Moma Talks: Conversations

March 21, 2008 6:30 p.m. Like many modern artists that have preceded him, Martin Creed makes installations, music, film, writings, and performances that question the value of objects and ideas commonly considered mundane. With modest materials he often takes a witty and subversive, minimalist approach. Creed, who attended the Slade School of Art in London, has exhibited his work internationally and was the recipient of the 2001 Turner Prize. This conversation is moderated by Pablo Helguera, Director, Adult and Academic Programs, The Museum of Modern Art. Note: Audio recordings of films shown during the program have been removed.

November 26, 2007 6:30 p.m. Beginning in the mid-1960s, former gallerist and publisher Seth Siegelaub supported the work of many artists, including Robert Barry and Lawrence Weiner. Exhibitions explored conceptual art, and books provided a new forum for artistic innovation outside of the museum or gallery. Alexander Alberro, Associate Professor of Art History, University of Florida, and Christophe Cherix, Curator, Department of Prints and Illustrated Books, The Museum of Modern Art, join Siegelaub, Barry, and Weiner in a roundtable discussion about their collaborations.

November 20, 2007 6:00 p.m. Over the last year, a series of exhibitions and cultural initiatives in New York and elsewhere have sought to reconsider the feminist legacy in contemporary art and the new directions it has inspired in the work of emerging artists and collectives. This roundtable discussion with artists, critics, and historians will include a critical review and analysis of such events. It will also include an attempt to envision the steps to follow in the collective efforts to write recent feminist art history and implement the lessons learned from these initiatives. Participants include Janine Antoni, artist; Aruna D'Souza, Assistant Professor of Art History and Women's Studies, Binghamton University; Sharon Hayes, artist; and Molly Nesbit, Professor of Art History, Vassar College, contributing editor, Artforum, and (with Hans Ulrich Obrist and Rirkrit Tiravanija) organizer of the ongoing project Utopia Stations. Moderated by Connie Butler, The Robert Lehman Foundation Chief Curator of Drawings

March 13, 2008 6:30 p.m. In conversations moderated by Ann Temkin, curator, Department of Painting and Sculpture, and organizer of the exhibition Color Chart: Reinventing Color, 1950 to Today, artists and scholars explore the ways in which artists use color, whether by chance, through systems, or in the context of everyday life. With artists John Baldessari and Daniel Buren, and Bernard Marcadé, art critic, freelance curator, and professor of art history and aesthetics at the École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts of Paris-Cergy. Photo courtesy of Paula Court

February 28, 2008 6:30 p.m. A lecture by art critic, curator, and Freud biographer William Feaver

Artists Speak: Conversations on Contemporary Art with Glenn D. Lowry The Old Becomes New: Urban Revitalization in New York November 1, 2007 12:30 p.m. From the Atlantic Yards to Red Hook in Brooklyn, from the High Line and Fresh Kills lifescape to the new Second Avenue subway, New York City is re-inventing itself through public projects and parks, greater accessibility and new technologies. James Corner of field operations and Elizabeth Diller and Ricardo Scofidio of Diller Scofidio + Renfro address issues surrounding urban transformation. Photo courtesy of Paula Court

October 19, 2007 6:30 p.m. Roni Horn produces sculpture, photography, drawings, essays, and books. She engages the senses of the viewer, while also investigating issues of identity and difference and the relationship between humans and nature. By using different mediums and setting her work in specific environments, Horn explores the dichotomy between the moment of visual perception and the power of memory. Horn received a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design and an MFA from Yale University.

January 30, 2008 6:30 p.m. Gabriel Orozco's sculptures, photographs, drawings, installations, and videos weave the everyday with the philosophical; he explores how meaning is made from chance encounters and found objects. Numerous works by the artist are currently on view in the exhibition New Perspectives in Latin American Art, 1930-2006: Selections from a Decade of Acquisitions. This conversation is moderated by Glenn D. Lowry, Director, The Museum of Modern Art. Photo courtesy of Paula Court

Works of Art as Objects January 24, 2008 6:30 p.m. To complement the installation New Perspectives in Latin American Art, 1930-2006: Selections from a Decade of Acquisitions, scholars explore the ways in which selected seminal works and artists revolutionized the visual arts in their countries in a given period. Gabriel Pérez-Barreiro, curator of Latin American Art, Jack S. Blanton Museum of Art, The University of Texas at Austin, examines Gyula Kosice's Mobile Articulated Sculpture (1948); Juan Carlos Ledezma, independent curator, focuses on Alejandro Otero's Ortogonales (1951–52); Amy Rosenblum Martín, independent curator, examines Mira Schendel's Droguinha (1967); and Anna Indych-López, Assistant Professor of Art, The City College of New York, The City University of New York, discusses Victor Grippo's Life, Death, Resurrection (1980). Luis Pérez-Oramas, The Estrellita Brodsky Curator of Latin American Art at MoMA and organizer of the exhibition, moderates a discussion. The symposium is made possible by K

Conversations with Contemporary Artists: Ron Gilad October 12, 2007 6:30 p.m. Ron Gilad co-founded Designfenzider in 2001. Selected by Forbes as one of 2007's ten tastemakers in industrial design, Gilad creates hybrid objects that straddle the line between abstraction and function. His work—from candlesticks made with wine glasses to chandeliers constructed from task lamps—is simultaneously elegant and witty. Gilad attended the Industrial Design Department at Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem.

