SAN JOSE, CA.- With an exhibition opening on Friday evening, June 8 and an open house from 12 – 5 pm on Saturday, June 9, 2007, the San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art celebrates the completion of its new downtown facility located at 560 South First Street , the gateway to the burgeoning SoFA Arts and Entertainment District. The new facility effectively doubles the ICA ’s exhibition space, and includes a printmaking center, a project gallery, and a reading/resource room, all located one short block from the gallery’s former location.

“Our vision for downtown was to provide an engaging atmosphere for people to experience contemporary art. Our new building and galleries will contribute to the evolution of San Jose as a major urban center for art and culture,” said Cathy Kimball, ICA Executive Director.

For the past 15 years, the ICA has operated from a 5,000-square-foot leased storefront in the SoFA district of downtown San Jose . Since 2000, the exhibition program has expanded significantly and the annual attendance has more than tripled.

Facing severe space limitations, the ICA ’s Board of Directors launched a capital campaign in December 2005 to secure permanent ownership of the building at 560 South First Street . In April 2006, the ICA purchased the building with a $500,000 grant from the City of San Jose ’s Redevelopment Agency, a $750,000 gift from an anonymous donor, and $500,000 in campaign donations from the ICA ’s Board of Directors.

A Program Related Investment Loan for $2 million from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation provides interim bridge financing for the project, allowing the ICA to complete renovations and occupy the new building. The capital campaign has raised $2,312,440 to date, 55% of the $4.2 million goal.

The new facility will include a total of 3,700 square feet of gallery space—an increase of 1,500 square feet over the former space—with one large gallery, two smaller galleries, and one project space. Exhibition offerings will increase from 16 shows per year to 22, including Night Moves programming in the two front windows. The printmaking center will accommodate up to six printers at one time and offer ongoing workshops at all levels. A reading/resource room at the entrance of the building will provide a space for visitors to access print publications, exhibition catalogues, and artists’ monographs. A flat screen TV will feature taped sessions of the ICA ’s panel discussions and workshops, as well as documentation of previous exhibitions. The building will also house the administrative offices.

“This new, permanent facility allows the ICA to move confidently into the future on firm ground. In addition to an expanded exhibition schedule of the most compelling and thought-provoking contemporary art in the region, the new facility will help ensure the ICA ’s stability through facility ownership. It is tremendously exciting for all of us to realize this next step in the ICA ’s future,” said John Donovan, ICA Board President.

Opening Exhibitions Feature Artists from throughout the Country

The inaugural exhibition in the new ICA , entitled Home Sweet Home, features 14 artists who examine the notion of home, not merely as a physical structure, but as a place formed by memories and a sense of belonging.

Photographs of birds’ nests by New Jersey-based photographer Richard Barnes document the birds’ incorporation of human debris – string, newspaper, dental floss, hair, etc. – in the construction of their homes.

Memorium by San Francisco-based artist Lewis deSoto consists of a series of prints that each represent a house in which the artist has lived. The floor plans are created from memory and are based on perceptions and impressions from experience.

Since her emigration from Korea to the US in 1974, Young Kim has negotiated a balance between the notion of belonging to two places. The geographical locations in Untitled (Line) are based on real borders, whether they are coastlines or borders between countries. However, Kim isolates these vast stretches of land, extracting them from their actual geographic location, and thereby abstracting their specificity.

Los Angeles-based artist Mark Bennett has made art firmly rooted in the collective American experience of television. His drawing and lithographs are “blueprints” of famous television houses from such classic sitcoms as The Andy Griffith Show and I Love Lucy.

The project room will feature a 14-minute video loop by Oliver Michaels entitled Train, which offers an intimate and dislocating experience of interior spaces. Michaels attaches his camera to a model train that passes through a series of rooms that appear connected, but are actually from multiple buildings. These disjunctive spaces become one vast fictional set.

Other artists in the show include Stephen Sollins, Hung Liu, Jim Campbell, Stefan Kurten, Cassandra C. Jones, Jim Christensen, Catherine Wagner, Long Nguyen , and Doug Glovaski .

Also on view is the Monotype Marathon 2007, a creative collaboration with the ICA, Cabrillo College, Foothill College, Kala Art Institute, Monterey Peninsula College , Pacific Art League, San Jose State University , and private printmaking studios throughout the Bay Area, and featuring monotypes by more than 100 artists.