Breakdown/Breakthrough: Art and Infrastructure

In this two-part group exhibition, artists respond to Southern California’s built environment and the policies and power dynamics that mediate the public’s daily experience of it. Whether reflecting on urban neglect in Los Angeles, the ecological cost of UC Irvine’s Brutalist architecture, or freeways rending SoCal neighborhoods, the works on view express forms of care and resilience—the possibility of artistically and collectively breaking through the strictures of the region’s human-made scape. 

Taking place at UC Irvine’s Langson Museum’s Irvine location from January 31 to May 16, 2026, the exhibition’s first part features newly acquired photographs by UC Irvine alumnus Ruben Ochoa from his Ficus series (2007), placing these alongside works by Carlos Almaraz and Pat Gomez, also from Langson Museum’s permanent collection. 

Together, these works trace the multigenerational efforts of Chicanx artists to spotlight the ill effects of California’s infrastructure and urban policies on communities of color. 

The exhibition’s second part, happening April 13–19, 2026 at the Irvine Barclay Theatre plaza, presents Class-C (2001), Ochoa’s transformation of a Chevy van into a mobile art gallery displaying a selection of works by artists educated or currently enrolled at UC Irvine. 

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