Media Contact: Kathleen Stoughton at University Art Gallery (619) 534-0419 or Kate Callen at (619) 534-0361

Zoo Story, an installation by Jean Lowe and Kim MacConnel, will be on view June 12 through July 24 in the University Art Gallery at the University of California, San Diego. An opening reception for the artists will take place at the Gallery Friday, June 11, from 5 to 7 p.m.

Zoo Story is engaged in the growing debate over attitudes concerning the treatment of animals by humans. The installation has two parts. The first is a set of photographic panorama compositions taken of zoo animals from around the world and mounted on shaped and painted surfaces to evoke the idea of circus/fair entertainment. The second is a stage set with a painted backdrop where a caged human primate will be on display for the duration of the exhibition.

Lowe, a UCSD Lecturer in Visual Arts, and MacConnel, a UCSD Professor of Visual Arts, previously collaborated on Cuento del Toro/Bull Story, created in Tijuana for inSITE 92 and recreated in an expanded form at the Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego in 1994 and at the Holly Solomon Gallery in New York in 1995.

Lowe’s work, such as her 1990-91 traveling solo exhibition A Dilettante’s Conversation on the Topics of Anthropocentrism and Western Consumerism, centers on her concern with environmental and species-related issues. MacConnel is known for his interest in non-Western cultures, a focus evident in his 1997 retrospective, Kim MacConnel: Selected Works from 1974-1996, at the California Center for the Arts in Escondido.

The University Art Gallery is located at the west end of Mandeville Center on the UCSD campus in La Jolla. Gallery hours are Thursday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and by appointment for groups of 10 or more. Admission is free. For information, call the gallery at 619-534-2107.