COSTA MESA, CA.- The Orange County Museum of Art announced today that its new building will open to the public on October 8, of 2022, with a celebratory nod to the museum’s rich history in the return of the California Biennial 2022 (CB22) exhibition. The 53,000-square-foot facility, anchored by the open public plaza at Segerstrom Center for the Arts, is designed by Morphosis, the global architecture and design firm founded by Los Angeles-based Pritzker Prize-winner Thom Mayne. The California Biennial 2022 will be the inaugural exhibition in OCMA’s new home, which includes 25,000 square feet of flexible exhibition space—approximately 50 percent more than its former Newport Beach location.

“It is no coincidence that as we open a building defined by its innovative and forward-thinking design, we are also acknowledging OCMA’s important and pioneering foundation,” remarks new CEO and Director Heidi Zuckerman. “California has long been a wellspring of innovation and creativity and CB22 once again gives us an opportunity to explore the richness of the state’s expansive and diverse creative communities.”

The California Biennial began in 1984 and received much critical acclaim with each iteration through 2010, and with the subsequent California-Pacific Triennials in 2013 and 2017. Zuckerman has invited Elizabeth Armstrong, Essence Harden, and Gilbert Vicario to co-curate CB22, which continues the museum’s six-decade history of presenting new developments in contemporary art and identifying emerging artists on the verge of national and international recognition.

Armstrong is an independent curator who has served in chief curatorial and leadership roles at such institutions as the Walker Art Center, Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, Palm Springs Art Museum, as well as at OCMA, where she co-curated the Biennials in 2002, 2004 and 2006. She is joined by independent curator Essence Harden, who recently organized the critically acclaimed exhibitions Refuge and Plumb Line: Charles White and the Contemporary (with Leigh Raiford) at the California African American Museum, and Gilbert Vicario, curator of modern and contemporary art at the Phoenix Art Museum.

“I am thrilled to have Liz, Essence, and Gilbert co-curating our first exhibition in the new space,” added Zuckerman. “Individually, they bring a wealth of knowledge and experience working in the Golden State and they have always championed emerging artists and a wide range of voices, and I look forward to what will unfold collectively.”