CCA’s Graduate Program in Curatorial Practice Reveals *The Secret of the Ninth Planet*

Posted on Thursday, March 26, 2009, by Brenda Tucker

The Graduate Program in Curatorial Practice at California College of the Arts will revealThe Secret of the Ninth Planet from April 24–May 24, 2009, at two San Francisco venues simultaneously: Queen’s Nails Projects (3191 Mission Street) and Photo Epicenter (26 Lilac Street).

An opening reception is planned Friday, April 24, from 7–11 p.m. at each location with a shuttle running between. Additional programming at Galeria de la Raza (2857 24th Street, San Francisco) will include a lecture by the astronomer Andrew Fraknoi on April 26 and a live performance by Lucky Dragons and Avocet on May 22. These programs and presentations are free and open to the public.

The Secret of the Ninth Planet takes its title from a 1959 Donald A. Wollheim novel of the same name. In the book, evil colonialist curators display in vitrines captured members of various intergalactic cultures. Operating counter to this model of the curator as authoritarian cultural anthropologist, CCA’s nine graduate student curators instead focus on works that deal in one way or another with ideas of time, space, and travel. They are in a variety of media—from video and sound installation to (in the artist Suzanne Treister’s words) “delusional, time-traveling watercolors.” The galleries are illuminated not by overhead lighting, but by light emitted from (the majority of) the pieces.

The metaphor of liberation extends as well to the show’s organizational premise. As opposed to the traditional concept of an exhibition as a zone of stable definition and order, The Secret of the Ninth Planet is united, somewhat paradoxically, by a disavowal of order. The dual-venue installation is also a deliberate attempt to offer expanded possibilities for interpretation of the works’ layered content.

Artists in the exhibition: Raymond Boisjoly, Chu Yun, Jasmina Cibic, Maryam Jafri, Yael Kanarek, Kitty Kraus, Gabriel Lester, Euan Macdonald, Gianni Motti, Kamau Patton, Dario Robleto, Sham Saenz, Tokihiro Sato, Suzanne Treister, Matt Volla, and Hillary Wiedemann.

The exhibition will be accompanied by a fully illustrated catalog with an essay by the renowned theorist and curator Lars Bang Larsen.

CALENDAR EDITORS PLEASE NOTE:

April 24, 2009
CCA’s Graduate Program in Curatorial Practice announces the free, public opening reception of the exhibition
The Secret of the Ninth Planet
at two venues simultaneously (7–11 p.m.):

1. Queen’s Nails Projects, 3191 Mission Street, San Francisco, 415.314.6785
2. Photo Epicenter, 26 Lilac Street, San Francisco, 415.550.0701

April 24–May 24, 2009
CCA’s Graduate Program in Curatorial Practice presents the exhibition
The Secret of the Ninth Planet
at two venues:

1. Queen’s Nails Projects, 3191 Mission Street, San Francisco, 415.314.6785
2. Photo Epicenter, 26 Lilac Street, San Francisco, 415.550.0701

Additional programming:

Galeria de la Raza, 2857 24th Street, San Francisco, 415.826.8009
Hours: Thurs.–Fri., 3–7 p.m.; Sat.–Sun., noon–6 p.m.