The Museum of Contemporary Art of Santa Barbara presents
A Free Republic performance piece
by Cole Sternberg
March 12, 2023
The Museum of Contemporary Art of Santa Barbara (MCASB) was pleased to present an exclusive Free Republic performance piece and preview of its new series of agitprop clothing by conceptual artist Cole Sternberg. The wearable collection and performance are extensions of his ongoing art project, The Free Republic of California, which posits a new theoretical framework for an equitable, functioning government through an imagined Californian nation—one with its own constitution, ideals, and now clothing line. Through The Free Republic of California, Sternberg addresses concepts of human rights, the environment, democracy, and freedom. In partnership with MCASB, LUM Art Magazine, and the Carolyn Glasoe Bailey Foundation, Sternberg’s work is a natural addition to a larger conceptual art movement that aims to create a more equitable arts ecology on California’s central coast.
The clothing collection connects Sternberg’s highly theoretical text around government logistics and legalities to wearable imagery that is more easily accessible. In this way, these wearable art pieces become a symbol that anyone can wear to show support for the shared vision of a more functioning and equitable government. By utilizing common items, such as hats and sweatshirts, Sternberg invites people to take part in his project on a real, physical, everyday level.
The performance is an activation of Sternberg’s new collection as well as his pieces “For Zoe Leonard” and ‘The Constitution of the Free Republic’. Local arts students and workers received stipends to participate in the performance, acting as models and information sources, reciting Sternberg’s poem, “For Zoe Leonard”, marching through MCASB at selected moments during the event to present the clothing and provide pocket versions of the Constitution to attendees. Featured above is the performance of “For Zoe Leonard.”
About Cole Sternberg
Cole Sternberg is a conceptual artist who lives and works in Los Angeles. His practice contemplates humanity’s existential quandary: that of being hopelessly destructive, yet forever and inevitably linked with nature. Through varied media (including painting, sculpture, installation, performance, photography, film and writing), Sternberg positions the aspirations of humankind against the dominant and regenerative forces of the environment and the arbitration of time. For the artist, the conclusion is unavoidable. Human enterprises -- art, language, history, law, and republic -- are ephemeral / illusory endeavors that attempt to reflect, parallel, and challenge the ascendency of nature to no avail. His works are held by major collections throughout the world, such as the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), the Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM), the El Segundo Museum of Art (ESMoA), the American University Museum (AUM) and Deutsche Telekom.
About Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara (MCASB)
Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara (MCASB) seeks to enrich lives and inspire critical thinking through meaningful engagement with the art and ideas of our time. MCASB provides Santa Barbara and the Central Coast with exhibitions and programming that encourage discovery, cultivate new perspectives and challenge the way we see and experience the world, ourselves and each other.
MCASB was founded as the alternative arts space Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum (CAF) in 1976 by artists and art supporters seeking a venue dedicated solely to contemporary art. These initial organizers envisioned a “forum” for the display of and discussion about artwork being made today — locally and in the larger national and international art community. Initially a roaming space, CAF found its first home in the historic Balboa Building in downtown Santa Barbara. By 1990, MCASB had moved into its current gallery space, roughly 3,500 square feet in the Paseo Nuevo Shopping Center.
In 2012, trustees guided the organization toward what they saw as the next step in its history, and CAF became the Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara (MCASB) with a refined mission toward education and the arts. What began as a grassroots, artist-run organization with nominal funding now serves as the leading contemporary arts presenter in Central California. MCASB became an American Alliance of Museums accredited institution in 2016. Operating as a kunsthalle, MCASB continues to function as a non-collecting, non-profit museum dedicated to innovative and experimental contemporary art and arts education. Both adaptive and responsive, MCASB is an incubator for new ideas and risk-taking artwork as it positions itself to be a contemporary museum for the 21st century.