CAC / UAG / ROOM Galleries

CAC / UAG / ROOM Galleries University Art Galleries of UC Irvine's Claire Trevor School of the Arts

MISSION STATEMENT
The University Art Galleries are committed to promoting an inter-generational dialogue between 60s/70s neo-avant-garde art and contemporary visual culture. Accordingly, our curatorial mission is to keep an eye on our modernist past while promoting the most innovative aesthetic and political debates of our post-modern present. From this vantage, the projects commissioned provoke

intelligent debate on the subject of art in its most expansive poetic definition. What distinguishes our program is the unwavering commitment to publishing scholarly texts in catalogue/book form in order to disseminate research-based information into the community, providing a venue for the promotion of innovative discourse surrounding mixed media production today

PROGRAM
UAG provides several exhibition platforms for inter-generational and interdisciplinary dialogue. The Major Works of Art Series commissions original projects by canonical artists working today. The Emerging Artist Series features solo projects by a set of younger artists informed by the legacies showcased in the Major Works series. The Critical Aesthetics Program commissions new work by internationally renowned mid-career artists. Augmenting this inter-generational dialogue, UAG also produces larger thematic group exhibitions alternately showcasing historical and contemporary art and film projects. UAG further promotes an active dialogue between UCI residents and the local and international art communities through colloquia, conferences, visiting artist lectures and theme-based films series, all of which are open to the public. As the galleries continues to mature we stand committed to being an experimental exhibition space different from the current - but largely traditional - art biennial and film festival platforms. - Juli Carson, Director

Opening Thursday, June 4, 6 to 8pm! HIT LIKE A TRAIN, the 2026 Undergraduate Honors Thesis Exhibition, features thesis p...
05/21/2026

Opening Thursday, June 4, 6 to 8pm! HIT LIKE A TRAIN, the 2026 Undergraduate Honors Thesis Exhibition, features thesis presentations by nine students from the Art Honors cohort in the University Art Gallery and Room Gallery. Organized by faculty Amanda Ross-Ho, the show is on view until Saturday, June 13.

Artists:
Isabella Anderson .no.its.bella_
Mae Bradley
Yujeong Cho
Jebediah Dunn
Jered Frigillana
Kaia King-Hall
Rey Mar Negrete
William Pedroza
Junhao Zeng

In conjunction with the exhibition, check out additional parallel programs.

Leading up to the opening, Jered Frigillana presents T’HEMATHEATRE, a video installation occupying the 3rd floor west hallway of the Arts, Culture, and Technology Building (ACT). The installation features a collectively curated lineup of films running from June 1st to June 5th. The screening schedule and further details can be found at http://jeredfrigillana.com/THEMATHEATRE.

Coinciding with the opening on June 4th, Junhao Zeng will present a performance, ‘The Body Is Not Mine’, at 7pm in the University Art Gallery.

MFA Thesis Exhibitions, Part II on view till this Saturday, May 23! 📸 1- SUTURE by David Ditman, Contemporary Arts Cente...
05/20/2026

MFA Thesis Exhibitions, Part II on view till this Saturday, May 23!

📸

1- SUTURE by David Ditman, Contemporary Arts Center Gallery

2- The Tone That Calls The Song by Teresa Ho, University Art Gallery

3- Resuscitating Relics by Cecil Yuzhe Zhang, Room Gallery

Photos by Yubo D**g /

Gallery Hours: Tuesday - Saturday, 12 - 6 pm

On view through this Saturday, May 2: 2026 MFA Thesis Exhibition, Part I.Visit the solo exhibitions by our third-year MF...
04/29/2026

On view through this Saturday, May 2: 2026 MFA Thesis Exhibition, Part I.

Visit the solo exhibitions by our third-year MFA candidates:

📸
1. Substrate —> Spasm by Simon Klein — Room Gallery
2. We Begin to Wilt Beneath the Son by Gwyneth Bulawsky — University Art Gallery
3. Catastrophe by Jacob Lenc — Contemporary Arts Center Gallery

And opening Saturday, May 9, 2–5 PM: Part II, featuring solo exhibitions by Teresa Ho, David Ditman, and Cecil Yuzhe Zhang.

