Isaac Julien Western Union Series No. 4 (Flight Towards Other Destinies 3), 2007. Photo courtesy of Isaac Julien Studio
September 25, 2020 – This October, Ruby City turns one year old and will celebrate with two new installations from its permanent collection and accompanying community programs. The new exhibitions are available for the public to view online through Ruby City’s website, Isaac Julien: Western Union: Small Boats and Margarita Cabrera: The Craft of Resistance. The exhibitions will be on view through spring 2022 allowing visitors to experience the work first-hand upon Ruby City’s reopening at a later date. Featuring works in diverse media, both exhibitions delve into ideas of migration and geographic movement. In the multi-screen installation Western Union: Small Boats (2007), British multimedia artist Julien chronicles the global history of African migration and diaspora, examining both the geopolitical debate around immigration and its unique impact on the individual. His work is paired with Cabrera’s installation The Craft of Resistance (2008). Comprised of 1,500 copper monarch butterflies, this site-specific piece uses the butterfly as a motif to represent perseverance and the persistence of immigrant communities. Together, the exhibitions aim to spark a dialogue around the global immigration climate.
Accompanying the installations, Ruby City and The Carver Community Cultural Center will co-host their ongoing virtual studio visit program, Taller Talks with both Isaac Julien and Margarita Cabrera. These virtual studio visits will provide an opportunity for the public to learn more about the artists’s practices, even giving them the chance to ask their own questions of these internationally renowned artists.
As part of its one-year anniversary celebration, Ruby City will share an interactive scavenger hunt, exploring San Antonio through the experiences of its visionary founder Linda Pace. Always proud of and deeply invested in her hometown, Linda’s direct and familial connections to numerous sites in the city and the history of San Antonio are significant. This program will give participants an opportunity to get out and safely explore the contemporary cultural scene of San Antonio with the chance to win prizes from local small businesses. The first four individuals to complete the scavenger hunt will receive a $50 gift certificate from a designated local business. For further details please visit our events page or sign up for our newsletter.
Ruby City’s inaugural exhibitions, which encompasses Ruby City’s campus, will be extended through the end of 2021. Spanning the interior of the contemporary art center, Waking Dream explores several themes reflected in the Linda Pace Foundation Collection in its presentation of significant works by leading international artists, including Do Ho Suh, Teresita Fernández and Wangechi Mutu, in conversation with pieces by San Antonio-based artists, such as Ana Fernandez, Cruz Ortiz, Chuck Ramirez and Ethel Shipton. The second part of the inaugural tripartite exhibition, Jewels in the Concrete, centers around Julien’s video installation Stones Against Diamonds (2015) and explores ideas of beauty, identity and appropriation. This exhibition has been extended through the spring of 2021 and is located at Studio, an auxiliary gallery located within the Ruby City campus.