Pacifica Prize Exhibition in Vladivostok, Russia

American Track Two participants, including the winners of the Esalen Pacifica Art Prize competition from the California College of the Arts, traveled Vladivostok to join their Russian colleagues for the final journey and month-long exhibition of the art produced during the artists' residency at Esalen Institute. Hosted by the Far Eastern Academy of the Arts and the ARKA gallery, the gala opening of the exhibition was covered by national media and included a letter of congratulations from the American Ambassador in Moscow.

About the Esalen Pacifica Prize

The Esalen Pacifica Prize was launched in 2012 as a joint project between Track Two and Esalen CTR to highlight the role of the arts in enriching and deepening ties between Russia and the former republics of the Soviet Union, and the United States across a range of common interests – cultural, scientific, business and economic. In cooperation with the California College of the Arts, based in San Francisco, and The Far Eastern Academy of the Arts in Vladivostok, a group of four young, talented artists (two graduates from each institution) were selected as the award’s first recipients. 

The artists, specialists in painting and drawing, then spent four weeks in May 2012 working and living together at Esalen’s campus overlooking the Pacific. During the residency of the artists, Esalen hosted a public arts weekend workshop focused on the power of art to connect and inspire new thinking about areas of common interest, with subjects ranging from Russia’s evolving role in Asia’s economy to the impact of climate change on the Pacific Ocean.  Session leaders included representatives from The Asia Society, Scripps Oceanic Institute, and the Dean of the California College of the Arts.