Photos by Yubo D**g /

On view through this Saturday, May 2: 2026 MFA Thesis Exhibition, Part I.Visit the solo exhibitions by our third-year MF...
04/29/2026

On view through this Saturday, May 2: 2026 MFA Thesis Exhibition, Part I.

Visit the solo exhibitions by our third-year MFA candidates:

📸
1. Substrate —> Spasm by Simon Klein — Room Gallery
2. We Begin to Wilt Beneath the Son by Gwyneth Bulawsky — University Art Gallery
3. Catastrophe by Jacob Lenc — Contemporary Arts Center Gallery

And opening Saturday, May 9, 2–5 PM: Part II, featuring solo exhibitions by Teresa Ho, David Ditman, and Cecil Yuzhe Zhang.

Photos by Yubo D**g /

Last chance ✨Saturday, February 28 is the final day to see Limited Hang: M.F.A. 2nd Year Exhibition at the University Ar...
02/27/2026

Last chance ✨

Saturday, February 28 is the final day to see Limited Hang: M.F.A. 2nd Year Exhibition at the University Art Gallery and Room Gallery.

Featuring works by second-year M.F.A. students at UC Irvine’s Claire Trevor School of the Arts, this exhibition marks an important milestone in their advancement to candidacy. The artists present a range of practices and perspectives, offering a glimpse into the next generation of contemporary art.

Artists:
Yadira Dockstader
Kayla Ephros
Chella Foster-Flynn
SeeVa Kitslis
Beatrice Schleyer
Anya Zalevskaya

Organized by Coleman Collins

Photos by Yubo D**g 📸

𝘈𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘵𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵: Natascha Sadr HaghighianAcross sound and textile, the whistle becomes a language of warning, care, and...
02/25/2026

𝘈𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘵𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵: Natascha Sadr Haghighian

Across sound and textile, the whistle becomes a language of warning, care, and collective presence.

𝘕𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘮𝘺 𝘦𝘺𝘦𝘴 𝘩𝘶𝘳𝘵 (2023) is a textile banner with embroidery, rope, pulleys, and whistles, created in collaboration with Zeynab Izadyar and dedicated to Sudanese refugee activist Hassan Numan. The work considers the whistle as a tool of solidarity and resistance against deportation in Germany.

Presented alongside 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 (2025), an eight-channel whistle composition by Elnaz Seyedi with whistles by Rie Watanabe, the installation transforms sharp, urgent sound into a resonant call against surveillance, detention, and enforced removal.

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1–5: Installation view of ‘Now that I can hear you my eyes hurt’ and ‘awakening’ by Natascha Sadr Haghigian, ‘The Unworld to Come. Imagining an Otherwise…,’ CAC Gallery, UC Irvine, 2026. Photographs by Paul Salveson.

This exhibition inaugurates the first phase of 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘕𝘦𝘨𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘰𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘦: 𝘌𝘮𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘦/𝘔𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘺, 𝘚𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦/𝘗𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘴, 𝘈𝘳𝘵/𝘐𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, a three-part research project within the University of California Climate Action Arts Network (UC CAAN), a system-wide initiative bringing together researchers, artists, students, and communities to confront the climate crisis through the arts. UC CAAN is supported by the UC Office of the President MRPI grant program.

‘The Unworld to Come. Imagining an Otherwise…’ is on view until April 4, 2026 at the Contemporary Arts Center (CAC) Gallery, UC Irvine. Featuring works by Marwa Arsanios , Ashley Hunt , Natascha Sadr Haghighian, and Virgil B/G Taylor
Curated by Juli Carson , Annika Haas .s, and Sasha Ussef

Read more: uag.arts.uci.edu

𝘈𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘵𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵: Virgil B/G Taylor𝘍𝘢𝘨 𝘛𝘪𝘱𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘏𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘙𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘉𝘢𝘣𝘺 (2025) draws from Taylor’s speculative 𝘍𝘢𝘨 𝘛𝘪𝘱𝘴 𝘜𝘵𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘢...
02/24/2026

𝘈𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘵𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵: Virgil B/G Taylor

𝘍𝘢𝘨 𝘛𝘪𝘱𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘏𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘙𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘉𝘢𝘣𝘺 (2025) draws from Taylor’s speculative 𝘍𝘢𝘨 𝘛𝘪𝘱𝘴 𝘜𝘵𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘢 𝘡𝘪𝘯𝘦 and his essay The Human Rights Baby (2020), which considers the persistent figure of innocent Western humanism and its attachment to an infantile present. As Taylor writes: “The baby, like its witnesses, is looking out for nothing in particular… you have to actively push that past aside.”

