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Book Launch Celebration | Why the Arts Matter

Join OXY ARTS in celebrating the launch of Why The Arts Matter: How Art Shapes Our Thinking, Identity, and Wellbeing by Occidental College Professors Aleksandra Sherman and Clair Morrissey

The evening will feature a brief book talk, Q&A, and invitations to engage in meaningful ways with the current exhibition at OXY ARTS. Reception with light hors d'oeuvres and drinks to follow. 

Why The Arts Matter Book Description: 

Transgender Operations on Illegal Aliens That Are In Prison

In a lecture performance in conversation with her video installation included in the exhibition, Wesleigh Gates traces the historical conjunctures between transfeminine life and the figure of the extraterrestrial. The performance juxtaposes historical trans activists Angela Douglas and Marsha P. Johnson with contemporary right-wing politicians and pundits, exploring how both have found meaning in connecting trans womanhood to alien beings.

TransSister Radio: Mutual Aid Stories on the Air

A selection of trans mutual aid stories and oral histories related to the Hold Each Other’s Hands exhibition will be transmitted via a hyperlocal FM radio signal. The program title references TransSisters: The Journal of Transsexual Feminism published in 1993-1995. This transmission is the result of a collective curation effort by Umi Hsu and the Occidental College students enrolled in Hsu's fall 2026 course, Curating Trans History: Archives, Art, and Politics. 

California Gothic: Audio in the Aftermath

Podcasters James Kim and Gina Delvac invited creators they love and respect to imagine a future where their favorite place in LA no longer exists, and then create a short audio piece about it. What memories reverberate from this place? What memories can still be heard? What have we lost? From short prose, to intimate fiction scenes, ambient pieces, these dreamy speculative fiction audio flashes explore a city and medium in the aftermath of many endings. 

Film Screening: Foosball + This meeting is being recorded

This summer, the National Museum of the Aftermath is presenting a four night film screening series. Join us for the penultimate screening of the season, featuring Kevin Jerome Everson and Claudrena N. Harolds' Foosball: U. of Virginia Charlottesville, VA 1976 (2013) and Andrea Fraser's This meeting is being recorded (2022).

Foosball: U. of Virginia Charlottesville, VA 1976
11m