The Mutable Archive

Patricia Olynyk’s The Mutable Archive is a collaborative, cross-disciplinary multimedia installation that asks what an unstable narrative can reveal about truth. The project draws on photographs from anatomical museums—including the Narrenturm in Vienna and the Mütter Museum in Philadelphia—where skulls marked by post-mortem inscriptions are paired with archive cards containing only fragmentary details about the person. Working from these partial records, Olynyk invites collaborators across fields to write and perform speculative narratives, foregrounding how assumption and subjectivity shape what we accept as knowledge.
On Monday, January 26, 2026 (5:30–7:30 pm), UCI Illuminations and the UCI Center for Medical Humanities will host The Mutable Archive at the UCI Arts Experimental Media Performance Lab. A reception at 5:30 pm will welcome attendees into the installation environment. A live performance at 6:00 pm—by The Mutable Archive cinematographer Adam Hogan—will activate the video projection, spatialized sound, and narrative monologues. A panel discussion at 6:30 pm will bring the artists together with invited UCI respondents to consider archives, evidence, ethics, and interpretation, inviting audiences to experience the work and then unpack its questions in dialogue.
The Mutable Archive is significant for how it connects the history of anatomical collecting and medical display to present-day debates about colonial violence, race, gender, class disparity, and cultural bias. Rather than treating archives as neutral, the work highlights uneven documentation and the lasting effects of taxonomic thinking, including early eugenic frameworks. In the spirit of Illuminations—creating meaningful arts experiences for students across majors—this event demonstrates how creative practice can sharpen critical inquiry, and how the arts can help us approach institutional records with greater care, empathy, and accountability.

xMPL or Experimental Media Performance Lab is located on the Lobby Level
of the Contemporary Arts Center, just to the left of the glass entry doors.
Building #721 on UCI Campus Map

Driving Directions

From North:
Take the 405 S to 73 S
Exit University Drive
Left on University Drive S
At 4th stop light, turn right on Mesa Road
At Athletics Drive (second driveway on the right), make a right turn and proceed to the parking kiosk.

From South:
405 N
Exit at University Drive/Jeffrey Road
Left on University Drive
Left on Mesa Road, which is the first signal after Campus Dr.
At Athletics Drive (second driveway on the right), make a right turn and proceed to the parking kiosk.

Mesa Parking Structure, 4004 Mesa Road, Irvine 92617
You may park on any level. However, we suggest you park on Level 3 for easy access to the pedestrian bridge located just to the right of the Level 3 elevator and staircase. Cross the arts bridge and the Contemporary Arts Center is to your right. The xMPL is on the first floor to the left of the building's glass entry doors.

Advance pre-paid parking permits

Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.

Get App

Host or Publisher UCI Illuminations