California Biennial
The 2008 California Biennial at the Orange County Museum of Art – CB08 for short – includes 54 artists and collectives. Most invoke social and political subjects, themes that are always present in art but that take on an urgency in this moment of national elections and economic collapse. And the whole is firmly positioned against the proliferation of sleek, big-ticket, anonymously fabricated art.
The CB08 addresses a number of questions in an era of proliferating Biennials: How does one approach a regional biennial? In a climate of globalism and transnationalism, how does a regional biennial serve artists and audiences? What is distinctive and different about cultural production at this point in time, in this context? How does one approach contemporary artistic practices based on locational parameters?
Orange County Museum of Art
The Orange County Museum of Art enriches the lives of a diverse and changing community through modern and contemporary art. The museum opened in 1962 as the Balboa Pavilion Gallery by thirteen visionary women. With a focus on modern and contemporary art, their efforts were well received and the museum enjoyed recognition from coast to coast. In 1968 the institution became known as the Newport Harbor Art Museum and in 1972, moved to a nearby, larger location. Interest and support continued to grow, as did its collections and exhibitions and in 1977, the museum opened its doors on San Clemente Drive. In 1997 the museum was remodeled and renamed the Orange County Museum of Art. In June 2018, the museum closed its doors in Newport Beach, and in October 2018 opened its temporary location in Santa Ana in South Coast Plaza Village where the museum will operate as it builds a permanent home at Segerstrom Center for the Arts.
CB08: 2008 California Biennial
Featuring 54 artists and collectives
Curated by Lauri Firstenberg
October 26, 2008 – March 15, 2009
Orange County Museum of Art , 1661 W Sunflower Ave, Santa Ana, CA 92704
OrangeCountyMuseumofArt.net
