Highlights include two major shows focusing on the Museum’s collection holdings, plus an exhibition that revisits the local resonance of Olympian Tommie Smith and San José’s history as ‘Speed City’ 

The San José Museum of Art is pleased to announce a year-long celebration of art, innovation, and community, coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the Museum’s founding in 1969. Led by community organizers and artists who believed in the value of civic space for creative exploration, SJMA was established as a grass-roots effort to provide a much-needed resource for the region. Today, guided by a new strategic plan that aspires to broaden the Museum’s geographic and conceptual reach, SJMA is the premiere modern and contemporary art museum in Silicon Valley. The Museum mounts six to eight unique and traveling exhibitions a year—and is the largest provider of in-school arts education in Santa Clara County. 

Planned throughout the year to mark this golden anniversary are major exhibitions and programming that reflect upon the evolution of SJMA, while at the same time situating such growth within the expansion and identity of Silicon Valley. A prominent focal point includes the Bay Area premiere With Drawn Arms, a collaborative exhibition between Kaino and Smith slated to open fall 2019, which posits art-making as a tool for storytelling—a way to ‘pass the baton’ of activism to the next generation. Through a partnership with History San José, the significance of this hyper-local history will be further contextualized within the archival exhibition, SpeedCity: From Civil Rights to Black Power, originally organized by Urla Hill in 2007 and re-mounted in the historic Davies gallery during the run of With Drawn Arms. The exhibition will be complemented by a suite of social justice-focused public programs that seek to empower individuals with practical tools or skills to effect change within our communities. In celebration of SJMA’s long-standing commitment to community engagement, the opening reception of With Drawn Arms will take place on Friday, November 1 as part of Facebook First Fridays—a program which allows free, public entry to the Museum on the first Friday of each month—and will be directly followed by the first of three free, annual Community Days on Saturday, November 2. 

The 50th anniversary season at SJMA also pays tribute to the ethos of innovation in Silicon Valley through a focused selection of artwork from SJMA’s permanent holdings that use digital and emergent technologies, as well as a large group exhibition featuring recently-acquired work on view the first time that reflects the cultural diversity of the Bay Area and enhances the Museum’s growing international collection. 

To amplify year-round access to SJMA as a vital community resource for the last 50 years, the Museum will continue to offer FREE admission to youth ages 17 or younger and college students and teachers with ID, in addition to three free community days and free admission to all on the first Friday of each month. Additionally, with support from the California Arts Council the Museum is pleased to continue an initiative that fully subsidizes SJMA’s premiere field trip program to 2,500 Title One students annually. 

The following is a select list of highlights among the 50th Anniversary programming:

Almost Human: Digital Art from the Permanent Collection

• September 22, 2019–August 9, 2020 | Organized by Kathryn Wade, curatorial associate
• Drawn entirely from SJMA’s collection, this exhibition highlights artists who use digital and emergent technologies—from custom computer electronics to virtual reality and early robotics to artificial intelligence. Featuring now-iconic works such as Ben Rubin and Mark Hansen’s landmark installation The Listening Post (2002–19), this show also highlights a new interactive AI installation by Ian Cheng acquired in 2018. Mirroring the culture of innovation and collaboration that has become synonymous with Silicon Valley, Almost Human salutes the Museum’s long-standing commitment over its 50-year history to collect work by artists who are pushing the boundaries located at the intersection of art and technology

With Drawn Arms: Glenn Kaino and Tommie Smith

• November 1, 2019–April 5, 2020 | Organized by Lauren Schell Dickens, curator
• The fall 2019 anniversary season is anchored by With Drawn Arms: Glenn Kaino and Tommie Smith—a marquee exhibition that revisits a major historical moment with national and local significance. In 1968, at the Summer Olympic Games in Mexico City, San José State University runner Tommie Smith raised a gloved fist during the medal ceremony to protest human rights abuses around the world and bring international attention to the struggle for civil rights in the United States. Smith and Los Angeles-based conceptual artist Glenn Kaino together explore the significance and longevity of this simple yet powerful gesture through a series of drawings, sculptures, and memorabilia from Smith’s personal collection that reflect his time as an athlete and civil rights activist. Funded in part through an NEA award, With Drawn Arms will be accompanied by a range of public programs, including a series of workshops that focus on providing the next generation with the tools, knowledge, and skills needed to make a difference in their community— a metaphorical passing of the baton and an important aspect of the collaboration. The full lineup of public programs will be announced in August.

SPEED CITY: From Civil Rights to Black Power

• November 1, 2019–April 5, 2020 | Presented in partnership with History San José
• This archival exhibition, originally organized by History San José in 2007, examines the broader history of athletics at San José State University beyond Tommie Smith and within the historical framework of the civilrights movement in the late 1960s. Featuring memorabilia, ephemera, photographs, and archival documents, Speed City reveals the unique cross-section of sports and activism fostered at SJSU from the late 1940s through 1969.

Woody De Othello: Breathing Room 

• November 1, 2019–April 5, 2020 | Organized by Lauren Schell Dickens, curator
• Opening alongside With Drawn Arms, SJMA will present the first solo museum presentation by Bay Area artist Woody De Othello. Woody De Othello debuts a new body of work based around SJMA’s recently acquired sculpture by the artist, Defeated, depleted (2018)—a dark and richly glazed vessel atop a low stool.

South East North West: New Works from the Collection

• May 1–September 20, 2020 | Organized by Rory Padeken, associate curator
• South East North West: New Works from the Collection highlights a dynamic array of paintings, sculptures, photographs, works on paper, and new media that have never been on view in the Museum’s galleries. Reflecting the lively cultural diversity of SJMA’s growing collection, the exhibition features artworks by modern and contemporary artists of international renown; pivotal artists working in California and the Bay Area; and emerging artists garnering extensive critical acclaim. Together, these artworks demonstrate SJMA’s adventurousness and ambition to become a museum for 21st century audiences. Artists include Diana Al-Hadid, Firelei Baez, Andrea Bowers, Tacita Dean, Genevieve Gaignard, Mona Hatoum, Yojiro Imasaka, Louise Nevelson, Nathan Oliveira, The Propeller Group, and more.

Facebook First Fridays 

Offering FREE admission from 5–9pm or later, these monthly late-night events offer music, food, and a lively atmosphere to enjoy the Museum’s exhibitions. DJ lineup and specific programming announced each month. 

2019–20 Facebook First Friday dates: 

• August 2
• September 6
• October 4
• November 1
• December 6
• January 3
• February 7
• March 6
• April 3
• May 1 

• June 5 

   

FREE Community Days 

Día de los Muertos 

November 1, 2019 

11am–5pm 

Lunar New Year 

February 22, 2020 

11am–5pm 

Maker Day 

June 6, 2020 

11am––5pm 

San Jose Museum of Art

SJMA is located at 110 South Market Street in downtown San José, California. The museum is open Tuesday through Sunday, 11am to 5pm and until 8pm or later on the third Thursday of each month. As of Friday, February 1, 2019, SJMA is also free to all on the first Friday of each month from 5–9pm. Admission is $10 for adults, $8 for seniors, and free to members, college students, youths and children ages 17 and under, and school teachers. For more information, call 408.271.6840 or visit SanJoseMuseumofArt.org.