OAKLAND MUSEUM OF CA REINVENTING VISITOR EXPERIENCE
$58 Million Campaign to Create Dynamic, Welcoming Exhibition Spaces New Art, History, and Natural Sciences Galleries

OAKLAND, CA, April 15, 2009—Created in 1969 as a “museum for the people,” the Oakland Museum of California (OMCA) is reviving its foundational premise with a major renovation and expansion of its landmark Kevin Roche building and a groundbreaking reinstallation of its collections.

OMCA is redefining conventional exhibition strategies and setting a new paradigm for how a museum engages the public. With the $58 million transformation, the Museum will create a more inclusive and interactive exhibition environment, achieve greater integration of its collections, and present the multilayered story of California and its people from a variety of perspectives—reflecting the diversity of California’s population and audiences served by the museum. Visitors will find multiple entry points into the state’s past, learn about the natural, artistic, and social forces that continue to shape it, and investigate their own role in the making of history.

“As the ‘museum of California,’ we have to reflect the state’s changing demographic, become more nimble in our approach to its history, and embrace the varied cultures, natural environments, and experiences that give California its complex identity,” said Lori Fogarty, OMCA’s executive director.

“We are rethinking the traditional museum experience—in a sense demystifying it—by inviting visitors to participate in an ongoing dialogue about the art, history, and natural sciences of California, and to contribute to the development of multiple, perhaps even competing story lines that will be explored through our exhibitions and public programs,” Ms. Fogarty continued. “In adopting a de-centered narrative, we hope to advance a more integrated, multifaceted understanding of this dynamic state and its impact on the nation and the world.”

The New Galleries: Telling the Many Stories of California
When OMCA first opened its doors forty years ago, it brought together three historically independent disciplines—art, history, and natural sciences—under one roof. This progressive approach was to celebrate the many facets of California.

OMCA was founded through a broad civic initiative and designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Kevin Roche of Kevin Roche John Dinkeloo and Associates. Recognized as one of the most significant examples of post-World War II modernism in America, the Museum integrates architecture and landscape architecture and indoor and outdoor spaces into one building program. The Museum’s terraced roof gardens and central courtyard, designed by landscape architect Dan Kiley, continue to serve as an urban oasis for Oakland residents and visitors from the Bay Area and beyond.

The transformation touches almost every aspect of the 300,000 square-foot Museum. It builds on the founders’ original multi-disciplinary and civic-minded intent by improving integration of the Museum’s collections and programs, strengthening its role as a public forum, and creating new opportunities for visitor participation.

The new galleries will weave together chronological and theme-based installations to explore different concepts of California identity and reality. The collections will be animated by innovative interpretive tools and interactive features, and new gathering spaces and program areas will engage visitors and encourage them to share their own perspectives, questions, and stories.

“California’s geography has been a major source of the state’s cultural dynamism,” said René de Guzman, a senior curator of art at OMCA. “The state is practically all coastline and borders that open to the world. The immediate cities around the Museum—Oakland and San Francisco—are port cities—active, porous, and poised to receive and circulate the great mix of global populations, goods, ideas, and cultural influences.

“By transforming our collections galleries into spaces filled with ongoing activity and change, the Museum can better reflect the range of ideas that give California its vitality. We are marrying new forms of art and cultural expression with engaging interpretation to match the energy of our forward-looking, visionary state,” de Guzman continued. “Our goal is to connect our public to California’s cultural and environmental significance.”

The Gallery of California Art will be installed along three main themes: Land (Exploring California), People (Defining Identity), and Ideas (Creative California). Special sections will explore how California’s natural and manmade landscapes have inspired artists for centuries; how the work of California artists mirrors the diversity of the state’s peoples and cultures; and how California can be experienced as a vibrant center of innovation and change—through art and artistic movements ranging from Bay Area Figurative to f.64 photography to Self-Taught and Counterculture art, among others.

The theme of the Gallery of California History will be Coming to California. The gallery will showcase more than 2200 historical artifacts, artworks, ethnographic materials, and original photographs to depict the influence of successive waves of migration—from the earliest Natives to settlers during the Spanish and Mexican periods to more recent immigrants and their interactions with people who arrived before them.

