Eli and Edythe Broad Art Center at UCLA Opened, 2006
Department of Art Faculty Exhibition Highlighted the Opening of the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Center at UCLA on September 14, 2006.
An exhibition of works by world-renowned artists who are members of the faculty in the UCLA Department of Art highlighted the opening of the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Center at UCLA. Designed by Richard Meier & Partners Architects, the building opened on Sept. 14th. A press preview took place on Sept. 13. A sculpture by Richard Serra— T.E.U.C.L.A., a torqued ellipse—has been permanently installed on the plaza.
The exhibition was on view from Sept. 14 through Oct. 26 in the New Wight Gallery located in the Broad Art Center. Fully illustrated catalogues complemented the exhibition.
Sixteen Tons, the Department of Art exhibition at the Broad Art Center—curated by Michael Darling, Jon and Mary Shirley Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Seattle Art Museum—featured works by faculty members John Baldessari, Jennifer Bolande, Chris Burden (emeritus), Barbara Drucker (chair), Roger Herman, Mary Kelly, Paul McCarthy (emeritus), Catherine Opie, Hirsch Perlman, Lari Pittman, Charles Ray, Nancy Rubins (emerita), Adrian Saxe, Don Suggs, James Welling and Patty Wickman.
"The UCLA Department of Art has been crucial in the establishment of Los Angeles as perhaps the most exciting single city for cutting-edge art production anywhere," said Michael Darling, curator of Sixteen Tons. "This exhibition features 16 current and emeriti faculty members, each of whom has built up distinctive oeuvres. In their work we can see the major vectors that have guided the international art world across the spectrum of possibilities and categories: in painting, photography, sculpture, video, film, performance and installation. The artists' legacies are visible not only in the ambitious work of the ever-expanding community of UCLA alumni, but also in the license they have given to an international network of artists around the globe."
Eli and Edythe Broad donated $23.2 million toward the construction of a new complex at UCLA that provides modern facilities for the visual arts programs of the School of the Arts and Architecture (UCLArts), including interactive multimedia technology, studio space for students, updated classrooms, galleries for student exhibitions and public presentations, as well as office and conference space. The facility houses the Department of Art, the Department of Design | Media Arts and the New Wight Gallery.
Reconstructing and seismically repairing the existing eight-story structure, severely damaged in the 1994 Northridge earthquake, Richard Meier & Partners Architects transformed the building, creating a distinctive new home for the world-class visual arts programs of UCLArts, while integrating the complex into the surrounding campus. The contemporary building of architectural concrete, teak, stainless steel and glass is located on an important north-south pedestrian axis which is integrated into the building plan. The new Broad Art Center offers greatly improved program space that is both more appropriate for the working methods of contemporary artists and flexibly designed to accommodate future needs. The development of outboard structural buttresses on the west end of the tower as a major component of the seismic solution provides an innovative alternative to interior shear walls. The result is flexible internal space largely unencumbered by structural partitions, creating a loft-like floor plan perfectly suited to contemporary studio practice.
Image courtesy of Richard Meier & Partners Architects LLP