Oceanside Museum of Art to Open First of San Diego Exhibits Featured in Major Getty Initiative, ‘PST Art’

San Diego County is part of a major initiative involving nearly 80 arts organizations throughout Southern California – and in Oceanside, it begins rolling out Saturday.

Most of the exhibits begin next month, but one at the Oceanside Museum of Art – “Transformative Currents: Art and Action in the Pacific Ocean” – will open in part this weekend.

The shows fall under a $19-million initiative by the Getty Museum, PST Art: Art & Science Collide, which explores past and present connections between the disciplines, in exhibitions, public programs and more.

Project topics range from climate change and environmental justice to the future of artificial intelligence and alternative medicine.

Other local museums and institutions involved include the Birch Aquarium, California Center for the Arts in Escondido, UC San Diego’s Nest at Geisel Library and the Mandeville Art Gallery, Qualcomm Institute, Kosay Kumeyaay Market in Old Town, La Jolla Historical Society, Mingel International Museum, Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego Museum of Art, New Children’s Museum and San Diego Public Library.

The full exhibit in Oceanside opens Sept. 7 and continues through Jan. 19. “Transformative Currents” examines the historical causes and ongoing effects of the cultural and environmental devastation of the Pacific Ocean and art’s potential to enact positive ecological change.

It includes works in diverse media, including video, sculpture, drawings and photography, by 21 international contemporary artists and collaborative teams.

“We cannot separate the issues facing the Pacific; they are interrelated and affect us all,” explains Cassandra Coblentz, lead curator. “This exhibition is a call to recognize our shared responsibility and the dynamic interconnectedness of our actions.”

Another exhibit, opening Sept. 14 at the Mingei in Balboa Park, “Blue Gold: The Art and Science of Indigo,” explores the process of transforming plants into pigments. It will include over 180 works representing 30 countries.

“The title of this exhibition alludes to its value as a commodity, but also elevates its aesthetic worth,” said Mingei Director of Exhibitions and Chief Curator Emily Hanna.

MOCA’s entry, “For Dear Life, Art, Medicine and Disability,” is driven in part by San Diego’s role as a hub for health science research, as well as the biotech and pharmaceutical industries. The museum bills the exhibit, opening Sept. 19, as broadly, “the first historical survey of artistic responses to sickness, health and medicine.”

PST ultimately will include more than 800 artists, according to the Getty, but the organization’s goals reach beyond the planned exhibitions. Officials said the hope is that PST becomes a “model for public programming at an unprecedented scale.”