The installation’s vinyl banner disrupts the grid that renders text, bodies, and land legible and governable. Through typography, fragmentation, and the banner’s collapsing surface, meaning emerges between folds rather than within stable forms. Positioned behind the banner, a photograph by Jackie Martin documents a lamination foil stunt by Frances Benedict, a preservation worker at the U.S. National Archives in the 1940s.

📸
1–3: Installation views of Fag Tips for Human Rights Baby (details) by virgil b/g taylor, CAC Gallery, UC Irvine, 2026. Photographs by Paul Salveson.

This exhibition inaugurates the first phase of 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘕𝘦𝘨𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘰𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘦: 𝘌𝘮𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘦/𝘔𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘺, 𝘚𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦/𝘗𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘴, 𝘈𝘳𝘵/𝘐𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, a three-part research project within the University of California Climate Action Arts Network (UC CAAN), a system-wide initiative bringing together researchers, artists, students, and communities to confront the climate crisis through the arts. UC CAAN is supported by the UC Office of the President MRPI grant program.

This exhibition is on view until April 4, 2026 at the Contemporary Arts Center (CAC) Gallery, UC Irvine. Featuring works by Marwa Arsanios , Ashley Hunt , Natascha Sadr Haghighian, and Virgil B/G Taylor
Curated by Juli Carson , Annika Haas .s, and Sasha Ussef

Read more: uag.arts.uci.edu

𝘈𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘵𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵: Marwa ArsaniosAcross film and installation, Arsanios traces land not as property, but as a shared prac...
02/20/2026

𝘈𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘵𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵: Marwa Arsanios

Across film and installation, Arsanios traces land not as property, but as a shared practice that is negotiated, defended, and lived.
𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘜𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘓𝘢𝘯𝘥 (2022–ongoing) transforms Ottoman archival research into manifesto-like banners in Arabic and English, mapping collective forms of stewardship such as “masha’a” and “waqf.”

These propositions unfold in the film cycle 𝘞𝘩𝘰 𝘐𝘴 𝘈𝘧𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘐𝘥𝘦𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘺? (Parts 1–5) (2017–2025), which follows feminist, Indigenous, and cooperative land movements across Kurdistan, Syria, Colombia, and Lebanon. Blending documentary and staged scenes, the films explore self-governance, ecological resistance, and collective land stewardship while questioning systems of ownership, law, and representation.

📸
1–3: Installation view of Chart for the Usership of the Land and Who Is Afraid of Ideology?, CAC Gallery, UC Irvine, 2026. Photographs by Paul Salveson.

4–8: Marwa Arsanios, Who Is Afraid of Ideology? (Parts 1–5), 2025. Film stills. Courtesy of the artist and mor charpentier.

This exhibition inaugurates the first phase of 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘕𝘦𝘨𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘰𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘦: 𝘌𝘮𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘦/𝘔𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘺, 𝘚𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦/𝘗𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘴, 𝘈𝘳𝘵/𝘐𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, a three-part research project within the University of California Climate Action Arts Network (UC CAAN), a system-wide initiative bringing together researchers, artists, students, and communities to confront the climate crisis through the arts. UC CAAN is supported by the UC Office of the President MRPI grant program.

This exhibition is on view until April 4, 2026 at the Contemporary Arts Center (CAC) Gallery, UC Irvine. Featuring works by Marwa Arsanios , Ashley Hunt , Natascha Sadr Haghighian, and Virgil B/G Taylor
Curated by Juli Carson , Annika Haas .s, and Sasha Ussef

Read more: uag.arts.uci.edu

𝘈𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘵𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵: Ashley HuntOne of four artists in 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘜𝘯𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘊𝘰𝘮𝘦. 𝘐𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯 𝘖𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘸𝘪𝘴𝘦… — stay tuned for more h...
02/17/2026

𝘈𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘵𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵: Ashley Hunt

One of four artists in 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘜𝘯𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘊𝘰𝘮𝘦. 𝘐𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯 𝘖𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘸𝘪𝘴𝘦… — stay tuned for more highlights.

