Rene De Guzman is the senior curator of art at The Oakland Museum as well as the director of visual arts at YBCA in San Francisco. He is a master at developing interactive exhibits and helped put together the current show PIXAR: 25 Years of Animation at The Oakland Museum

Q: You were one of the curators of YBCA (Yerba Buena Center for the Arts), how did you get started there?

At YBCA I was one of the original staff members that opened the building in 1992. I was the director for the visual arts department and then over time I took over the department, and basically have been with YBCA for over 15 years. It was a really interesting experience to see an art center be born and grow and become a large part of the arts community. That was really exciting for me.

Q: Are you still involved with YBCA?

Yes, I’m still very much a product of the Yerba Buena situation where we are really committed to supporting contemporary art in a way that engages with

the wide public. So, it was friendly and experimental, and I think that’s the good thing that I’d like to bring to the Oakland museum.

Q: In terms of the art and the cultural aspect, what makes the Oakland Museum different from other museums in the Bay Area?

I think the thing that makes this museum very different from other places is the fact that it has an art history and a natural science department, and that’s very rare that you see those three kinds of things exist at the same place. For instance, some museums might have a history and art component, but rarely do you see the third: natural science. That’s one of the main things that make us very different. The other thing that’s interesting about the Oakland Museum of California is the whole idea of California. California is on the leading edge of culture and technology. In order to express California you also must express a certain kind of internationalism of ideas, so that’s another way we are different in terms of being a regional center. In order to talk about California, you have to talk about this place’s relationship to the country and the world.

Q: We love how the Oakland Museum is very personal & interactive, especially the portrait station…

Yeah, I think that points to another thing, that this museum is really going to set a tone for other museums, being that it’s a very welcoming and enriching place, and I think that has to do with the expression of the local political interests in Northern California. It is a very populous place, and so I think that kind of feeling of welcome and diversity and openness is an expression of California and the East Bay in particular, you know?

Q: Definitely. We also interviewed Elyse Klaidman [from PIXAR], did you work closely with her to develop the PIXAR: 25 Years of Animation Exhibit?

Yes, actually Elyse and I have known each other for at least 5 years. Originally, she and I were introduced to one another through my wife, who at that point was working at the Berkeley Art Museum. Elyse was asking me how to travel exhibitions because she was managing the PIXAR show around the world, and so she asked me what my advice might be. And then low and behold when I came to the Oakland Museum, Lorrie, the executive director here said “Oh by the way, We’re working with Pixar and do you

know Elyse?” and I said “Of course I know her! She’s one of my favorite people!” So, it was really a great coincidence that I came to the Oakland Museum at the same time Elyse was working with the museum on the PIXAR show. It was fantastic, Elyse is terrific and I really admire her and her work, and how she really communicates what PIXAR is all about -which is supporting creativity, which is what her role is there. She heads PIXAR University, which is a department within Pixar that helps support the talents and skills of the artists at PIXAR. I couldn’t be any more supportive of that idea myself, which is what I try to do, support creativity. So I think that’s why she and I got along so well.

Q: Yeah, definitely! Was the PIXAR exhibit the first exhibit to be featured in your new expanded area of the museum?

Yes, it was the first show to use the space, which was a great way to christen it for the presentation.

Q: Was the PIXAR media installation piece created exclusively for the Oakland Museum?

It was upgraded for us. It was originally created when the show was created (5 years ago) at the MOMA in New York, but coming here they added 3-4 minutes of additional material so that it covered the whole 25 years of film production. They also upgraded the technology so now it’s running at a higher resolution and a faster frame speed than anything you would see in movie theaters. It’s a much more sophisticated technology and complete showing of PIXAR’s work, so in a way it was created for the Oakland Museum, but it was basically significant upgrades to what was originally made.

Interview by: Lauren Patterson from PRESS - ISSUE 2B