‘Connected Worlds’ traces six decades of Palo Alto’s international friendships through art

The exhibition “Connected Worlds: Art and Artifacts from Palo Alto’s Sister Cities” is a curious, distinctive show. It’s not the usual art exhibition, where the focus is on the aesthetics of the art. Nor is it a history retrospective, presenting an archive of historical artifacts. 

It’s something in between the two — the art and artifacts in “Connected Worlds” are presented as material records of history. Together, they highlight Palo Alto’s connections with its 10 sibling cities across the world, in a historically rich and visually interesting exhibition.

“You won’t just be seeing a pretty thing on the wall,” said Harriet Stern, exhibition’s co-curator, who serves on the Palo Alto Public Art Commission and is a member of Neighbors Abroad. “The art and artifacts are all based on the stories they tell, and how we can cohesively give the narrative of 60 years of cultural exchange and friendship.”

The exhibition is hosted by Neighbors Abroad, which has managed those cultural exchanges through student exchange programs, humanitarian aid and cultural programs for the past six decades. But “Connected Worlds,” which is more artistic in nature, is different from those other initiatives.

“There’s no better way to do that than art,” said Ed Fike, Neighbors Abroad’s president and the exhibition’s other co-curator. “It takes out much of the politics and policies, and centers on human beings and how we relate to each other.”

Fike and Stern first imagined the exhibition as more explicitly historical, supported by archival newspaper articles and a chronological account of how Neighbors Abroad was established in Palo Alto. But they later decided to center the exhibition more on the art and artifacts themselves and the stories they tell.

For instance, one featured piece is a traditional skirt worn by one of the presidents of Neighbors Abroad, who was then a 16-year-old exchange student when she traveled to Oaxaca in the 1970s. The skirt will be accompanied by a photograph of her performing a regional Oaxacan dance wearing it; the skirt and photograph represent the lasting personal connections between Palo Alto and Oaxaca that Neighbors Abroad has created.

Other objects represent the diplomatic history of Palo Alto’s sister-city relationships. Among the returning works from Neighbors Abroad’s 2023 “We Are What We Eat” exhibition is a whimsical Swedish sculpture depicting mashed potatoes and lingonberries, whose subject is not obviously recognizable without an explanation. In 2023, Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden viewed the sculpture during a visit to Palo Alto. Photographs in the exhibition show her and then-Mayor Greer Stone standing before the piece, which received media attention in Sweden.

The exhibition will also feature approximately 20 photographs from a camera-club collaboration among photographers in Palo Alto, Enschede in the Netherlands and Albi, France. The partnership grew out of relationships formed during “We Are What We Eat,” when organizers connected with a photography club in Enschede. The photographs featured in “Connected Worlds” follow a common theme of authentically photographing their cities, in a way that captures their beauty and imperfections.

Some of the pieces belong to Neighbors Abroad members who acquired them while participating in exchanges or traveling as representatives of Palo Alto. Others were presented to the city by visiting mayors and foreign dignitaries, then stored in City Hall with limited opportunities for public viewing.

“There’s a huge collection of objects and offerings that have been given to the city of Palo Alto that don’t get to be seen by many of its citizens,” Stern said. “That was part of the reason we wanted to bring these objects forward.”

The exhibition is also intended to reintroduce many Peninsula residents to Palo Alto’s sibling-city relationships, which, before the internet, were stronger and more visible in the city’s public life. Stern described it as an effort to “get it back into the consciousness of people in Palo Alto and up and down the Peninsula.”

“In the past, before we had access to so much immediate information on the internet, there used to be more dedicated activities to our sister cities, that just don’t exist anymore,” she said. “That used to be our avenue to get to know our neighbors abroad, and I believe that was because people couldn’t easily find out what it’s like in those foreign places, like Albi, France, or Tsuchiura, Japan.”

But Stern and Fike say that the internet hasn’t diminished the value of genuine cultural exchange, or the artifacts that preserve those connections.

“Though now we’re firmly in the internet era decades later, nothing replaces meeting people face-to-face, visiting the cities or having them visit us — that people-to-people contact in the actual culture,” Fike said.

That’s the hope of the exhibition — that visitors will come away with a greater appreciation for the breadth and longevity of Palo Alto’s international partnerships. These relationships are embedded into Palo Alto’s history, whether or not they’re fully remembered or recognized today, and have deeply influenced its vivid, cultural and artistic life.

“I hope people get a sense of pride in their city when they see these deep relationships that have formed over 63 years, that Palo Alto has a great mark on the global stage,” Fike said. “We have these partnerships all over the world that mean something, that are long lasting, that encompass art, travel, history and culture.”

“Connected Worlds” is open during special viewing hours between Aug. 7 and 22, (Aug. 7, 6:30-8 p.m.; Aug. 14 and 21, 5-8 p.m., and Aug. 8, 15 and 22, 1-4 p.m. at the Pacific Art League, 668 Ramona St., Palo Alto; free admission; neighborsabroad.org/connected-worlds-art-exhibit.

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