SMC Barrett Gallery Hosts Opening Reception June 22 to Inaugurate DNA Festival Santa Monica

SMC Barrett Gallery Hosts Opening Reception June 22 to Inaugurate DNA Festival Santa Monica with “DNA: 4th of 4” Exhibition

Digital Art Retrospective Runs Through July 21

SANTA MONICA, CA — The Santa Monica College (SMC) Pete & Susan Barrett Art Gallery will inaugurate DNA Festival Santa Monica with “DNA: 4th of 4,” a digital art retrospective presented by seminal media arts group EZTV (eztvmuseum.com) and local SIGGRAPH chapter LA ACM SIGGRAPH. The free exhibition showcasing works by more than two dozen digital artists is open to the public June 22 through July 21, with a free opening reception on Saturday, June 22, from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. The SMC Pete & Susan Barrett Gallery is located at the SMC Performing Arts Center, 1310 11th Street (at Santa Monica Boulevard), Santa Monica. Entry is through the Performing Arts Center’s courtyard.

This year marks the 45th anniversary of EZTV and the 40th anniversary of its hosting art exhibitions, panel discussions, live performances, and online experiences with LA ACM SIGGRAPH, the local chapter of SIGGRAPH, the world’s leading professional association focused on computer graphics and interactivity. Four years ago, LA ACM SIGGRAPH and EZTV Online Museum began collaborating on a massive research project bringing together influential artists and thinkers. “DNA: 4th of 4” is the result.

Curated by Joan Collins, Michael J. Masucci, and Victor Acevedo, “DNA: 4th of 4” features creations by a diverse roster of multigenerational artists, demonstrating the many genres and approaches used since the early 1980s. The show exhibits solo works by artists Jon 9, Victor Acevedo, Paul Brown, Mark Chavez, Coco Conn, Kate Crash, Matt Elson, Federico Galavis, Sheriann Ki-Sun Burnham, Robert Lowden, Kevin Mack, Michael J. Masucci, Diane Piepol, Patric Prince, Barbara T. Smith, Vibeke Sorensen, and Michael Wright, as well as collaborative works by Clayton Campbell and Christian Knudsen and by Dave Curlender and David Goodsell.

In addition to the museum-exhibited artists whose works have been presented at institutions such as the Centre Pompidou, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the J. Paul Getty Museum, the exhibition presents works by artists with a cross-over between fine art and more mainstream recognition, such as Oscar® winner Kevin Mack and Emmy® winners Rebecca Allen (the first person to win an Emmy for a digital image), Maija Beeton, and Kate Johnson, along with MacArthur “Genius Grant” winner Karl Sims and NASA/JPL’s first artist-in-residence David Em (also the first computer artist to have a book published by Abrams and to be commissioned to design a record cover).

DNA Festival Santa Monica — a new series of exhibitions, screenings, performances, and panel discussions focused on the diverse and important influence of digital art on world culture — is a collaboration among Santa Monica College, Bergamot Station Arts Center, 18th Street Arts Center, City of Santa Monica’s Cultural Affairs Division, and Santa Monica Arts Commission, as well as LA ACM SIGGRAPH and the EZTV Online Museum.

As part of DNA Festival Santa Monica, a panel discussion on “Reconsidering Early Telepresence,” organized by Anastasia Chernysheva, will be held Sunday, June 23, at 2 p.m. in Barrett Gallery. The panel features Becky Allen, Hunter Ochs, Kit Galloway, and Tom Erbe — all former affiliates and collaborators at Center for the Art, Information, and Technology (CEAIT) at California Institute for the Arts (CalArts) — sharing their recollections of the music technology inventions, hybrid practices, and creative telecollaboration they witnessed and/or developed. The event also includes a free screening of “Revisiting CEAIT: Music and Early Telepresence,” followed by an audience Q&A.

More information about DNA Festival Santa Monica can be found at Dnafestivalsm.com.

Barrett Gallery hours and other information is posted at smc.edu/barrett. All events are subject to change or cancellation without notice.

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