Moma Talks: Conversations

In conjunction with the MoMA exhibition Inventing Abstraction, 1910–1925, Bang on a Can presents a pair of concerts that reveal how pioneering European composers of 100 years ago forever changed the music in New York. Each concert pairs two composers—an early-20th-century innovator, and a New Yorker they influenced. The music is performed by alumni and faculty of the Bang on a Can Summer Music Festival at MASS MoCA, a program dedicated entirely to the creation, study, and performance of the most adventurous music of our time. This second evening in the series features one of Arnold Schoenberg's shortest, oddest, most intense pieces, Herzgewächse, a shockingly expressive vocal miniature originally written for Vasily Kandinsky's journal The Blue Rider. Morton Feldman's meditative work Three Voices, for solo voice and two prerecorded solo voices, a luxurious, introspective setting of a poem by Frank O'Hara, has a much slower tempo than the Schoenberg piece, but is ultimately no less intense.

In conjunction with MoMA's presentation of Wolfgang Laib's Pollen from Hazelnut, Agnes Gund, President Emerita of The Museum of Modern Art, joins the artist in conversation about the installation and his creative process. Ann Temkin, The Marie-Josée and Henry Kravis Chief Curator of Painting and Sculpture, moderates.

Media artist and filmmaker Scott Snibbe and his collaborator Lukas Girling discuss their work and its relationship to sound in space, with a particular focus on REWORK_(Philip Glass Remixed) [GLASS MACHINE], which is featured at MoMA Studio.

Artist Joe McKay discusses his work and its relationship to sound in space, with a particular focus on Light Wave and Tweetagraph, his interactive installations in MoMA Studio.

Claes Oldenburg reads from Writing on the Side 1956–1969 (edited by Achim Hochdörfer, Maartje Oldenburg, and Barbara Schröder), a newly published selection of diaries, notes, poems, scripts, and statements that the artist wrote in the 1960s. The event is introduced by Ann Temkin, Chief Curator, Department of Painting and Sculpture, and organizer of the exhibition Claes Oldenburg: The Street and The Store and Claes Oldenburg: Mouse Museum/Ray Gun Wing; and Maartje Oldenburg. The reading is followed by a book signing and reception.

Curator Mathieu Copeland discusses the poetics of interstitial, neutral and otherwise overlooked off-spaces—and off-times—of museums and galleries. He envisages how they can be activated and seen anew through a variety of perspectives, and thus subvert the traditional role of exhibitions and renew the way they are perceived.

This half-day symposium explores the art scene and artistic production in Tokyo in the 1950s and 1960s through a series of film screenings and discussions with directors, curators, critics, and artists. The films, including ANPO: Art X War (Linda Hoaglund, 2010), Some Young People (Nagano Chiaki, 1964), and Japan: The New Art (Michael and Christian Blackwood, 1970), are followed by the roundtable discussion, “What Was So Avant-Garde about Tokyo from 1955 to 1970?”

On the occasion of the publication of Robert Motherwell Paintings and Collages: A Catalogue Raisonné, 1941–1991, this roundtable discussion explores Robert Motherwell's role as a thinker across creative disciplines including painting, poetry, philosophy, and music. Presenters include Debra Balken, Bill Berkson, Tim Clifford, Heidi Colsman-Freyberger, Robert Hobbs, and Katy Rogers. Moderated by Ann Temkin, The Marie-Josée and Henry Kravis Chief Curator of Painting and Sculpture, MoMA. Following the program, visit The Museum of Modern Art Archives to view selected Motherwell materials and join us for a reception in the library. This program is presented in collaboration with the Dedalus Foundation and the Museum Library and Archives.

Legendary Brazilian poet and founder of the Concrete poetry movement Augusto de Campos and his son, the musician Cid Campos, present a multimedia performance of text, music, and, image. Working within the expanded territory of poetry, Augusto de Campos uses sounds to activate associative thinking and explore the possibilities of language. Revitalizing Frank O'Hara's legacy and MoMA's historical commitment to poetry, this series invites poets and performers to bring the literary tradition to the Museum's collection. They read historical works and their own work that reflects on modern and contemporary art.

Friday, November 10, 2006 6:30 p.m. Trisha Donnelly's photographs, drawings, and video, sound, and performance art challenge viewers to consider the meaning of signs, logic, and narrative. Through gestures, expressions, and the passage of time, she cryptically reveals imaginary languages and belief systems that alter viewers' perceptions of images and environments. Donnelly received a BFA from UCLA and an MFA from Yale University. Her work has been seen most recently in the 2003 Venice Biennale and the Carnegie International in 2004. Photo courtesy of Miriam Berkley

Paul Bartow and J. Morgan Puett in conversation.

Wednesday, December 7, 2011 6:00 p.m. Negar Azimi, Senior Editor, Bidoun Projects (a not-for-profit publishing, curatorial, and educational initiative), and William Wells, Director, Townhouse Gallery of Contemporary Art, Cairo, discuss how artists and institutions in the Middle East are engaging with and activating their local communities.

