ONE Archives Part of Getty Foundation's PST Art: Art & Science Collide Initiative

Courtesy of the Cameron Parsons Foundation. Photo Credit: Alan Shaffer

Marjorie Cameron, Holy Guardian Angel According to Aleister Crowley, 1966. Casein and gold lacquer on board, 29 1/2 x 19 1/4 in.
Courtesy of the Cameron Parsons Foundation. Photo Credit: Alan Shaffer

Jim Kepner Papers, ONE Archives at the USC Libraries

“Morojo” (Myrtle Douglas) and “Fojak” (Forrest Ackerman) in costume at the first World Science Fiction Convention, 1939.
Jim Kepner Papers, ONE Archives at the USC Libraries

The ONE Archives at the USC Libraries are among the arts organizations participating in the Getty Foundation's PST Art: Art & Science Collide initiative, the foundation announced today. Sexual Science and the Imagi-Nation, an exhibition exploring the intersection of science fiction and the occult with LGBTQ history, will open at the USC Fisher Museum of Art in September 2024.

PST Art: Art & Science Collide, which comprises dozens of exhibitions and other public programs across Southern California, is the next edition of the Getty Foundation's Pacific Standard Time collaboration with regional arts organizations. In 2017, the ONE Archives at the USC Libraries participated in a previous iteration, PST: LA/LA, with its Axis Mundo: Queer Networks in Chicano L.A. exhibition.

Here's the full description of Sexual Science and the Imagi-Nation:

Sexual Science and the Imagi-nation
ONE Archives at the USC Libraries presented at the USC Fisher Museum of Art

Sexual Science and the Imagi-Nation considers the importance of science fiction fandom and occult interests to U.S. LGBTQ history. Science fiction and occult communities helped pave the way for the LGBTQ movement by providing a place for individuals to meet and imagine spaces less restricted by societal norms. The exhibition focuses on Los Angeles from the late 1930s through 1960s and looks both forward and backward to follow the lives of writers, publishers, and early sci-fi enthusiasts, including progressive communities such as the LA Science Fantasy Society, the Ordo Templi Orientis at the Agape Lodge, and ONE Inc. Spanning fandom, aerospace research, queer history, and the occult, Sexual Science and the Imagi-Nation reveals how artists, scientists, and visionary thinkers like Jim Kepner, Lisa Ben, Margaret Brundage, Morris Scott Dollens, Marjorie Cameron, Renate Druks, Curtis Harrington, and Kenneth Anger worked together to envision and create a world of their own making through films, photographs, music, illustrations, costumes, and writing. Programming will include film screenings, panel discussions, and a Halloween cosplay event. This exhibition is made possible with support from Getty through its PST ART: Art & Science Collide initiative.