'Rule 42, Stretched Language'

From "San Diego weekend arts events: Rule 42, Hip-Hop Nutcracker, Sepideh Shamloufard, red fish blue fish, and Omar Lopex" (KPBS)
The Bonita Museum and Cultural center is host to a fascinating new exhibition, curated by Vallo Riberto, retired director of Southwestern College's art gallery. It's a look at the world through symbols, language and mathematics, and the title is a nod to a lesser known Lewis Carroll work, "The Hunting of the Snark," as well as the famous answer from "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" by Douglas Adams.

One work that caught my attention is Kazmier Maslanka's "Psychronometrics," which is an interactive piece composed in BASIC code in 1983 on a TSR80 machine. There's lightboxes, equations and the distortion of time. Maslanka will lead a workshop next weekend, Saturday, Nov. 13 on creating mathematical poetry. Another, Douglas McCulloh's "All Wars" evocatively leans on the use of text.

The show also features artists Alex Caldiero, Lisa Mansfield, Taly Oehler, Toru Nakatani, Allison Weise, Toru Nakatani and many more. On Saturday evening at the opening reception, Gerda Govine and Rosa Sandoval will perform spoken word, and Alex Caldiero will perform poetry.

Details: On view Saturday through Dec. 3, 2021. Opening reception is Saturday from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. Gallery hours are Wednesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Bonita Museum and Cultural Center, 4355 Bonita Rd, Bonita. Free.
—Julia Dixon Evans, KPBS

From the museum:
Rule 42, Stretched Language
November 6 – December 3, 2021

The Bonita Museum and Cultural Center (BMCC) presents the world as explained and examined through mathematical equations and language in the exhibition titled 'Rule 42: S t r e t c h e d L a n g u a g e : Explorations into Visual and Mathematical Poetry,' November 6 – December 3, 2021. The exhibition curated by Vallo Riberto features evocative symbols that explore our human language as a method for examining the world. A public reception will be on Saturday, November 6 from 4:30 – 7:30 p.m — opening reception with artists. Spoken word performances at 5:30 p.m. with Rosa Sandoval, Gerda Govine, and performance by Alex Caldiero.

What is Rule 42?
Curator Vallo Riberto: Rule 42 Is a reference to “The Hunting of the Snark” page 18, by Lewis Carroll, best known for Alice in Wonderland, but lesser known for his visual poetry with works like the ‘Mouse’s Tale.’ The number 42 also became well known as the ‘Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything,’ from The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams.

Artists in the exhibition include Kazmier Maslanka, Alex Caldiero, Douglas McCulloh, John Dillemuth, Kristine Diekman, Lisa Mansfield, Liz Waug McManus, Paul Gailiunas, john Halaka, Karl Kempton, Trinh Mai, Taly Oehler, Toru Nakatani, Allison Weise, db Foster, Harry Polkinhorn , Avital Oehler, and David Quattrociocchi. Spoken word performances by Gerda Govine and Rosa Sandoval.

More programming related to this exhibition:
On Sat. Nov. 13 artist Kazmier Maslanka will lead a Similar Triangle Poems workshop introducing a system for creating mathematical poetry. Participants can create their own math-based poetry using Maslanka’s system during the workshop.