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The Light Elephant’s journey throughout Downtown Santa Barbara to culminate at Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara (MCASB)
September 30, 2021 @ 5:00 am PDT
The Light Elephant’s journey throughout Downtown Santa Barbara to culminate at Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara (MCASB)
Exhibition on View: Thursday, September 23, 2021 – Sunday, October 3, 2021
Public Reception: Thursday, September 30, 5 – 8 pm
(Santa Barbara, CA) – MCASB is pleased to present a culminating exhibition of the Light Elephant on view from Thursday, September 23 – Sunday, October 3, 2021. The Light Elephant is a “site reflective” inflatable public art program composed of a series of temporary installations within Downtown Santa Barbara.
Throughout the Summer of 2021, UCSB Professors and Artists Iman Djouini & Jonathan Taube directed a team of students to install this large-scale public artwork in dozens of sites in Downtown Santa Barbara. Through its installation and workshops, this project attempts to memorialize the stories of Downtown Santa Barbara art and culture from a decolonial perspective, as we start to turn the corner and re-engage with our public space.
Illuminating a new perspective on Public Life in Santa Barbara, Djouni and Taube have engaged with the public permit process to install Light Elephant throughout fifteen of downtown Santa Barbara’s most iconic locations and parks. The artwork deploys an enigma, appearing in the backgrounds of familiar places and historic passages, moving through Downtown like a flaneur in public space. Its presence provokes three simple questions that we can all reflect on whoever & wherever we are:
“What has happened here?” “What is happening here?” “What will happen here?”
Light Elephant Programming Hosted at MCASB:
Walkthrough and Artist Talk | Friday, September 24, 2021 | 3 – 4:30 pm
Public Walking Tour | Sunday, September 26, 2021 | 3 – 4 pm
Light Elephant Reception | Thursday, Sunday 30, 2021 | 5 – 8 pm
Family Friendly Workshop | Saturday, October 2, 2021 | 1 – 4 pm
More details are available on https://www.mcasantabarbara.org/events/upcoming-events/
About Light Elephant
Community Partnerships:
The Light Elephant established community partnerships with UCSB, Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara, the Santa Barbara Public Library, Downtown Santa Barbara, Paseo Nuevo, the Historical Museum, the Granada Theater, and the Lobero Theater
Temporary installations to date:
The Lobero Theatre, the Granada Theatre, multiple sites on State Street, Casa De La Guerra Plaza, the County Courthouse, Alameda Park, the Central Branch Library, the Mission Historical Park Storke Placita, multiple sites at Paseo Nuevo, Los Baños del Mar, Jardin de las Granadas, the Historical Museum, Franceschi Park, and Chase Palm Park
Additional temporary installations are anticipated for the Fall and Winter.
This project had been coordinated through the Santa Barbara County Office of Arts and Culture, Downtown Santa Barbara, and educational partners with Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara and the Santa Barbara Public Library. The project was made possible with the research assistance of UCSB undergraduate students who were paid and received professional experience in the public art process over the summer.
About the Artists
Iman Djouni and Jonathan Taube have partnered for the past decade to work in public spaces and on public issues. They have conducted research and produced artworks in public in Avignon, France, Rotterdam, Netherlands, Israel, along the US/Mexico border, Baltimore City, New Orleans, and Santa Barbara. Djouini earned her Master of Fine Arts in Printmaking from Tulane University and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting and Art History from The Maryland Institute College of Art. Jonathan earned his Masters of Architecture at Tulane School of Architecture and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Interdisciplinary Sculpture from the Maryland Institute College of Art. Their creative practice is at the intersections of expanded print media, urban theory, and public processes. Iman is an assistant teaching professor for the College of Creative Studies and Department of Art at UCSB. Jonathan Taube is an architectural designer and has lectured at the Department of Art at UCSB. The Light Elephant has been exhibited in Baltimore, Maryland and in Santa Barbara.
About Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara
Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara (MCASB) is a non-profit, non-collecting museum dedicated to the exhibition, education, and cultivation of the art of our time. Formerly Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum (CAF), MCASB is the premier venue for contemporary art between Los Angeles and San Francisco. MCASB is located at the Paseo Nuevo Upper Arts Terrace in downtown Santa Barbara, California.