Martin Puryear January 8, 2008 6:30 p.m. Through a series of presentations and a moderated discussion, David Levi Strauss, scholar, critic, and chair of the MFA Art Criticism and Writing Department, School of Visual Arts; Judith Russi Kirshner, professor of Art History and dean of the College of Architecture and the Arts, University of Illinois at Chicago; and artists Josiah McElheny and Terry Winters offer their perspectives on the work of Martin Puryear. John Elderfield, The Marie-Josée and Henry Kravis Chief Curator of Painting and Sculpture, The Museum of Modern Art, and organizer of the exhibition, moderates the discussion.

Artists Speak: Conversations on Contemporary Art with Glenn D. Lowry Art/Nature October 2, 2007 6:30 p.m. Inspired by the most recent pressing ecological concerns, this program aims to provide diverse perspectives on the changing relationships between modern and contemporary art and the environment. Artists Mary Miss and Roxy Paine discuss subjects such as the nature of their materials and how they engage with their physical surroundings.

August 8, 2007 6:30 p.m. Chuck Close and Carroll Dunham, artists featured in the exhibition What Is Painting? Contemporary Art from the Collection, discuss their work. The conversation is moderated by Anne Umland, Curator, Department of Painting and Sculpture, and organizer of the exhibition. This event is held in conjunction with the exhibition What Is Painting? Contemporary Art from the Collection.

September 14, 2007 6:30 p.m. Kerry James Marshall's mixed media works address the perspectives of African Americans through references to popular culture, history, and the civil rights movement. His work draws inspiration from art-historical sources from the Renaissance to black folk art. Born in Birmingham, Alabama, Marshall has a BFA and an honorary Doctorate from the Otis Art Institute, Los Angeles. He has exhibited in the United States, and at international exhibitions such as Documenta X. In 1997 Marshall was awarded a MacArthur Foundation grant. The program is moderated by Romi Crawford, Curator and Director of Education and Public Programs, The Studio Museum in Harlem, and introduced by Wendy Woon, The Edward John Noble Foundation Deputy Director for Education, The Museum of Modern Art. Photo courtesy of Paula Court

July 12, 2007 6:00 p.m. Through a series of individual presentations and a moderated discussion, artists and scholars explore the various ways in which New York has been a source of adventure, inspiration, and creativity. Participants include Douglas Crimp, art critic and professor of art history and visual and cultural studies, University of Rochester; Peter Eisenman, founder and principal, Eisenman Architects, New York; Meredith Monk, artist; and others. Moderated by David Joselit, professor and chair, history of art department, Yale University. This event is held in conjunction with the exhibition Richard Serra Sculpture: Forty Years. Photo courtesy of Paula Court

May 9, 2007 6:30 p.m. Like the Venezuelan Armando Reverón, whose paintings and life-sized dolls were recently on view at the Museum, many contemporary artists invent games, toys, and characters. In this program, Venezuelan-born Arturo Herrera, who uses cartoon and fairy tale images, discusses with Luis Pérez-Oramas, The Estrellita Brodsky Curator of Latin American Art at MoMA, and Glenn D. Lowry how his work engages traditions in his country of origin and offers new understandings of contemporary art. Photo courtesy of Paula Court

Artists Speak: Conversations on Contemporary Art with Glenn D. Lowry Spotlight: Artists Set the Stage April 17, 2007 6:30 p.m. Artists break boundaries, working in a variety of mediums and blurring the lines between them. Since the early twentieth century, painters, sculptors, and filmmakers have gone beyond traditional visual art forms and taken their artistic process to the stage, collaborating as theater and opera directors and set designers. Through presentations and a conversation moderated by MoMA director Glenn D. Lowry, performance artist Laurie Anderson and William Kentridge—director and scene designer for BAM's spring production of Mozart's The Magic Flute—discuss how they bring their creative process to performance. Note: Laurie Anderson's comments are not included in the recording. Photo courtesy of Paula Court

March 9, 2007 6:30 p.m. Jeff Koons uses unexpected models and everyday objects to create works of art. From his Hoover vacuum cleaners to his stainless steel Rabbit (1986), he challenges viewers’ perception and standards of “good taste,” addressing established hierarchies and aesthetic value systems. Koons, whose 1985 work Three Ball 50/50 Tank (Two Dr. J. Silver Series, Wilson Supershot) is included in Out of Time: A Contemporary View, has exhibited internationally and has received many awards and honors.

March 12, 2007 6:00 p.m. For the exhibition Projects 84, Josiah McElheny creates a sculptural installation of crystalline glass, metal, and colored light that draws upon the visionary schemes of Paul Scheerbart, the Berlin poet and novelist, and Bruno Taut, the uncrowned leader of the circle of revolutionary architects that emerged in Berlin after World War I. McElheny’s model-scale landscape depicting two structures—an “Alpine Cathedral” and a “City-Crown”—is a critique of the utopian ideals embodied in twentieth-century modernism. This program, with McElheny and artist Chris Burden, focuses on the use of architecture in the sculptural model, through presentations and a discussion moderated by Joshua Siegel, organizer of the exhibition. Note: This recording only includes Joshua Siegel and Josiah McElheny's talks.

March 5, 2007 6:00 p.m. In a panel discussion moderated by Roxana Marcoci, curator of the exhibition, artists Polly Apfelbaum, Inka Essenhigh, and Gary Simmons address the creative misalliance between abstraction and comic forms of representation in their work. The panel probes issues pertaining to humor in relation to a critical interpretation of war and global conflicts as well as gender and ethnic stereotyping. Held in conjunction with the exhibition Comic Abstraction: Image-Breaking, Image-Making. Photo courtesy of Paula Court