The exhibition Far-Sited: California International Sculpture Symposium 1965/2015 celebrates the 50th anniversary of the historic first Sculpture Symposium in the United States.

The University Art Museum (UAM) at California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) presents Far-Sited: California International Sculpture Symposium 1965/2015, an archival exhibition that explores the history and impact of the first international sculpture symposium in the United States, held at CSULB in the summer of 1965. The brainchild of Sculpture Professor, Kenn Glenn, it was a significant undertaking in modern public art, as it was also the first organized large scale initiative to partner artists with industry in an exploration of new materials and technology, preceding Experiments in Art and Technology (E.A.T) in 1966, and the 1967-71 Art & Technology initiative at Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). Nine monumental modernist works were realized and sited on the campus that historic summer, becoming the nucleus of the CSULB Outdoor Sculpture Collection and leaving a lasting legacy to the Los Angeles region.

Through original artworks by the symposium artists and highlights from the archives of the University Art Museum and CSULB Library Special Collections, including preliminary maquettes, sketches, photographs, newspapers and journals, personal letters, post–symposium publications, and other ephemera, the exhibition will explore the behind–the–scenes dynamics of what it took to actualize this historical event. Far-Sited: California International Sculpture Symposium 1965/2015 opens with a public reception and 50th anniversary celebration on Saturday, September 12, from 5-8pm, and is on view until December 13, 2015.

The California International Sculpture Symposium was the first of its kind to occur on a college campus and it happened here, at a young California State College at a pivotal time in Los Angeles history, a feat that that, most likely, could not be achieved today, here or on any campus. As Dr. Sarah Schrank, author of Art and the City: Civic Imagination and Cultural Authority in Los Angeles notes, "it is important to understand that it was within [the] context of social upheaval, urban growth, demographic shift, political activism, and violence that artistic experimentation took place here, and it was a type of art that sucked in all the resources, attributes, and dearth of its environment and then, in turn, generated structures that reproduced the region's elements in its barest form: three-dimensional space and raw industrial material."

Artists Kengiro Azuma (Japan), J.J. Beljon (Holland), André Bloc (France), Kosso Eloul (Israel), Claire Falkenstein (U.S.), Gabriel Kohn (U.S.), Piotr Kowalski (France/Poland), and Robert Murray (Canada) created site-specific works through the campus partnerships with companies like Bethlehem Steel, Fellows and Stewart Shipyard, North American Aviation, and Flex Coat Corporation creating unprecedented opportunities for the sculptors to use materials and technologies that were not widely available to artists. For example, Piotr Kowalski worked with North American Aviation at their experimental explosion-forming site, exploring new ways to form stainless steel with dynamite.

The California International Sculpture Symposium, which faced many challenges, captured the attention of the art world and sparked conversations and debates on public art. It was featured in the New York Times, the National Observer, Los Angeles Magazine, Sunset, Arts & Architecture, Canadian Art Magazine, Westways, Art in America, Fortune Magazine, the renowned French architecture journal L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui and several other publications related to contemporary and public art in the decades after the sculpture symposium took place. No less than three documentaries were created on the Symposium, including A Gathering of Giants, which aired on NBC in 1966, exposing millions of people to the incredible creative activity that took place at the University during that summer.

Since 1965, the CSULB public art collection has grown to twenty–six works, including artworks by Robert Irwin, Bryan Hunt, and Terry Schoonhoven. The collection is an integral aspect of the CSULB campus, which is known for its mid–century architecture by campus master planner and architect Edward Killingsworth, who worked with the artists to site their sculptures throughout the campus.

Far-Sited: California International Sculpture Symposium 1965/2015 will feature fascinating documentation of the symposium, the collaborations between artists and industries, and the creation of the monumental works, giving incredible context to the collection. In addition, the exhibition will include original artworks from the symposium artists, including one of the few Azuma bronzes in the United States, on loan from Brown University (formerly from the Peggy Guggenheim collection), LACMA's Gabriel Kohn sculpture, Ventura #1, 1965-66, which directly relates to Kohn's symposium piece, Long Beach Contract, and rare Kowalski experimental explosion forms. Also featured is a full collection of prints created in collaboration with symposium artists and Tamarind Lithography Workshop, on loan from the Long Beach Museum of Art.

The exhibition is one of three major initiatives at the University Art Museum to celebrate the anniversary of the sculpture symposium. The museum has partnered with the Getty Conservation Institute (GCI) and RLA Conservation of Art and Architecture to conserve the original symposium artworks. As part of their worldwide Outdoor Sculpture Project, the GCI has committed funding, analytical support, and archival research toward the restoration of several of the 1965 sculptures to insure the longevity of this groundbreaking work. In October, the UAM, GCI, and Museum of Latin American Art present Far-Sited: Creating and Conserving Art in Public Places, a conference on the future of public art, examining new trends and alternative practices, new materials and technologies, and the role of conservation for art in the public realm.

Event Details:

Saturday, September 12, 2015, 5-8pm
Opening reception and 50th anniversary celebration

Tuesday, September 15, 12pm
UAM@Noon - Brian Trimble, UAM interim director, leads a tour of the exhibition

Wednesday, October 7, 7pm
"Robert Irwin's Conditional Art" - Lecture on CSULB Outdoor Sculpture Collection artist Robert Irwin - Matthew Simms, Ph.D., CSULB professor of Art History

Friday, October 16 – Sunday, October 18, 2015
Far-Sited: Creating and Conserving Art in Public Places – Conference held at University Art Museum and University Student Union at CSULB, and Museum of Latin American Art – Visit www.far-sited.org for more information.

Wednesday, October 21, 2015, 7pm
UAM Evening Talk - Brian Trimble, UAM interim director, leads a tour of the exhibition

Wednesday, October 28 - 6:30pm (time tentative)
"The Long Beach Mobile Artspace: Redefining Urban Public Art" - Lecture - Wil Carson, designer, filmmaker, photographer, and business strategist

Wednesday, November 18, 7pm
"Mural Bans, City Streets, and the High Art of Graffiti" - Lecture on the privatization of public murals - Sarah Schrank, Ph.D., CSULB professor of History

Sunday, November 22, 7pm
Sounds and Spaces with Long Beach Symphony
Location TBD

Campus sculpture collection tours will be available throughout the exhibition (docent- and self-guided). Call 562.985.5761 for tour information.

All events take place at the University Art Museum, unless otherwise noted. For more information on exhibitions and related events, or for directions or parking information, visit www.csulb.edu/uam

About the University Art Museum

The mission of the University Art Museum is to present education and exhibition programs that blur the boundaries between visual arts and design, technology, music, and contemporary culture. The UAM curatorial vision focuses on tension and interplay at the nexus of contemporary art and society, with a focus on multidisciplinary education that serves the university and public. The UAM also plays a vital role in training future museum and arts professionals. Through dedication to scholarly and artistic excellence, the UAM has earned a reputation for its high-quality exhibitions and award-winning publications, and maintains a permanent collection of site-specific outdoor sculpture, works of art on paper, and the Gordon F. Hampton Collection of American painting and prints. Begun as a significant campus gallery in 1973 and first accredited by the American Alliance of Museums in 1984, the UAM remains an important resource in the field of visual arts for the largest comprehensive university system in the nation.

www.csulb.edu/uam