Forward-thinking gallery looks back

Since its inception in 2000, UC Irvine's Beall Center for Art + Technology - founded in honor of Donald and Joan Beall - has become an incubator of interdisciplinary collaboration, hosting solo exhibitions of artists who use computational media and thematic group shows that address the impact of technology on society. Located within the Claire Trevor School of the Arts campus, it's one of only a few dedicated digital media galleries in the United States.

"I wasn't trying to prove that digital media was an art form," says Beall Center artistic director David Familian, reflecting on his 20 years with the gallery. "I also wasn't going to show technological art. I was going to show art that used technology - with the goal that every show was different and you never knew what you were going to see."

His take on grouping work is best described through Black Box Projects, an artist residency initiative focused on the research and development of responsive environments, installations and sculptures by artists who work in collaboration with UC Irvine researchers in fields such as the sciences, technology, humanities and engineering. Projects have ranged across a spectrum of artistic practices and disciplines, from robotics, sound sculptures and bioart to plant physiology, neurobiology and social ecology.

"What is really special about David's approach is the way that he works with artists directly in bringing their best ideas to life," says Beall Center executive director Jesse Colin Jackson. "David challenges the artists to take an idea that they've only partly realized and then helps them bring it to full fruition, saying, 'Let's connect you with researchers on our campus that can help make this project deeper and denser.'"

With support from The Beall Family Foundation and the Claire Trevor School of the Arts, the gallery functions as a research center for experimental media arts focused on examining practices and complex systems that continue to shape the future of contemporary art and digital culture.

The Beall Center is celebrating its quarter-century anniversary with "25 Years at the Beall Center for Art + Technology," a retrospective curated by Familian featuring the gallery's visionary exhibition history and signature artist residency program, with contributions from former assistant curator Gabriel Tolson. Fifty-five panels will highlight its wide-ranging explorations of emerging technologies with a comprehensive timeline that chronicles the center's past through nine themes: bioart, complex systems, data and research, games and narrative, identity, interactivity, robotics, sounds and scores, and video.

"As important and well-earned as celebrating this landmark anniversary is, I think it's equally necessary to focus on the future," says Jeff Beall, son of Donald and Joan Beall. "Recognizing that we live in a time where evidence-based critical thought and outside-the-box thinking are being devalued, it's more essential than ever to support institutions like the Beall Center whose mission is to actively seek out and encourage creative acts of experimentation and wonder."

One of Familian's favorite exhibition insights concerns complex systems: "Until you look at the world through that lens, you can't accurately understand what's going on, because everything is interconnected, and if you change one thing, you will affect the rest of the system."

"25 Years at the Beall Center for Art + Technology" will run from Saturday, Sept. 13, through Saturday, Oct. 11. There will be an opening reception on Saturday, Sept. 13, from 2 to 5 p.m. at UC Irvine's arts campus; a panel discussion will take place on Saturday, Oct. 11, from noon to 2 p.m. at the Beall Center. Alaina Claire Feldman, chief curator at UC Irvine's Jack and Shanaz Langson Institute and Museum of California Art, will lead a conversation among Familian; Christiane Paul, curator of digital art at the Whitney Museum of American Art; and artists Lucy HG Solomon and Paul Vanouse, who work in digital and emerging media forms. Together, they will share stories and insights about the Beall Center's influence on artist-scientists and its unique role as one of the few media art-dedicated venues bringing experimental, technology-driven art to the community.

In an effort to be more accessible and reach locals and visitors alike, the exhibition will also be at the city of Irvine's Great Park Gallery from Sunday, Oct. 26, through Sunday, Dec. 28. "We are happy to be taking this to a space where more people can encounter what we do best," says Jackson, the Beall Center's executive director. "The questions that we're asking and that our artists are asking are urgent and interesting and have a much bigger audience than we've been able to support in our campus facility." All showings and receptions are free and open to the public.

Following the anniversary retrospective is the Beall Center's exhibition "Against Outer Space," curated by Valerie Olson, UC Irvine associate professor of anthropology, and the venue's assistant curator, Zachary Korol Gold, a UC Irvine Ph.D. candidate in visual studies. Opening Nov. 15, the show, which explores dominant technoscientific ideas about the cosmos, engages an ancient paradox: Earthly life unfolds against and within unearthly space.

Then, on view beginning April 4, 2026, is "Disruptive Cultures: Affect and Effects of Social Media," curated by Familian. It considers how social media can produce visceral, emotional responses in users with significant cultural and social ramifications - in other words, how interface design and AI algorithms generate the effects of engagement but also elicit affect from the viewer. The artists' work interrogates social media's capacity to transform cultural landscapes and human relationships.

"We've existed for almost half of UCI's history," Jackson says. "We're proud to be known for joining UCI research and artistic production together in creative and unexpected ways, and we look forward to building on our success, particularly via Black Box Projects."

The Beall Center's 25^th anniversary coincides with UC Irvine's 60^th anniversary and the 25^th anniversary of the naming of the Claire Trevor School of the Arts. To honor these milestones, the school is hosting a year of celebratory events.

Sept. 13-Oct. 11: "25 Years at the Beall Center for Art + Technology"

• Presented by the Beall Center for Art + Technology. An archival exhibition from 2000 to the present. Reception: Saturday, Sept. 13, 2-5 p.m.

Sept. 27-Dec.13: "The Inoperative Community: Exhibition X Practice, UC Irvine 1965-2025"

• Presented by the Department of Art. An archival exhibition of the University Art Galleries from 1965 to the present. Reception: Saturday, Oct. 11, 2-5 p.m.

Nov. 20-23: "Little Women: The Broadway Musical," at the Irvine Barclay Theatre

• Presented by the Department of Drama.

Dec. 4, 7:30 p.m.: "Sounds of the Season," at Irvine's Bethel Church

• Presented by the Department of Music.

Feb. 19-21, 2026: "Dance Visions 2026," at the Irvine Barclay Theatre

• Presented by the Department of Dance.

March 6-14, 2026: "Noises Off," at the Claire Trevor Theatre

• Presented by the Department of Drama.

March 12, 2026, 8 p.m.: "The Art of Performance @ UC Irvine - 11^th Edition," at Winifred Smith Hall

• Presented by the Department of Art. Featuring legendary artist Meredith Monk.

March 12-21, 2026: 21^st Annual Guest-Juried Undergraduate Exhibition, at the University Art Galleries

• Presented by the Department of Art. Open to all UC Irvine students.

June 5, 2026, 8 p.m.: UC Irvine Symphony Orchestra's spring concert, at the Irvine Barclay Theatre

• Presented by the Department of Music.