MoMA Talks: Conversations

To celebrate the MoMA's publication Alfredo Boulton and his Contemporaries: Critical Dialogues in Venezuelan Art, 1912–1974, on September 25, 2008, Luis Pérez-Oramas, The Estrellita Brodsky Curator of Latin American Art at MoMA, moderated a panel discussion on Venezuelan art and architecture of that time period. The panel brought together Hugo Achugar, poet, essayist and professor of Spanish at the University of Miami; Carlos Brillembourg, architect; Sofia Vollmer de Maduro of the Alberto Vollmer Foundation in Caracas; and Edward Sullivan, professor of Fine Arts at New York University, to provide an overview of Venezuelan art, architecture, and cultural history in relation to the period addressed by the publication and the writings of Alfredo Boulton and his contemporaries.

On October 30, 2008, to celebrate MoMA's publication of Modern Swedish Design: Three Founding Texts, Kenneth Frampton, Ware Professor of Architecture at Columbia University, moderated a panel discussion at MoMA on the intellectual background and influence of modern Swedish architecture and design and the critical role of manifestos in architectural discourse. Participants included the coeditors and coauthors of the new publication: Lucy Creagh, architect and PhD candidate at Columbia University; Helena Kåberg, curator at the National Museum of Fine Arts, Stockholm; and Barbara Miller Lane, Emeritus Professor at Bryn Mawr College.

November 13, 2008 The Museum of Modern Art's Celeste Bartos Theater. The program, which presented a chronological overview of developments in postwar Japanese art, was organized as part of an exchange between MoMA curators and curators of modern and contemporary art in Japan. The first phase of the exchange saw MoMA curators Cornelia H. Butler, The Robert Lehman Foundation Chief Curator of Drawings, Roxana Marcoci, Curator, Department of Photography, and Sarah Suzuki, Assistant Curator, Department of Prints and Illustrated Books, travel to Japan on a research visit. The follow-up brought four Japanese curators to MoMA for two days of discussion and collection research. The program panelists included the visiting curators Michiko Kasahara, Chief Curator, Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography; Dr. Midori Matsui, independent curator and scholar; Fumihiko Sumitomo, Senior Curator, Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo; and Akira Tatehata, Director, National Museum of Art, Osaka, in a discussion moderated by Cornelia H. Butler, The Robert Lehman Foundation Chief Curator of Drawings at MoMA. Participants explored the work of artists, collectives, and movements in Japan since the 1940s. Photo courtesy of Paula Court

On October 30, 2008, to celebrate MoMA's publication of Modern Swedish Design: Three Founding Texts, Kenneth Frampton, Ware Professor of Architecture at Columbia University, moderated a panel discussion at MoMA on the intellectual background and influence of modern Swedish architecture and design and the critical role of manifestos in architectural discourse. Participants included the coeditors and coauthors of the new publication: Lucy Creagh, architect and PhD candidate at Columbia University; Helena Kåberg, curator at the National Museum of Fine Arts, Stockholm; and Barbara Miller Lane, Emeritus Professor at Bryn Mawr College.

November 13, 2008 The Museum of Modern Art's Celeste Bartos Theater. The program, which presented a chronological overview of developments in postwar Japanese art, was organized as part of an exchange between MoMA curators and curators of modern and contemporary art in Japan. The first phase of the exchange saw MoMA curators Cornelia H. Butler, The Robert Lehman Foundation Chief Curator of Drawings, Roxana Marcoci, Curator, Department of Photography, and Sarah Suzuki, Assistant Curator, Department of Prints and Illustrated Books, travel to Japan on a research visit. The follow-up brought four Japanese curators to MoMA for two days of discussion and collection research. The program panelists included the visiting curators Michiko Kasahara, Chief Curator, Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography; Dr. Midori Matsui, independent curator and scholar; Fumihiko Sumitomo, Senior Curator, Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo; and Akira Tatehata, Director, National Museum of Art, Osaka, in a discussion moderated by Cornelia H. Butler, The Robert Lehman Foundation Chief Curator of Drawings at MoMA. Participants explored the work of artists, collectives, and movements in Japan since the 1940s. Photo courtesy of Paula Court

Part II of a series of talks by ten artists represented in MoMA PS1's Greater New York 2010 , (May 23–October 18), an exhibition of work by artists in the New York metropolitan area who engage in a wide range of art practices and mediums. In sessions consisting of short and dynamic presentations of twenty images, twenty-five seconds per image, loosely modeled on an informal Japanese presentation style, artists discuss their work, their creative process, and other issues in contemporary art. Presenting artists include David Brooks, Liz Magic Laser, Ryan McNamara, Amir Mogharabi, and A.L. Steiner. Moderated by Eva Respini, Associate Curator, Department of Photography, The Museum of Modern Art.

