“SIX DEGREES OF SAN DIEGO” podcast, lecture, and performance series
Admission: $5

Artists cast a critical eye on a number of socially and culturally relevant topics. Visual translations of research, opinion, and commentary culminate in exhibitions and events that present content for the viewer to decipher. Documented histories are deconstructed, reinterpreted, and analyzed by artists and recontextualized as art experiences.

San Diego Art Institute has launched its own investigation of a different kind with a new series of events and an accompanying podcast that explore the conspiracy theories, cultural mythologies, mysteries, and legends that are associated with San Diego in one way or another. How do we measure belief and distinguish fact from fiction while a number of questions still hang in the balance, all with the capacity to refute what we accept as truth? How have artists contemplated conspiracy as the subject of their work?

The second episode of SDAI’s Six Degrees of San Diego podcast puts the “cult” back in culture as we dive into the world of leaders, followers, rituals, and track suits from the many cults of Southern California. On Thursday, March 23rd, SDAI will host another moderated discussion on the prevalence in utopic societies in Sourthern California.  Skyping in Alex Young, artist, curator, and cult afficianado, Ginger Shulick Porcella and Lissa Corona will discuss their fascination with Heaven’s Gate, Children of God, communes and colonies. Video installation by Stephen Handley, and a special screening of a film created by Alex Young, commissioned by SDAI in 2015, will be on view during the conversation.

Listen to the first podcast in the series in which Lissa and Ginger discuss JFK’s assassination with local composer and sound artist Alan F. Jones here:

For the “SIX DEGREES OF SAN DIEGO” launch event on Thursday, January 27th, 2017, SDAI invited local sound artist/engineer Alan F. Jones to compose work based on an anonymous letter that he received in the mail, linking John F. Kennedy’s assassination to Alfred Hitchcock’s seminal film, The Birds. This piece was accompanied by archival footage of Kennedy’s assassination and clips from The Birds as compiled by video artist and SDAI Education Director Lissa Corona. Afterwards, a panel discussion on the topics explored throughout the 2017 season commenced, touching on topics related to cults, aliens, military, true crime, and other conspiracies linked to San Diego. The discussion was moderated by Ginger Shulick Porcella and Lissa Corona, and is culminating in a downloadable podcast series. Ginger Schulick-Porcella, Alan F. Jones, Lissa Corona, recorded and edited by Nick Lesley.

Upcoming “SIX DEGREES OF SAN DIEGO” events:

May 25 - Aliens and UFOs

June 27 - Sports & Military Conspiracy Theories

August 28 - True Crime Conspiracies

October 19 - Balboa Park Hauntings and Legends