Smart Art
Katherine Dunham, 1936, photographer unknown, Jerome Robbins Dance Division, NYPL for the Performing Arts
Written by Lorie Dewhirst Porter
For lovers of art and architecture, UC SANTA BARBARA’S ART, DESIGN & ARCHITECTURE MUSEUM is a mandatory destination. Helmed by director Gabriel Ritter, the museum offers ambitious exhibitions that provide deep dives into work by architects and artists. From Within: The Architecture of Helena Arahuete (curated by Silvia Perea and on view through December 17) is an in-depth survey and first retrospective of the work of Helena Arahuete, whose long career includes a 23-year tenure with renowned architect John Lautner before establishing her own firm. Please, Come In ... (curated by Sylvia Faichney and Graham Feyl and also on exhibit through December 17), critically examines museum period rooms through four iconic environments (discotheque, dive bar, living room, bathroom) filled with disparate objects and artworks that document and reference queer methods of assigning meaning to those spaces. Border Crossings: Exile and American Modern Dance, 1900–1955 focuses on how modern dance was shaped by war, exile, inequality, and injustice, while challenging previous histories of performance art. (Curated by Ninotchka Bennahum and Rena Heinrich, the exhibit is on view January 25 through May 5.) A Box of One’s Own: Women Beyond Borders showcases a 1991 project entitled “Women Beyond Borders,” which invited women around the world to transform a small wooden box into an art piece. More than 900 people across 50 countries ultimately participated in the project. (Letícia Cobra Lima curated the show, which is on view January 25 through May 5.) 552 University Rd., Santa Barbara, 805-893-2951, museum.ucsb.edu
