Event Listing - Museums
Thu May 29 - Sun Aug 17

Oakland Museum of California presents

Birth of the Cool

California Art, Design, and Culture At Midcentury


Tel. 510.238.2200
Website
$5 - $8

Location
Date and Time
Oakland Museum of California
1000 Oak Street
Oakland, CA 94607 map
cross street: 10th St.
district: Oakland (Millsmont/Bancroft)

Thu May 29 (10am-5pm)
Fri May 30 (10am-5pm)
Sat May 31 (10am-5pm)
Sun Jun 1 (noon-5pm)
Wed Jun 4 (10am-5pm)

Description
The Oakland Museum of California goes from retro to metro in its 1950s-era Birth of the Cool and contemporary Cool Remixed exhibitions, opening May 17 through August 17, 2008.


Cool Remixed is the museum’s topical spin on Birth of the Cool, a look at the mid-century music, architecture, fashion, and art of southern California, organized by the Orange County Museum of Art.


Produced by Oakland Museum of California staff, Cool Remixed captures northern California “cool” via graffiti art, film, fashion, dance, skateboard and bike culture, and themed lounges where visitors can chill.


Curators Evelyn Orantes and Christine Lashaw invited local artists and Oakland community organizations—the East Bay Asian Youth Center (EBAYC), Oakland High’s Visual Arts Academy (VAAMP), Town Park, Visual Element of the EastSide Arts Alliance, Youth Radio, and Youth Uprising—to create art and installations for the exhibition.

“Cool Remixed reflects the relationship youth have with their environment, how they create personal space and define themselves,” said Orantes, cultural arts developer at the museum. “What has surfaced from our discussions and their artwork is a real sense of pride in being from O-town.”


The Cool Remixed curators and community partners have created a venue—including a central performance area—where visitors can sample and mix the signature aspects of East Bay cool. “The exhibition gives youth a platform to speak and be heard,” said Lashaw, head preparator for the education department.

 Local artist Estria Miyashiro and graffiti writers from Visual Element will create murals for the exhibition. City streets have served as canvases for graffitists since the 1960s; once considered vandalism, graffiti have become legitimate art.

 Videos of T.U.R.F. dancing (see glossary) will play in the Youth Uprising lounge. T.U.R.F. dancing followed breakdancing, one of the original forms of freestyle dance that complemented hip-hop.

 DJ Leilani “Leilizzlemac” Hopson from Youth Radio will be on hand to teach basic DJing skills.

 VAAMP artists will host a green lounge to reflect their concern for the environment, using recycled and deconstructed materials to create wearable art, autobiographical sculpture (with sneakers and hubcaps), and a colorful tree constructed of painted plywood and skateboard decks.

 Murals, ’zines, and youth-produced films will be featured in the EBAYC lounge.

 Local artists KDub, Mike Reyes, Ben Winslow and others will provide a glimpse into the world of skateboarding, or “street surfing,” circa the 1960s. They will build a quarter-bowl skate ramp for the exhibition, with a video by Reyes of local skaters projected as a backdrop.

Both Cool Remixed and the Birth of the Cool exhibitions are included with museum admission.

Public programs begin Sunday, May 31, and continue through August 17, 2008. Check www.museumca.org for details.

*****
The Oakland Museum of California, 1000 Oak @ 10th Street, in Oakland, is one block from the Lake Merritt BART. Museum hours are Wednesday through Saturday, 10 to 5; Sunday, 12 to 5 p.m.; first Friday of the month, 10 to 9. Admission is $8 for adults; $5 seniors and students with ID; free for members, City of Oakland employees, and kids five and under. Second Sundays are free. Call 510/238-2200 or visit www.museumca.org for more information.