𝘒𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘪𝘥𝘰𝘴𝘤𝘰𝘱𝘦 (2025) is a film installation weaving written prose with imagery from the 2025 California Palisades Fire and historical depictions of 𝘑𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘩 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘦. Moving between fire and ocean, the film connects climate change — what we casually call “weather” — to the cultural atmospheres of colonialism, imperialism, and social justice.

Like a dreamscape, atmospheric rivers, prolonged drought, and rising seas unfold alongside neo-colonial patterns of forced migration, detention, and deportation.

The film was commissioned by UC Santa Cruz’s Institute for Arts and Sciences for 𝘞𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘦 (June 2025).

This exhibition inaugurates the first phase of 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘕𝘦𝘨𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘰𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘦: 𝘌𝘮𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘦/𝘔𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘺, 𝘚𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦/𝘗𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘴, 𝘈𝘳𝘵/𝘐𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, a three-part research project within the University of California Climate Action Arts Network (UC CAAN), a system-wide initiative bringing together researchers, artists, students, and communities to confront the climate crisis through the arts. UC CAAN is supported by the UC Office of the President MRPI grant program.

On view until April 4, 2026

Featuring works by Marwa Arsanios , Ashley Hunt , Natascha Sadr Haghighian, and Virgil B/G Taylor

Curated by Juli Carson , Annika Haas .s, and Sasha Ussef

Images:
1 & 4 — Ashley Hunt, 𝘒𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘪𝘥𝘰𝘴𝘤𝘰𝘱𝘦 (detail of film still), 2025
2 & 3 — Installation view of 𝘒𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘪𝘥𝘰𝘴𝘤𝘰𝘱𝘦, CAC Gallery, UC Irvine, 2026. Photographs by Paul Salveson.

Read more: uag.arts.uci.edu

Collapse as a Condition of (Un)KnowingA Research Workshop, March 7, 2026, 12–6pmContemporary Arts Center GalleryPlease j...
02/16/2026

Collapse as a Condition of (Un)Knowing
A Research Workshop, March 7, 2026, 12–6pm
Contemporary Arts Center Gallery

Please join us for this research workshop organized in parallel to the exhibition ‘The Unworld To Come. Imagining an Otherwise…’, on view at the Contemporary Arts Center (CAC) Gallery through April 4. The workshop has contributions by Jonathan Alexander, Juli Carson, Ashley Hunt, and Mark Minch-de Leon. Facilitated and organized by Annika Haas.

The workshop focuses on cultures of knowing as they are affected by collapsing (cultural, political, and meteorological) climates in the wider sense. This concerns the struggle for evidence and testimony, the reality of epistemicides alongside the expansion of computational, neocolonial information infrastructures, as well as the difficulties to engage with various embodied, ancestral and relational ways of knowing (through) damage and pain as well as destruction, disaster and death in the context of the Westernized university.

Structured through joint writing exercises, shared research, and conversation, the workshop convenes participants to think through collapse as a lived, uneven, and contested reality that shapes how knowledge is produced, felt, and withheld.

This program is part of the first phase of ‘The Neganthropocene: Empire/Money, Science/Politics, Art/Intervention’, a three-part research project by Juli Carson and collaborators under the umbrella of University of California Climate Actions Arts Network (UC CAAN)—a system-wide initiative uniting researchers, scholars, students, and community partners to confront the climate crisis through the transformative power of the arts. UC CAAN is made possible with generous support from the University of California, Office of the President’s Multicampus Research Programs and Initiatives (MRPI) grant program.

More info on our website: https://uag.arts.uci.edu/

Design: Rachel Berger. Photo: Ashley Hunt, Kaleidoscope (detail of film still), 2025.

Address

Claire Trevor School Of The Arts
Irvine, CA
92697

Opening Hours

Tuesday 12pm - 6pm
Wednesday 12pm - 6pm
Thursday 12pm - 6pm
Friday 12pm - 6pm
Saturday 12pm - 6pm

Telephone

+19498249854

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