As responsive members of an increasingly connected and changing world, contemporary artists are often working with thinkers, techniques, and subjects from across various fields of knowledge and making. This lecture will examine a few recent exhibitions organized at the San José Museum of Art that foreground interdisciplinary conversations, whether in the practice of individual artists or in exhibitions that present artistic projects alongside materials from other fields, which position contemporary art exhibitions as generative spaces for thinking critically and creatively about what it means to be in our world.

Juan Omar Rodriguez (he/him) is an assistant curator at the San José Museum of Art. His recent curatorial projects include Kambui Olujimi: North Star and Beta Space: Patty Chang and David Kelley at SJMA. Juan Omar previously held curatorial positions at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston, and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, in addition to organizing several exhibitions as an independent curator. His writing has been featured in the Latinx Project at NYU's online arts publication, Intervenxions.