Year One • The Free Republic of California at CGBF
Ever wondered what could happen if California was its own country? There’s a new proposal exploring this hypothesis and it’s not from a political action committee but from the Santa Ynez and Los Angeles based artist Cole Sternberg.
Presented by the Carolyn Glasoe Bailey Foundation’s Ojai Institute—where Sternberg is an artist in residence—the new multifaceted public art project, The Free Republic of California: Year One, departs from the premise that California has seceded from the United States and formed its own nation. With the $472 billion in annual revenue paid to the federal government each year now kept in California, the state is reborn, and those funds are poured into education, health care and other social programs.
Cole Sternberg, Yard Signs Installation at Rancho Ojai Inn, The Free Republic of California: Year One, Carolyn Glasoe Bailey Foundation, Ojai Institute, 2020. Photo Shelter Social Club
Cole Sternberg, Detail on Gallery Door, The Free Republic of California: Year One, Carolyn Glasoe Bailey Foundation, Ojai Institute, 2020. Photo Debra Herrick
Cole Sternberg, Detail of Gallery Exterior Window, The Free Republic of California: Year One, Carolyn Glasoe Bailey Foundation, Ojai Institute, 2020. Photo Debra Herrick
The nuanced and heavily researched project draws from Sternberg’s background in law (the artist has a law degree from American University) and plays with notions of statehood and freedom by offering a vision for a more enlightened nation that includes a new Constitution. The roughly 9,000-word document, the Constitution of the Free Republic of California, enacted on Oct. 20, Year One, includes ten articles, setting up the government for the newly established democratic nation. Other documentation builds an alternative history and identity through a new flag, photographic documentation and ephemera; a budget, peace agreements and international conventions in support of the environment and human rights; and, a proposed future conjured through sculpture, performance and engagement.
Cole Sternberg, Detail of the Constitution on Gallery Exterior, The Free Republic of California: Year One, Carolyn Glasoe Bailey Foundation, Ojai Institute, 2020. Photo Debra Herrick
Cole Sternberg, Details of Interior Gallery Walls, The Free Republic of California: Year One, Carolyn Glasoe Bailey Foundation, Ojai Institute, 2020. Photos Debra Herrick
Year One has four components: A 24-hour multi-media installation that is visible from CGBF’s exterior windows; Family art experience kits that are free to download; A site specific outdoor installation throughout the Ojai Valley of yard signs and poster interventions; And, thefreerepublicofcalifornia.com—a conceptual and internet project that serves as the locus of the exhibition.
Year One also highlights the Ojai Institute’s initiative as a platform for new ideas. As The Free Republic of California’s official education partner, the institute hopes to stimulate conversations about the possibilities of government through the proposal’s “real life” application, particularly for youth and coming of age voters.“There are elements of surprise and intrigue in the use of text and images because at the essence of the project is imagination—How do we imagine possibilities and a more inclusive government?” says Frederick Janka, CGBF executive director. “That strikes at my belief about art—seeing different possibilities . . . the spark is to look at what exists and ask why things exist as they are.”
ABOVE: The Ojai Institute’s Year One poster series engages with local businesses through enigmatic expressions that refer to specific moments in California’s history that were milestones for the related industry.
The Free Republic of California: Year One by Cole Sternberg is currently on view at the Carolyn Glasoe Bailey Foundation, Ojai Institute. Freestate an agitprop public movement via exhibition conceived of by Cole Sternberg through The Free Republic of California is on view at the ESMoA in El Segundo.
