Past Exhibitions
2017 California-Pacific Triennial
Opening on May 6, 2017, and curated by OCMA Senior Curator Cassandra Coblentz, this thought-provoking exhibition explores the topic of architecture and the temporal precariousness of the built environment. Among the issues to be addressed are the recording of history and preservation; the concept of home and displacement; and the influence of global power, economics, and political systems on global construction.
The California-Pacific Triennial, a survey of contemporary art in and around the Pacific Rim, grew from the museum's long-standing California Biennial exhibitions (1984 through 2010). Together, the Biennials and now Triennials have become a cornerstone of the museum's exhibition program. This is the museum's second California-Pacific Triennial.
The artists (listed below) live and work in 11 countries bordering the Pacific Ocean and will present work that includes sculpture, installation, photography, and drawing, as well as performance-based and socially engaged activities. The majority of the works in the exhibition will be created specifically for this project or will be on public view for the first time; and many are site-specific installations.
2017 CALIFORNIA-PACIFIC TRIENNIAL: BUILDING AS EVER participating artists
anothermountainman (Stanley Wong) | Hong Kong, China | Lead Pencil Studio |
Carmen Argote | Los Angeles, USA | Annie Han, Daniel Mihalyo | Seattle, USA |
Michele Asselin |Los Angeles, USA | Renée Lotenero | Los Angeles, USA |
Cedric Bomford | Victoria, Canada | Cybele Lyle | Oakland, USA |
Santiago Borja | Mexico City, Mexico | Ronald Morán | San Salvador, El Salvador |
Leyla Cardenas | Bogotá, Colombia | Trong Gia Nguyen | Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City), Vietnam |
Cesar Cornejo | Lima, Peru; Tampa, USA | Nancy Popp | Los Angeles, USA |
Beatriz Cortez | Los Angeles, USA | Pilar Quinteros | Santiago, Chile |
Estudio Teddy Cruz + Forman | Bryony Roberts | Los Angeles, USA |
Teddy Cruz, Fonna Forman | San Diego, USA | Alex Slade | Los Angeles, USA |
Ken Ehrlich | Los Angeles, USA | Super Critical Mass |
Patricia Fernández | Los Angeles, USA | Julian Day, Luke Jaaniste | Brisbane, Australia |
Yuki Kimura | Kyoto, Japan | Wang Wei | Beijing, China |
Olga Koumoundouros | Los Angeles, USA |
Haegue Yang | Berlin, Germany; Seoul, South Korea |
LEARN MORE
2017 California-Pacific Triennial audio tour now available
Hear directly from Curator Cassandra Coblentz and exhibiting artists from around the Pacific Rim. To begin your tour, dial (949) 203-3053 and enter any prompt number as listed below, followed by the # pound sign.
1. Curator Cassandra Coblentz- Introduction
2. Renée Lotenero
3. Bryony Roberts
4. Olga Koumoundouros
5. Santiago Borja (Spanish)
6. Santiago Borja (English)
7. Pilar Quinteros (Spanish)
8. Pilar Quinteros (English)
9. Super Critical Mass -CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLE
10. Wang Wei (Mandarin)
11. Wang Wei (assistant translates in English)
12. Cedric Bomford
13. Patricia Fernández
14. Michele Asselin
15. Beatriz Cortez (Spanish)
16. Beatriz Cortez (English)
17. Ken Ehrlich
18. Ronald Morán (Spanish)
19. Leyla Cárdenas
20. Lead Pencil Studio
21. Alex Slade
22. Estudio Cruz + Forman
23. Nancy Popp (English and Spanish, combined)
25. Trong Gia Nguyen
26. Cybele Lyle
27. Carmen Argote
28. Yuki Kimura
29. Cesar Cornejo
Ken Ehrlich: Download Incursions and Excursions, the publication Ken Ehrlich produced for this installation. To view the booklet on screen, click here; to download and print out a version of the book, click here; to produce the booklet: print on 11x17 inch paper at 100% scale, enable two-sided printing in landscape format, print and fold the stack of papers in the middle and thread-stitch or staple.
Carmen Argote will be on site every Saturday (excluding June 10 and July 15, 22, and 29), 11 am to 2 pm. The public is invited to discuss her 2017 Triennial project, Place On-Hold as she cuts away at her massive, hand-painted textiles to sew clothing, which may then be tried on by museum visitors.
Nancy Popp is an artist and activist, whose 2017 California-Pacific Triennial project focuses on the community displacement that took prior to the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. As background to those events, Popp suggests the following articles: City Lab and The Guardian. The artist's project extends beyond OCMA's walls with her involvement of local communities as they fight their own struggles with growth and displacement. These organizations include: Chicanos Unidos and Protégé Santa Ana.
Exhibition sponsored by
Support for this exhibition is provided by Visionaries, The Ahmanson Foundation, Lucy Sun and Warren Felson, the Elizabeth Firestone Graham Foundation, Michelle Rohe, the Pola Art Foundation, and the Canada Council for the Arts.
The 2017 California-Pacific Triennial: Building As Ever is organized by the Orange County Museum of Art and curated by OCMA Senior Curator Cassandra Coblentz.


Anothermountainman, the story of my early life/4/the mills 6, 2017.

Estudio Cruz + Forman, Mecalux Retrofit: A frame for informal housing, 2015.

Patricia Fernandez, Nada/Nadia/Nadie/Nadja and Objective Chances, 2017

Haegue Yang, An Opaque Wind—Humbled Gray #1, 2016