Sacramento, Calif – Today, the Sacramento Kings and the Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission (SMAC) unveiled a new public art exhibition at Golden 1 Center, the world’s greenest and most advanced arena. Beginning this afternoon, multimedia works created by Sacramento State New Media Art students will be featured at the arena’s Grand Entrance on two custom 25-foot LED screens, next to the iconic six-story hangar doors.
“Through Golden 1 Center, we’re able to showcase the best of Sacramento in new, innovative ways,” said Kings President Chris Granger. “We’re thrilled to showcase these creative works, and much more in the future, at the arena every day, inspiring people as they visit the plaza.”
Sacramento State New Media Art Professor Rachel Clarke and her colleague Mikko Lautamo worked with sixty students during the 2016 spring and summer semesters to prepare works for the arena. Twenty works were selected by a panel to be featured at a screening at Golden 1 Center and become incorporated into the content that will rotate on the video boards.
“The LED screen venue will be an ongoing site for future commissioned and borrowed artworks,” said SMAC Executive Director Shelly Willis. “It is a very public, very large, and very rare exhibition site and I’m proud that we launched this program in partnership with Sacramento State, Rachel Clarke and her students. The students delivered very strong work under Rachel’s direction – work that illustrates the caliber of artists enrolled in Sac State’s art program.”
The screening features works by current and former Sac State students David Flores, Rommel Tuazon, Marinna Hill, Michael Medina, Bryan Maretti, Aimee Rush, Shahrzad Ebrahimian, Stephanie Gin, Brad Starkey Owens, Yessenia Almaraz, Katherine Imhoff, Tracy Jordan, Daryl Racel, Miranda Vue, Michael Fortunato, Ricardo Frias, Jose Nieto, and Sarah Tamraz. Clarke and Lautamo also have artworks in the screening.
The collection provided by the annual program will add to the already robust arts commitment at Golden 1 Center. The arena is home to the world’s first publicly-owned, permanently-displayed sculpture by world-renowned artist Jeff Koons, four additional works through the arena and plaza by local artists, with another addition by a local arts collective in development. In total, the collection represents the largest contribution of public art in Sacramento history.
