Exhibition Explores Human Relationship with the San Francisco Bay and Invites the Public to Help Determine the Bay’s Future

(Oakland, CA) March 20, 2013—Climate change, commerce and transportation, changing populations, recreation, invasive species, and environmentalism are a few of the dynamic themes to be explored in the Oakland Museum of California’s (OMCA) major multi-disciplinary exhibition, Above and Below: Stories From Our Changing Bay , on view August 31, 2013, through February 23, 2014 , in the Museum’s Great Hall. Presented on the occasion of the opening of the San Francisco- Oakland Bay Bridge’s new East Bay span , the exhibition explores the dynamic stories of how the residents of, and visitors to, the San Francisco Bay Area have shaped and been shaped by the Bay over the last 6,000 years.

The first major exhibition to be presented with all three of OMCA’s transformed galleries of California Art, History, and Natural Sciences open to the public, this multidisciplinary exhibition highlights historic and contemporary place-based stories about the Bay, and engages viewers in discussions about the Bay’s future . Through an extensive use of media featuring oral histories, community voices, and interactives , the exhibition explores how human engineering and natural forces have come together over time to shape and reshape the land and water around the San Francisco Bay, and how sea-level rise, wetlands restoration, invasive species, and climate change are central topics in determining the future of the Bay .