New contemporary art centre coming to University of California, San Diego
The Strauss Family Gallery, hosting a permanent collection of works by artists like Carrie Mae Weems and Zhang Huan, will also collaborate with the wider university community on interdisciplinary projects
The University of California, San Diego (UCSD) will launch a 12,000-square-foot contemporary art space on its campus in spring 2027. The Strauss Family Gallery, located within the university's new Triton Center, will feature four indoor exhibition spaces and an outdoor sculpture terrace. Open to the public, the Strauss will host exhibitions, commissions, artist residencies, and public programs that foster collaboration between artists and UCSD researchers and scholars.
Jessica Berlanga Taylor, UCSD's chief campus curator, acknowledges the challenges faced by other San Diego cultural institutions and emphasizes the importance of investing in art and culture. The Strauss represents a long-term commitment to contemporary art and is an integral part of the university's intellectual and public life.
In 2023, philanthropists Matthew and Iris Strauss donated over 100 works from their art collection to UCSD, with the works represented by Carrie Mae Weems, Fred Wilson, Zhang Huan, and Sabine Moritz, among others. The foyer gallery on the first floor of the Strauss will display many of these pieces.
The Strauss will consist of several distinct galleries, including the David and Claire Guggenheim Gallery, serving as the public entrance and space for exhibitions, gatherings, and a digital artist residency program; the two-story Gray Box, accommodating large-scale sculpture, moving-image installations, and performances; the 3,043-square-foot Black Box, equipped for immersive video, sound, sculpture, and performance; and the White Cube, providing a more conventional gallery setting for works from the Strauss Family Foundation, traveling exhibitions, and collaborations with San Diego and international collections.
Taylor describes the Strauss as the first ground-up museum at UCSD, aiming to be an integral part of the campus and San Diego's cultural landscape. Unlike existing campus arts and culture spaces, the Strauss will have a more public-facing role, focusing on commissions, curatorial research, and exhibitions in collaboration with artists from around the world.
The Strauss will provide artists with a dedicated space for exhibitions, commissions, and research, expanding the ways of knowing and presenting different forms of knowledge beyond traditional classroom settings. Taylor envisions engaging the community through "big-picture public programming" and student involvement, bringing artistic inquiry into university teaching and research.
Potential partnerships with UCSD's Qualcomm Institute, the Interdisciplinary Computing and the Arts program, the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and the Goeddel Family Technology Sandbox illustrate the diverse possibilities for collaboration.
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