A new exhibition organized by the San Diego Museum of Art showcases regional artists producing thought-provoking and interactive social art -- and the artists include two UC San Diego MFA graduates, and two UCSD professors supported by the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology (Calit2) and Center for Research in Computing and the Arts (CRCA).

The *particle group*, funded by Calit2 and UCSD Arts & Humanities, is among the artists represented in the new San Diego Museum of Art exhibition, March 8-June 22.

Running from March 8 through June 22, Inside the Wave features six artists and collectives from the San Diego/Tijuana region, most of whom produce works that combine material culture and everyday life, and all but one of whom have strong connections to UC San Diego.

Participating artists include UCSD visual arts professor Adriene Jenik (whose SPECFLIC speculative cinema work debuted at the dedication of Calit2's Atkinson Hall in 2005); Tijuana-based bulbo (a collective including a former undergraduate student of Jenik’s at UCSD); Brian Dick and Allison Wiese (both MFA graduates from UCSD); Zlatan Vukosavljevic; and the *particle group*, a collective of media and performance artists, including UCSD visual arts professor Ricardo Dominguez.

The *particle group* is funded by Calit2 and the UCSD Division of Arts & Humanities. Dominguez and Diane Ludin are Principal Investigators on the project. Lead investigators include Nina Waisman and Amy Sara Carroll, supported by Assistant Researchers Robert Twomey, Caleb Waldorf, Marius Schebella, Pierre Galaud and Césaire José Carroll-Dominguez. "The group combines theater, activism and humor into many works that forge a subversive relationship with the newest frontiers of technological science in an effort to undermine some of their assumptions of authority and power," said Ricardo Dominguez.

UCSD professor Adriene Jenik is a telecommunications media artist who has been working for over 15 years as an artist, teacher, curator, administrator, and engineer. She is affiliated with both Calit2 and CRCA. Her recent works are large-scale public art events that take place over community-wide wireless networks. For Inside the Wave, Jenik has created a new version of SPECFLIC, which had its original showing (Version 1.0) at the opening of Calit2’s Atkinson Hall in late 2005. SPECFLIC 2.0 was mounted at the San Jose Public Library in 2006.

"The installation at the San Diego Museum of Art is made up of components from the Library story of SPECFLIC 2.0," said Jenik. "It has been reshot, edited and conceived for the museum installation." The Library narrative speculates on a future where books are preserved as museum pieces. Those "book objects" can only be accessed by the public via wireless technologies through the InfoSpherian, an interactive, electronic character inside the Library whose appearance morphs at will (pictured).

While their works are represented separately in the San Diego Museum of Art exhibition, Dominguez and Jenik have collaborated previously within Calit2 and CRCA, in particular with Dominguez developing a NanoJanitor character for Jenik's SPECFLIC 1.0. Dominguez also narrated video components produced for SPECFLIC in both of its versions.

The artists featured in Inside the Wave, organized by SDMA’s curator of contemporary art, Betti-Sue Hertz, all produce art that engages ideas about how societies construct meaning through material objects. They create works that allow for interaction with the art object, either by the artist or the viewer, in order to express their personal explorations of social and political issues. The artists achieve this by manipulating existing cultural materials or by creating a physical environment through digital technology.

The works in the exhibition create an individual experience with the fragility of the present and the contingency of objects, actions, and ideas. The social nature of these works is also apparent in the artists’ presentations of situations that shape human behavior. Additionally, various sciences, from psychology and sociology to biology and chemistry, play a conceptual role in shaping the content and structures of these artworks.

Professor Adriene Jenik’s contribution to the museum exhibit is derived from SPECFLIC 2.0, a December 2006 installation at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Public Library in San Jose.

Through the use of sculptures, photographs, documentary videos, and interactive digital media, each artist in Inside the Wave expresses sensitivity to a unique subculture in order to convey ideas about how collective social contexts shape individual experience. The works on view include bulbo’s re-enactment of a 12-step program with a Tijuana twist; Dick’s photographs documenting his daily ritual of making an artwork out of bedding; Jenik’s “speculative social cinema” creating a scenario of near-future libraries through characters and situations representative of technological frontiers; *particle group*’s sensor-equipped sniffing sculptures that educate viewers on the possible risks of nanotechnology in current consumer products; Vukosavljevic’s sculptures and drawings that externalize his feelings about Serbia, his home country; and Wiese’s nod to Americana, ingenuity, and alchemy with her homegrown whiskey distillery.

Several special events will take place throughout the run of Inside the Wave. Brian Dick will present unscheduled, impromptu performances of his “Mascot” character in and around the Museum. *particle group* will also hold a performance in the exhibition galleries on Saturday, March 8, at 2:00 p.m. In addition, there will be a special panel discussion with all participating artists and the exhibition curator on Tuesday, April 1, at 6:30 p.m. in the James S. Copley Auditorium.

Inside the Wave is generously sponsored by RBC Dain Rauscher, presenting a season of fine art at the San Diego Museum of Art. Support is also provided by members of the San Diego Museum of Art, the City of San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture, and the County of San Diego Community Enhancement Program.

The historic San Diego Museum of Art provides a rich and diverse cultural experience for more than 400,000 annual visitors. 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. In addition, the Museum regularly features major exhibitions of art from around the world, as well as an extensive year-round schedule of supporting cultural and educational programs.

The San Diego Museum of Art is located at 1450 El Prado, Balboa Park. For general information, call (619) 232-7931; for group sales, (619) 696-1915.