March 08, 2011 6:30 PM Artists Yoko Ono and Kara Walker, whose work is represented in the exhibition Contemporary Art from the Collection, will engage in a dialogue about their respective practices and share their perspectives on how social, political, and gender issues inform their work. Moderated by MoMA director Glenn D. Lowry. NOTE: Audio has been edited to include only Kara Walker's presentation.

Thursday, April 28, 2011 6:00 PM New York–based artist Paul Ramírez Jonas, whose work examines the interaction between artist and audience, discusses his artistic practice with Carol Becker, Professor of the Arts and Dean of Columbia University School of the Arts. Moderated by MoMA Director Glenn D. Lowry. Paul Ramírez Jonas' selected solo exhibitions include The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield, Connecticut; the Jack S. Blanton Museum of Art, Austin, Texas; Alexander Gray Associates, New York; Björkholmen Gallery, Stockholm; Postmasters Gallery, New York; and surveys at Ikon Gallery and Cornerhouse in the United Kingdom. Ramírez Jonas' work was featured in numerous group exhibitions since the early 1990s, including the Gallery for Contemporary Art Leipzig; MoMA PS1; Whitechapel, London; Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin; Künstlerhaus, Vienna; The New Museum, New York; and Kunsthaus Zurich. He has participated in the Johannesburg Biennale; the Seoul Biennial, the Shanghai Biennial; the 28th S

Saturday, May 21, 2011 9:30 AM This two-day program brings together artists, art historians, scholars, critics, writers, and speech and performance studies experts to discuss possible frameworks for better understanding issues surrounding art speech and methods for being direct and achieving clarity in spoken public presentations in the visual arts. The spoken public presentation is central in the field of the visual arts, particularly in the area of adult learning. Public program departments in museums operate based on a set of conventions regarding the way they present lectures or discussions about art involving artists, art historians, and/or theorists. Yet very little qualitative analysis has been conducted on the effectiveness of these presentations. Often times, public presentations are deemed impenetrable or obscure. What is communicated in writing cannot always be easily grasped when presented on stage. Using a variety of strategies, this year’s forum will seek to anatomize art historians' and ar

Friday, May 20, 2011 1:00 PM This two-day program brings together artists, art historians, scholars, critics, writers, and speech and performance studies experts to discuss possible frameworks for better understanding issues surrounding art speech and methods for being direct and achieving clarity in spoken public presentations in the visual arts. The spoken public presentation is central in the field of the visual arts, particularly in the area of adult learning. Public program departments in museums operate based on a set of conventions regarding the way they present lectures or discussions about art involving artists, art historians, and/or theorists. Yet very little qualitative analysis has been conducted on the effectiveness of these presentations. Often times, public presentations are deemed impenetrable or obscure. What is communicated in writing cannot always be easily grasped when presented on stage. Using a variety of strategies, this year’s forum will seek to anatomize art historians' and arti

Discussion with Peter Eleey Monday, May 09, 2011 12:00 PM Join us for Artists Present at Noon, the second in a special two-part series of talks by contemporary artists. In sessions consisting of short and dynamic presentations of 20 images, 25 seconds per image, loosely modeled on an informal Japanese presentation style, artists discuss their work, creative process, and other issues in contemporary art, followed by a moderated discussion. This session will focus on artists who create and present work that moves beyond the object, from publications and events to public talks and writing.

Alexandre Singh Monday, May 09, 2011 12:00 PM Join us for Artists Present at Noon, the second in a special two-part series of talks by contemporary artists. In sessions consisting of short and dynamic presentations of 20 images, 25 seconds per image, loosely modeled on an informal Japanese presentation style, artists discuss their work, creative process, and other issues in contemporary art, followed by a moderated discussion. This session will focus on artists who create and present work that moves beyond the object, from publications and events to public talks and writing.

Matt Keeganr Monday, May 09, 2011 12:00 PM Join us for Artists Present at Noon, the second in a special two-part series of talks by contemporary artists. In sessions consisting of short and dynamic presentations of 20 images, 25 seconds per image, loosely modeled on an informal Japanese presentation style, artists discuss their work, creative process, and other issues in contemporary art, followed by a moderated discussion. This session will focus on artists who create and present work that moves beyond the object, from publications and events to public talks and writing.

Angie Keefer Monday, May 09, 2011 12:00 PM Join us for Artists Present at Noon, the second in a special two-part series of talks by contemporary artists. In sessions consisting of short and dynamic presentations of 20 images, 25 seconds per image, loosely modeled on an informal Japanese presentation style, artists discuss their work, creative process, and other issues in contemporary art, followed by a moderated discussion. This session will focus on artists who create and present work that moves beyond the object, from publications and events to public talks and writing.