Spacious New Digs for Santa Barbara Art Facility : Art: The Contemporary Arts Forum marks its move to a shopping mall with a show by Chilean filmmaker Raul Ruiz and an auction fund-raiser.

The Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum has a new home, and it’s in a shopping mall. The city’s premier showcase for contemporary art has only moved a half block, but the change is dramatic. No longer squirreled away behind a storefront on De la Guerra--as it has been since 1981--the forum now has a second-floor vantage point in Paseo Nuevo, a brand-new commercial development on State Street.

Visitors will get their first look at the forum’s snazzy new digs on Saturday, 5 to 8 p.m., at the opening of “The Expulsion of the Moors,” a mixed-media installation by Chilean filmmaker and theater director Raul Ruiz, and a preview of works to be offered in a benefit auction.

“Is this a minor miracle?” forum Director Betty Klausner asked as she surveyed construction a few days before the opening.

“It’s a minor miracle,” answered Mark Kirkhart, whose firm, Design ARC, converted the 4,600-square-foot commercial space into galleries, offices, a multipurpose library, a shop and storage areas. He and his partner, T.R. Kilpelainen, turned “an air-conditioned white shell” into “a neutral box for art” Kirkhart said.

It took three months to get building permits, but once they came through, Kirkhart turned on the steam. “We’ve been under construction for less than 60 days, but I twisted the arms of electrical engineers and called in favors to get everything done,” he said.

The job included designing movable walls and pivoting doors that double as display panels. Among the few architectural features that assert themselves are two ceilings. The library ceiling dips into a V shape to provide intimacy without cutting into display space. What Kirkhart calls “a Swiss-cheese ceiling” in the shop is an angled slab with four big, round holes cut out for light fixtures.

The miraculous aspect of the move is that the 14-year-old forum got the space rent-free in a redevelopment project after several years of negotiation with potential landlords, Klausner said. “When the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles was built, I realized that was a wonderful model for attaching an art facility to redevelopment. The Contemporary Arts Forum lobbied very hard to get the developer of Paseo Nuevo to contribute an art space,” she said.

The forum won its point. When the last three developers submitted plans, they all included donated space for a theater and art exhibition. Reininga Corp., the firm that landed the contract, conducted a competition with independent judges to decide who would occupy the exhibition space. With little serious competition, the Contemporary Arts Forum emerged victorious.

The forum has a soul mate in the Center Stage Theater, which will be used for forum-sponsored performances. Located on the second floor and joined by a tiled courtyard, the two cultural institutions stand above the commercial fray, but they are in alien territory dominated by Nordstrom and the Broadway. Several smaller shops are still under construction in Paseo Nuevo, a rambling, Spanish-style complex with underground parking.

Klausner and Leon Olson, president of the forum’s board of directors, don’t anticipate softening the program to accommodate shoppers, but they do hope to expand their audience. The key is to provide a “forum for contemporary thought” through exhibitions and performances that are “relevant to the community and our times,” Olson said.

“People sought us out in our old location,” said Education Director Rita Ferri, “but now that we’re in a shopping mall I imagine that about half of our crowd will be walk-in traffic.” She is planning a class to introduce adults to contemporary art, informal talks by artists and programs for children. “People need to know that contemporary art is about ideas. It isn’t a vase of flowers any more,” Ferri said.

The forum has fashioned a distinctive identity for itself, and it has few peers across the country. It is not a museum that collects art nor a commercial gallery that sells it, but neither is it a typical “alternative space” that focuses on emerging artists or a community gallery that restricts itself to regional art. Instead, the Contemporary Arts Forum balances a cross-section of works by local artists with those from other parts of the country, presents many points of view and hosts complex installations, such as the inaugural exhibition “The Expulsion of the Moors.”

Ruiz’s massive work, which recently premiered at the Institute for Contemporary Art in Boston, is described as an “exploration of the Christian/Moorish roots of Spanish history” through “imaginative mirroring, illusion and irony.” Using video projections, furniture, columns, reflections and special lighting, Ruiz will construct a series of allegorical rooms in all the galleries except for one displaying works to be auctioned.

About 55 artists were invited to create works on the theme of “Openings” for the sale, which will begin Saturday with silent bids and conclude Oct. 6 with a party and live auction. Klausner hopes that sales of works by Sam Francis, William Wegman, Joan Snyder, John Nava, Walter Gabrielson, Ciel Bergman and others will total $95,000, netting about $60,000 for the forum after expenses are paid and the artists have received 30% of the selling price.

Free rent has removed a financial load from the nonprofit space, which is supported by memberships, grants and gifts. But the expanded forum--to be run by a larger staff and kept open longer hours--has required an increase in the annual budget, from $250,000 a year to about $400,000. The move itself cost about $150,000, despite the donation of Design ARC’s services.

Facing facts in a climate of spiraling costs, the forum hired a development director, Robert Bush (with a grant from the Irvine Foundation), and launched a capital campaign. The drive has already raised the forum’s endowment from $130,000 to $170,000; with the help of the auction and other projects, Klausner hopes to boost it to $250,000. In other fund-raising efforts, a few patrons have lent their names to galleries and 21 donors have given $1,000 each under a new “Medici” plan, intended as an annual giving program. A plea for cash to pay for specific construction elements yielded about $5,000 from 100 people, she said.

Among the events on the forum’s schedule are “Thrift Store Paintings,” curated by Los Angeles artist Jim Shaw, sculpture by Jene Highstein and an installation by Carl Cheng. “Sex/Love/Stories,” Tim Miller’s performance inspired by a gay man’s struggles in the era of AIDS, will be presented Thursday at the Center Stage Theater. Miller is one of four controversial performance artists who were recently denied funding by the National Endowment for the Arts.

Beginning next week, the forum will be open Tuesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Information: (805) 966-5373.