Orange County Museum of Art

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Getty Foundation Grant | Orange lounge design | About the orange lounge

The Orange County Museum of Art was awarded a $200,000 grant from the Getty Foundation, the philanthropic division of the J. Paul Getty Trust, for Collection Histories / Collective Memories, a series of three major exhibitions over the next four years drawn from the museum�s collection. Comprised of over 2,500 paintings, prints, drawings, photographs, sculpture, video, and installations produced during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries largely by California-based artists, the museum�s collection is a significant cultural resource for Southern California and beyond. The exhibitions in the Collection Histories / Collective Memories series are California Modern (February 4, 2005 � September 30, 2006), Post War Experiments and Experience (February 4, 2007 � September 30, 2008), and The Projected Image (February 4, 2009 � September 30, 2010).

The entire Collection Histories / Collective Memories project will highlight important moments in the museum�s exhibition history as they have intersected with some of the most significant developments in California art from the early twentieth century to the present. For almost twenty years prior to the expansion of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the founding of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, the Newport Harbor Art Museum (a predecessor institution of the Orange County Museum of Art) was one of the most adventurous exhibition venues in Southern California, and played a key role in the support and promotion of modern and contemporary art in the region.

Orange County Museum of Art Director Dennis Szakacs stated, �Collection Histories / Collective Memories recovers and documents the museum�s distinguished but largely unknown contributions to establishing Southern California as a major international art center. We are honored that the Getty has recognized the importance of this history and the need to share it with a wider audience.�

Getty funds will be used for research consultants, scholars, and archivists, as well as for the production costs of interpretative materials that will communicate this new collection research to the public. For example, over the next year the museum will study its trove of audio recordings from the 1960s and 1970s, and its video footage from the 1980s, documenting lectures and interviews with artists such as Eleanor Antin, John Baldessari, Larry Bell, Billy Al Bengston, Elmer Bischoff, Chris Burden, Mary Corse, Tony DeLap, Rineke Dijkstra, Lynn Foulkes, George Herms, John McCracken, Ed Moses, Nathan Oliveira, George Segal, Wayne Thiebaud, and Bill Viola. New video interviews with artists, curators, and art historians affiliated with the museum over the last 40 years will also be produced.

Collection Histories / Collective Memories is organized by Elizabeth Armstrong, deputy director for programs and chief curator, and Karen Moss, curator of collections and director of education and public programs. Additional Funding is provided by the Museum Council and Nancy Dustin Moure.

The J. Paul Getty Trust is an international cultural and philanthropic institution devoted to the visual arts that includes the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Getty Research Institute, the Getty Conservation Institute, and the Getty Foundation. The J. Paul Getty Trust and its programs are based at the Getty Center in Los Angeles.

The Getty Foundation provides crucial support to institutions and individuals throughout the world in fields that are aligned most closely with the Getty's strategic priorities. It therefore funds a diverse range of projects that promote learning and scholarship about the history of the visual arts and the conservation of cultural heritage, and it consistently searches for collaborative efforts that set high standards and make significant contributions.

Additional information is available on the Getty Web site www.getty.edu/grants.

Image credits top to bottom:
Ed Ruscha, Annie, 1965;
oil on canvas, 22 x 20 inches

Robert Irwin, Untitled, 1960;
oil on canvas in wood frame, 15 3/16 x 15 3/16 inches

Chris Finley,Couplinkcreature, 2001;
acrylic sign enamel on canvas over wood, 72 x 81 inches

William Wendi, Spring in the Canyon, 1929;
oil on canvas, 50 � x 60 � inches

Monique Prieto, Miasma, 1999;
acrylic on canvas, 96 s 72 inches

The Orange County Museum of Art recently launched the Orange Lounge at South Coast Plaza, the first museum space on the West Coast to regularly present digital art and video and the only space of its kind located in a major retail complex.

Since 1989 the museum and South Coast Plaza have partnered to offer the public a free satellite gallery and museum store that has introduced the visual arts to millions of South Coast Plaza visitors. The Orange Lounge at South Coast Plaza takes this unique partnership to a new level by creating a space designed specifically to present new media in a setting that is engaging, stimulating, and highly interactive and that reflects Orange County's increasing role as a major technology center.

The Orange Lounge includes a flexible project space for large-scale projections, a lounge area with a variety of different seating configurations for viewing works on monitors and plasma screens, and retail bar featuring items related to digital culture for purchase.

The space, designed by Bauer & Wiley Architects www.bauerandwiley.com, integrates art, technology, and architecture to create a unique experience for the visitor, one that seeks to expand the experience of viewing media art beyond sitting either on a bench in a dark room or at a workstation - both of which many in the field now find limiting modes of presentation for artists who are employing media in their work. The demands placed on the viewer by the technology itself, the time-based nature of the work, and the level of interactivity required by the work are ever increasing.

The design of the Orange Lounge seeks to address these challenges by rethinking the relationship between the object and the viewer, taking as its inspiration domestic and public settings ranging from the "conversation pit" to the "banquet" to the bed, each suggesting different levels of privacy and group participation, as well as the position of the body relative to the work.

The Orange Lounge presents solo and group exhibitions and special events featuring artist demonstrations, performances, and discussions that investigate the impact of digital media on contemporary visual culture. From real-time computer-generated moving images, to room-sized video installations, to artworks based strictly on the Web, the Orange Lounge is a dynamic site for exploring and interacting with new media art. Catalogues, CDs and other products related to video and new media are available in the Orange Lounge.

Orange Video

Orange Lounge visitors can view Orange Video, a viewer-navigated menu with access to the museum's growing collection of single-channel videos by artists such as Douglas Gordon, Gary Hill, Joan Jonas, William Dentridge, Paul McCarthy, NamJune Paik, Pipilotti Rist, and William Wegman.

Orange Lounge Website

The Orange Lounge web site connects you to online exhibitions, new media resources, and global news postings. View announcements about current and upcoming exhibitions and programs in the Orange Lounge. The Orange Lounge website is designed by Amy Franceschini and David Lu of Futurefarmers, a new media collective. To learn more about this global collective, visit Futurefarmers

Orange Lounge Funding

Orange Lounge design and construction funded by the Segerstrom Foundation.

Major Support for Orange Lounge programs is provided by The James Irvine Foundation.

Technical support provided by Integrated Media Systems.

The museum will partner with the Beall Center for Art and Technology at the University of California, Irvine, on selected projects. Established in 2000 within UCI's Claire Trevor School of the Arts, the Beall Center is a research and exhibition center that explores new relationships between the arts, sciences, and engineering, promoting new forms of creation and expression using digital technologies. The museum and the Beall Center will also collaborate on operational aspects of the Orange Lounge.