Cross-campus Exhibition Embodied Pacific Bridges Science and Art

This fall, UC San Diego will unveil Embodied Pacific, a multi-sited exhibition in partnership with the Getty initiative PST ART: Art & Science Collide. Embodied Pacific, a collaboration between UC San Diego’s Department of Visual Arts and Birch Aquarium at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, features artworks created by artists in partnership with scientists from Scripps Institution of Oceanography and laboratories across UC San Diego, as well as with Indigenous community leaders in environmental and ocean science, engineering and design.

The exhibition spans multiple sites on the UC San Diego campus, including Birch Aquarium at Scripps and other community sites (see locations below). In a time of planetary crisis, the exhibition examines the intersection of oceanography and Indigenous knowledge and objects — such as Kumeyaay basket-making and full-sized tule reed boats—and imagines an intercultural approach to sustaining our oceans. Reaching audiences across San Diego and La Jolla, Embodied Pacific helps our community imagine a collective intercultural role in sustaining our ocean body in a time of critical change.

Embodied Pacific exhibition locations include:

Birch Aquarium: 

• Archiving an Aquarium by Hans Baumann & James Nisbet + Birch Aquarium
• Fish Phone Booth by Ash Eliza Smith & Robert Twomey
• How to Look Into the Ocean by Claudine Arendt + Zooglider
• Kumeyaay Ha Kwaiyo by Stan Rodriguez with Priscilla Ortiz, Andrew Pittman and Nan Renner
• La Jolla Forest by Dwight Hwang & Oriana Poindexter with Researcher Mohammad Sedarat of Smith Lab
• Mosaic Ocean by Judit Hersko + Jaffe Laboratory
• Our Worlds by Catherine Eng & Kilma Lattin
• Passengers of Change by Danielle McHaskell, Joe Riley & Audrey Snyder + Smith Lab
• R/P FLIP R.I.P by Rachel Mayeri + FLIP
• Superradiance. Embodying Earth. by Memo Akten, Katie Peyton Hofstader + SOARS
• Unbleached by Scott McAvoy + 100 Island Challenge

Kendall-Frost Marsh Reserve:

• Navigating the Pacific  with works by Mario Borja and the Sakman Chamorro Group 

The SME Visual Arts Gallery:

• Navigating the Pacific with works by Simon Penny, Mario Borja, the Sakman Chamorro Group, Jessica Ashook, Stanley Rodriguez, Lauryn Smith, Trish Stone and Marianne (Mimi) George (Sep. 27, 2024 - Mar. 15, 2025)

Gallery QI: 

• Three Lives with works by Amy Adler, Nicholas Miller and Jeffrey Stuker featuring the 20th century oceanographers Easter Allen Cupp, Anita Smith Hall and June Patullo (Sep. 27 - Dec. 8, 2024)
• Extracting Ocean Histories with work by Louis Hock and Paola Zuñiga (Jan. 12 - Mar. 15, 2025)

UCSD Library Gallery

• Three Lives with works by Johnny Chatman, Kim Heard, and Lauryn Smith featuring the 20th century oceanographers Easter Ellen Cupp, Anita Smith Hall and June Pattullo (Sep. 9 - Dec. 8, 2024)

Kosay Kumeyaay Market:

• Drawing Water works in basketry, drawing and immersive reality by Ana Gloria (Martha) Rodriguez, Gloria Crosthwaite and Catherine Eng (Sep. 27 - Dec. 8, 2024)

Embodied Pacific is among more than 70 exhibitions and programs presented as part of PST ART. PST ART is a groundbreaking cultural collaboration.  Every five years, PST ART unites hundreds of artists around a single, electrifying theme at more than 70 exhibition spaces. While the theme is different each time, the heart of PST ART is always the distinctive cultural identity of Southern California, and the universal hunger for artistic and intellectual discovery.  In a region famed for its films and theme parks, PST ART provides a different kind of gripping experience— and the most distinctively Southern Californian of all.

UC San Diego is hosting an additional PST ART installation at the Mandeville Gallery as part of the Helen and Newton Harrison: California Work exhibition. This exhibition opens September 28, 2024.

Embodied Pacific will open September 26 at Gallery QI and the SME Visual Arts Gallery, at Kosay Kumeyaay Market September 27 and at Birch Aquarium October 4. The project is led and curated by Lisa Cartwright, Nan Renner and Megan Dickerson. World Design Capital 2024 is highlighting Embodied Pacific as an exemplary community program.

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About UC San Diego
At UC San Diego, we believe that what we don’t know today will forever change our tomorrows. Empowered by generosity and fueled by curiosity, we are unafraid to chase the unknown — to ask the questions no one has asked before and to push the boundaries of possibility. Together, we unite diverse people and unconventional perspectives to propel limitless impact. Because we know that when we come together, nothing is beyond us.

About Birch Aquarium at Scripps
Birch Aquarium at Scripps is the public exploration center for Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego. Perched on a bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean, Birch Aquarium features the groundbreaking work of Scripps Oceanography and UC San Diego scientists as well as conservation breeding programs, and interactive exhibits. Birch Aquarium’s mission is to connect understanding to protecting our ocean planet, which the aquarium achieves through engaging hands-on learning opportunities for more than 500,000 guests and 40,000-plus pre-K-12 students each year. Visit aquarium.ucsd.edu for more information. 

About PST ART: Art & Science Collide

Southern California’s landmark arts event, PST ART, returns in September 2024 with more than 70 exhibitions from museums and other institutions across the region, all exploring the intersections of art and science, both past and present. Dozens of cultural, scientific, and community organizations will join the latest edition, PST ART: Art & Science Collide, with exhibitions on subjects ranging from ancient cosmologies to Indigenous sci-fi, and from environmental justice to artificial intelligence. Art & Science Collide will share groundbreaking research, create indelible experiences for the public, and generate new ways of understanding our complex world. PST ART is presented by Getty. For more information about PST ART: Art & Science Collide, please visit pst.art