Please join us at ICA San Diego / North for the opening of Ethan Chan & David Peña: Heavy as Ghosts.

This free art event in San Diego is part of ICA’s commitment to reduce barriers to contemporary art in our community.

4 PM – 6:30 PM | All-Ages Art Making  

Join us at ICA San Diego North Campus for this month’s C You Saturday. Create a collage inspired by the materials and forms used by Artists in Residence, David Peña and Ethan Chan. Reflect your unique perspective on healing through layered textures and meaningful compositions of everyday objects.

4:00 – 5:00 pm | Performance by Ethan Chan

In this durational performance piece by Ethan Chan, Ethan replicates the setting where his father spends his time when he’s unable to go to work. Ethan dresses up in his father’s daily at-home attire and traps himself in a space with nothing but his dad’s favorite food, a microwave, and a television, set to change channels every 10 seconds. In this space, the artist does not communicate with anyone or leave the room, and his only activities are sitting, eating, and watching TV. 

Thinking about the act of doomscrolling as a modern outlet for loneliness and boredom, a comparison can be drawn to the earlier act of channel-surfing. Constantly flicking through TV channels every few seconds for long periods of time results in both time passing and little to no entertainment or information being absorbed. As a kid, Ethan would sit with his dad (who identifies as a workaholic) on his days off at home while he channel-surfed. When Ethan once asked him why he did that for hours on end, he responded by saying, “what else am I going to do?”.

5:00 – 6:00 PM | Panel Discussion feat. David Peña and Guests 

Mapping Loss: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Grief and Healing Panel with David Peña, Mira Masukawa, and Selena Jong.

Join exhibiting artist David Peña for a special panel discussion on grief and general healing. Peña will be joined by Mira Masukawa of San Diego Grief Counseling and California Grief Therapy Center Inc., and Selena Jong, certified death doula.

6:00 – 7:00 PM | Music by Guest DJ

Music selected by David Peña inspired by his exhibition.

4 PM – 7 PM | Food, Drinks and Socializing

We hope to C you there!