society but really is
an extension of all the multivarious issues that society
is about,” says Jonathan Green, professor of art history
and executive director of ARTSblock. “We do a lot of
work that’s political. We do a lot of work that has
scientific basis. Art is an extension of the human
condition and human exploration.”
Science is often central to the discourse. In 2013,
“Free Enterprise: The Art of Citizen Space Exploration”
was the first contemporary art exhibition in the United
States to showcase artists and organizations eyeing
civilian space travel, an idea that has become more
than sci-fi fantasy in recent years. According to
co-curator Tyler Stallings, artistic director of the Culver
Center of the Arts and director of Sweeney Art Gallery,
the exhibitors did more than present visual
interpretations and metaphors. “They were all working
towards actually doing something in space, whether
they were able to get there or not, as opposed to just
letting it be like a painting about the idea,” he says.
“They were doing everything from developing new
technologies to working with scientists at NASA.”
In “Different Particles & Indeterminate States: New
Monumental Drawings by Amy Myers,” the artist used
charcoal, graphite and ink on paper to make intricate,
monumental drawings that merge the microcosmic
with the macrocosmic in a visionary blending of art,
mathematics and physics.
Earlier this year, “Adriana Salazar: Perpetuity”
featured sculptures and installations in which formerly
live creatures — fallen plants, taxidermy animals —
were mechanically re-animated, blurring the definition
of what is alive. “Even in biology, this definition is
something that is constantly debated and put to the
test,” Salazar told ARTSblock. “Is a rock something that
is alive? Is the process of death the same as the process
of decay? Are we dying from the moment we are born?”
The exhibition was presented in collaboration with
UCR’s Immortality Project, a multiyear project to study
the science, philosophy and theology of immortality.
The project culminated in a capstone conference held
at the Culver Center in May.
“We want to make Riverside the center of a
conversation about exploring the world,” Stallings says.
“The tension between the past and the present and
some hint of where we’re going in the future is
embedded here.”
UCR ARTSblock
3824 Main St.
Riverside, California 92501
Telephone: (951) 827-4787
artsblock.ucr.edu
Exhibition Hours
Tuesday to Saturday: noon to 5 p.m.
First Thursdays
6 p.m. to 9 p.m. (free admission)
UCR ARTSblock Admission:
General admission: $3
Seniors (60+): free
Students with ID: free
Children under 12: free
Members: free
Price includes admission to Sweeney Art Gallery, Culver
Center of the Arts and California Museum of Photography
UCR Winter 2015 | 17