It has been a rough start to the new millennium, and sadly art survey shows have failed to reflect the context in which art makers and viewers live. Thankfully Lauri Firstenberg of LAXART has remedied the disconnect with the 2008 California Biennial.

Before you walk in the door, Sam Durant's banners (in English and Spanish) hijack the OC's civic-boosterism-via-banner-blight, by reminding residents that their comfortable homes were built by the sweat of an undocumented workforce, on a piece of land that once flew the flags of Mexico and Spain.

Inside, Julio Cesar Morales reminds visitors (with his video, Interrupted Passage, depicting the transfer of California from Mexico) that borders are both mutable and porous things. 

http://imoralist.blogspot.com/2008/10/2008-california-biennial-at-ocma-and_25.html