Orange County Museum of Art, Laguna Art Museum to be part of next Pacific Standard Time

The Orange County Museum of Art announced Thursday it has received a $100,000 grant from the Getty Foundation for exhibition research ahead of its upcoming participation in a regional art and science initiative, “Pacific Standard Time.”

The exhibit “Sea Change: Toward New Environmentalisms in the Pacific Ocean” will show at the museum. It will concentrate on art that brings environmental issues in the Pacific Ocean to light and artwork that leads to solutions.

The museum is still under construction, having had its topping out ceremony in October, but it is one of 45 institutions in Southern California to get support from the foundation for related projects that will look into how art and science are connected. Heidi Zuckerman was recently named the chief executive and director of the museum.

Coming in 2024, the third edition of “Pacific Standard Time” will visit how art and science, both past and present, can address 21st century challenges, ranging from climate change to artificial intelligence.

“We are thrilled to be able to participate in the next Pacific Standard Time and to bring together groundbreaking international artists, scientists, and activists for a project in Orange County, a community that cares deeply about the Pacific Ocean,” Cassandra Coblentz, the museum’s senior curator and director of public engagement, stated in a news release.

“It is an exciting opportunity for us, as an institution and a community, to learn more about the ways in which all of us across the Pacific are impacted by the crucial environmental issues at stake,” Coblentz continued.

Contributions from institutions coming together for “Pacific Standard Time” in 2024 are expected to come in the form of exhibitions, performances, publications and public conversations.

Laguna Art Museum also received a grant in the amount of $100,000, and the local museum will be participating via an exhibit called “Particles and Waves: Southern California Abstraction and Modern Physics, 1945 to 1980.”

The exhibit will explore how progress made in the field of modern physics led to creation of abstract artworks by artists who were interested in concepts such energy, light, motion and time.

“This exhibition offers an exciting opportunity to explore the inter-related histories of scientific research and artistic experimentation in Southern California,” Sharrissa Iqbal, lead curator of the Laguna Art Museum’s exhibition, said in a release.

“After World War II, a wide range of artists in and around Los Angeles produced visually abstract artworks concerned with scientific theories, mathematical models, and engineered technologies,” Iqbal said. “By bringing together a vibrant intersection of non-figurative artworks influenced by modern physics, ‘Particles and Waves’ will shed new light on the history of artistic abstraction in the region.”

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