Bay Area Backroads

106 East Main Street,Los Gatos CA 95030

02 March, 2023

Description

Join us for a unique in-person talk at NUMU featuring panelists Kerry Rohrmeier, Tracy Fish, and Dr. Jan Engligh-Lueck. This talk amplifies themes present in NUMU’s three coinciding exhibitions Terra Firma, Reclamation: Resilience of the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe and Reclamation: Aboriginal Ancestral Homeland of the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe. We will examine the tensions between designed placemaking and bottom-up cultural meaning-making in our built environments. Using connections between Silicon Valley and the Tahoe-Reno Industrial Center as a case study, we will present findings from a multiyear interdisciplinary place-based research project that contextualizes tales of the wild west, booming industry, and a radical envisioned future. Together, we can discuss human-centered approaches to community creation against a backdrop of stunning landscape photography. This event is free with standard museum admission rates. Pre-registration is highly encouraged, but you may buy admission and register at the museum day of event. About Tracy + Kerry’s Collaboration Expendition: The Tahoe-Reno Industrial Center (TRIC) Urban Geographer Dr. Kerry Rohrmeier and Photographer Tracy Fish are engaged in ongoing interdisciplinary field research documenting a paradoxical landscape, which acknowledges an emplaced past and present while posing questions about the evolving future as a radical blockchain utopia or opaque industrial exurb. As Truckee Meadows residents we are co-creating new topographic artworks and narratives that express experience with environmental, social, and economic expendability at Tahoe-Reno Industrial Center. Meet the Panelists Tracy Fish (she/her) is a documentary and fine art photographer, born and raised in Brooklyn, N.Y. Her creative work expands genres, using her interest in culture and history as a catalyst to explore memory, identity, familial narrative, place, and the environment through photography, audio, and experimental videography. She is currently an Assistant Professor and Area Head of Photography teaching courses in still and moving images at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Tracy has won various awards and exhibited both nationally and internationally. She received her MFA in Experimental and Documentary Arts from Duke University (2015). tsfishphotography.com Dr. Kerry Rohrmeier (she/her) is Co-Principal Investigator on the Mosaic Atlas; she had the original vision to create a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to map arts and cultural assets in Santa Clara County. This evolved into an interactive digital tool for arts equity and access and a model for San Jose State University students to learn cartographic skills in class, get paid internships with Mosaic America, and launch rewarding careers in public information technology in Silicon Valley. Kerry hopes to grow the atlas into a Citizen Arts GIS framework where high school and community college students can expand the mosaic in their communities. Kerry is a cultural geography Assistant Professor at San Jose State University in the Department of Urban & Regional Planning. She has studied her northern Nevada home region for over two decades. Dr. Jan English-Lueck is a Professor of Anthropology at San José State University and a Distinguished Fellow at the Institute for the Future. English-Lueck studies societies who actively create new cultural futures, from China to Silicon Valley, and Black Rock City. Her books on Silicon Valley include Cultures@SiliconValley, now in its second edition. Jan has been a key contributor in development of the exhibitions Reclamation: Resilience of the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe and Reclamation: Aboriginal Ancestral Homeland of the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe. The San Jose State Department of Anthropology has had a long-standing partnership with the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe of the San Francisco Bay Area. This relationship has resulted in many collaborative and mutually beneficial projects that have involved faculty, students, and members of the Tribe. The department is committed to forging deeper relationships with the peoples whose land SJSU occupies. LEARN MORE ABOUT SAN JOSE STATE DEPARTMENT OF ANTHROPOLOGY About the Mosaic Atlas Mosaic America is a nonprofit organization that strengthens communities, cultivates belonging, and catalyzes inclusion through inter-cultural and co-created art. Their team of artists uses inspiration from their cultures and art forms to collaborate on unique performances and expressions that highlight the common threads of our shared American story. LEARN MORE ABOUT MOSAIC AMERICA The Mosaic Atlas will be on-view at NUMU as part of the exhibition Reclamation: Aboriginal Ancestral Homeland of the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe. Kerry is Co-Principal Investigator on the Mosaic Atlas; she had the original vision to create a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to map arts and cultural assets in Santa Clara County. This evolved into an interactive digital tool for arts equity and access and a model for San Jose State University students to learn cartographic skills in class, get paid internships with Mosaic America, and launch rewarding careers in public information technology in Silicon Valley. Kerry hopes to grow the atlas into a Citizen Arts GIS framework where high school and community college students can expand the mosaic in their communities. Major support for NUMU’s exhibition Terra Firma is generously provided by Penumbra, the Robert Lehman Foundation and Mary & Barney Davidge. This activity is supported in part by the California Arts Council, a state agency. Learn more at www.arts.ca.gov. HEALTH & SAFETY GUIDELINES: In accordance with the New Museum Los Gatos, masks strongly recommended while inside the museum. Do not attend if you are experiencing symptoms of COVID-19, or have been in close contact or tested positive within the past 10 days.