Four sub-themes will further guide the History Gallery’s presentation: the state’s people (The Diverse Peoples of California), the relationship of people to the environment (People and the Environment), the contrast between the myth of freedom and self-fulfillment and often conflicting realities (The “California Dream”), and California’s relationship to the rest of the world (Global Connections). Oral histories and storytelling will play a prominent role throughout the gallery. The Museum is experimenting with a range of technologies, such as digital interactive exhibits and audio stations, to encourage visitors to contribute their own storylines.

“How do you tell a single story of California, or for that matter, the history of any place inhabited by people of so many cultures and perspectives?” said Louise Pubols, OMCA’s chief curator of history.

“There are many ways to approach a historic event or an artifact, informed by our personal range of cultural perspectives and lived experiences. The Museum is reinterpreting its collections to tell not just one, but many stories—embracing peoples and cultures traditionally been excluded from historical narrative.”

The Gallery of California Natural Sciences will explore California as a “hotspot,” one of the world’s richest places in biological and geological diversity but whose ecosystems also suffer from enormous pressures—urbanization, pollution, large-scale agriculture, and invasive species, among others. The Gallery will focus initially on five major, representative examples of California habitats: Oakland (coastal mountains), Sutter Buttes (central valley), Yosemite (Sierra Nevada range), Joshua Tree (southern deserts), and Cordell Bank/Pt. Reyes (nearshore). Exhibits, interactive displays, learning stations, and testimony from scientists and local residents will inspire visitors to learn more about California environments and how to get involved in protecting them.

All galleries throughout the new Museum will be welcoming and inclusive, encouraging visitors to see themselves as contributors to California’s social, artistic, environmental, and cultural heritage.

Interactive components and interpretive tools will include “transparent” wall text that sheds light on behind-the-scenes curatorial challenges; interactive journals that invite visitors to engage in dialogue with curators, and each other, about specific and perhaps controversial works on display; movable furniture that allows visitors to chose which artwork they want to view with greater attention; first-person voice and multilingual labels; “loaded” lounges with objects to provoke conversation among visitors about art, history, and the environment; and the new Art Discovery Center and Chevron History Hang-Out, in-gallery experimental exhibition spaces that will provide a range of immersive experiences.

“We are challenging conventional ways of interpretation, emphasizing flexibility, transparency, and community dialogue,” adds Ms. Fogarty. “Just as California is constantly evolving, this Museum embraces change and openness to new ideas. It’s practically in our DNA!”

OMCA’s renovation and expansion is overseen by the San Francisco architectural firm of Mark Cavagnero Associates, which will honor the original architecture and landscape vision of Kevin Roche and Dan Kiley while upgrading visitor amenities and integrating the museum experience. Modifications will encompass new exhibition and programming space, seating, and modernized lighting in the galleries. A new 90-foot canopy over the Oak Street entrance will enhance the Museum’s street presence.

Construction on the Art and History Galleries is scheduled for completion in the spring of 2010, adding 4800 square feet of new gallery space to showcase what is known as the most comprehensive collection of California art and material culture in the world. Work on the Natural Sciences Gallery, which will gain 7200 square feet, and enhancement to classroom and education facilities will be completed by early 2012. Many new exhibition elements throughout the museum will be presented in prototype form and continue to evolve, contrary to a fixed re-opening.

The first phase of construction started in 2007 with the creation of a state-of-the-art storage facility, the California Collections and Research Center, for OMCA’s collection of nearly two million objects. The project also includes improvements to the 270-seat James Moore Theatre, restaurant, and the museum store.

OMCA has surpassed 85% of its $58 million campaign goal for the renovation and expansion. Core support from Measure G, passed by Oakland voters in 2002, provided $23.6 million for capital improvements and gave the campaign a strong early launch.

Additional support has been provided by Wayne and Gladys Valley Foundation, Chevron Corporation, The Bernard Osher Foundation, Koret Foundation, Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund, S.D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation, the Oakland Museum’s Women’s Board, California Cultural and Historical Endowment, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

“We’ve had an incredible response to date, confirming the Museum’s standing as an important cultural, educational, and community resource,” said Sheryl Wong, chair of the Oakland Museum of California Campaign.

While the Art and History Galleries are closed for renovation, OMCA continues to present special exhibitions and public programs; the Natural Sciences Gallery will remain open through August 23, before closing for renovation. Between fall 2009 and spring 2010, the Museum will engage the community through various off-site public programming currently under development. More information on OMCA’s exhibitions and programs is available at www.museumca.org.

For visuals of the new galleries and construction progress, please contact Elizabeth Whipple (ewhipple@museumca.org).