Stephanie Syjuco, a professor in the Department of Art Practice at the University of California, Berkeley, has unveiled her largest project to date at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA). The installation, titled Present Tense (Roll Call), spans 63 by 30 feet on BAMPFA’s Art Wall near the museum entrance.

Syjuco is recognized for her multidisciplinary work and has received several awards, including a Guggenheim Fellowship. Her art has been exhibited at major institutions such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York’s Museum of Modern Art, and SFMOMA. For this project at BAMPFA, she drew on her experience both as an artist and educator at UC Berkeley.

“I don’t think I would have made this work anywhere else,” said Syjuco. “I was thinking about my colleagues in the Art Practice Department. I was thinking about the students that I teach and mentor, and the questions that we ask each other about the place of public education right now in a world that’s quickly privatizing, and the public resources that we are all attempting to steward.”

Present Tense (Roll Call) features a collage made from enlarged black-and-white scans of book spines and index pages sourced from university libraries. Syjuco conducted research at both the Ethnic Studies Library and Bancroft Library to find texts and activist records from pivotal moments in Berkeley’s history, particularly from the 1960s and ’70s when social activism was prominent on campus.

“I was trying to find documents that could augment the conversation and not present images that we’re already familiar with,” said Syjuco. “Berkeley is obviously very proud of the Free Speech Movement, but it’s also been condensed into a couple iconic images, rendering it abstract to students and the general public. When I was doing research, I decided to use the Ethnic Studies Library, which holds records that are specifically different from the Bancroft Library’s collection.”

She highlighted one document: “I looked at a progress report printed in 1969 during the Third World Liberation strike’s demand for cultural representation in education. The student organizers had just started making an impact with the university administration. There was a hopefulness in this document — a sense of promise,” said Syjuco. “By including it in the artwork, I hope people become curious about ‘Well, what did happen to these demands?’ Some of the educational changes cited by the student organizers didn’t actually come to fruition and many compromises were made. By including that document in the artwork, I wanted to show that there are moments when possibilities open up — but whether or not they get followed through on is another matter.”

Syjuco described her installation as “definitely not a comprehensive look at the history of Berkeley,” but rather as “a snapshot” reflecting issues important both to her personally and within UC Berkeley’s intellectual tradition. She referenced Chiura Obata—a Japanese American professor who founded an art school inside an internment camp during World War II—as an influence: “As a professor who is literally teaching in Obata’s department, as an Asian American professor, there’s a resonance I am creating across decades, even though Obata and I did not overlap at the same time,” said Syjuco.

The installation also addresses current debates around higher education policy by featuring words like “immigration” and “transgender.” These references highlight ongoing challenges faced by universities amid political debates over ethnic studies programs and diversity initiatives.

“It’s a symbolic act of inclusion,” said Syjuco regarding her invitation for artist-educators nationwide to nominate influential teaching texts for inclusion on BAMPFA's Art Wall. “And it helps draw in not just my own views on what I think is important to teach today, but a conversation among artist-teachers around the country.”

“As we move forward in our professions as educators, we have to respond to scenarios with which we are confronted,” she continued. “It’s important to remember this because as we move forward over next few years we’re going have stand strong maintaining our values.”

Present Tense (Roll Call) will remain on view at BAMPFA until June 28, 2026.