Part II of a series of talks by ten artists represented in MoMA PS1's Greater New York 2010 , (May 23–October 18), an exhibition of work by artists in the New York metropolitan area who engage in a wide range of art practices and mediums. In sessions consisting of short and dynamic presentations of twenty images, twenty-five seconds per image, loosely modeled on an informal Japanese presentation style, artists discuss their work, their creative process, and other issues in contemporary art. Presenting artists include David Brooks, Liz Magic Laser, Ryan McNamara, Amir Mogharabi, and A.L. Steiner. Moderated by Eva Respini, Associate Curator, Department of Photography, The Museum of Modern Art.

Artists Speak: Conversations on Contemporary Art with Glenn D. Lowry November 17, 2008 6:30 p.m. IRWIN is an artist collective based in Ljubljana, Slovenia, best known for their ongoing projects NSK State and East Art Map. NSK State is a utopian state without a concrete territory, questioning notions of borders and nationhood. East Art Map is a work focusing on retracing the contemporary art and history of Eastern Europe. The Center for Land Use Interpretation (CLUI) is a research organization that explores how the United States' lands are apportioned, utilized, and perceived. Matt Coolidge of CLUI and Miran Mohar and Borut Vogelnik of IRWIN discuss how they engage in the specific and symbolic meaning of territoriality and how they use the tools of art, research, and collaboration to present their projects both in and outside of museum contexts. Moderated by Glenn D. Lowry, director of The Museum of Modern Art. Photo courtesy of Paula Court

Artists Speak: Conversations on Contemporary Art with Glenn D. Lowry November 17, 2008 6:30 p.m. IRWIN is an artist collective based in Ljubljana, Slovenia, best known for their ongoing projects NSK State and East Art Map. NSK State is a utopian state without a concrete territory, questioning notions of borders and nationhood. East Art Map is a work focusing on retracing the contemporary art and history of Eastern Europe. The Center for Land Use Interpretation (CLUI) is a research organization that explores how the United States' lands are apportioned, utilized, and perceived. Matt Coolidge of CLUI and Miran Mohar and Borut Vogelnik of IRWIN discuss how they engage in the specific and symbolic meaning of territoriality and how they use the tools of art, research, and collaboration to present their projects both in and outside of museum contexts. Moderated by Glenn D. Lowry, director of The Museum of Modern Art. Photo courtesy of Paula Court

November 20, 2008 12:30 p.m. This lecture presents an overview of the critical reception to Jean Tinguely's Homage to New York (1960). Measuring approximately 27 x 30 feet and made of recycled metal scraps taken from a Newark dump, Homage to New York was a machine rigged to perform for half an hour and ultimately self-destruct in The Museum of Modern Art's Sculpture Garden. Hailed by the press as a "gadget to end all gadgets," Tinguely's work evoked somber and amusing responses. Some critics considered the Homage a critical comment on the threat of nuclear catastrophe while others deemed it pure entertainment. How are we to understand Tinguely's willful performance of destruction today? The lecture also includes discussion of contemporary artists who have taken up the Swiss artist's legacy as a means to register the violence that continues to define our present. Lecturer Kaira Cabañas (PhD, Princeton University) is a Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Art History and Archaeology at Columbia University.

December 4, 2008 12:30 p.m. In 1948, the Junior Council of The Museum of Modern Art, led by Blanchette Rockefeller, met to discuss the creation of an art lending library that would function as a forum to educate young collectors about modern art and that would allow the public to rent works of art. This early conception of an art lending library became the Art Lending Service (ALS) in 1951. In addition to renting artworks in the lending library, the ALS organized temporary exhibitions in the Museum's Penthouse Restaurant. Many of the Penthouse Exhibitions included works by emerging artists who would later become well known. This lecture focuses on the history of the ALS and will include discussion of archival objects such as photographs, brochures, invitations to events, sales cards, lending cards, and other related objects. MacKenzie Bennett (MA, Courtauld Institute of Art) is an assistant archivist in the Museum Archives at MoMA.

December 8, 2008 6:30 p.m. Marlene Dumas's paintings often focus on the human figure, merging existential human themes with personal experience and art historical antecedents. In this lecture, the artist presents her work and the upcoming exhibition Marlene Dumas: Measuring Your Own Grave.

December 8, 2008 6:30 p.m. Marlene Dumas's paintings often focus on the human figure, merging existential human themes with personal experience and art historical antecedents. In this lecture, the artist presents her work and the upcoming exhibition Marlene Dumas: Measuring Your Own Grave.

November 20, 2008 12:30 p.m. This lecture presents an overview of the critical reception to Jean Tinguely's Homage to New York (1960). Measuring approximately 27 x 30 feet and made of recycled metal scraps taken from a Newark dump, Homage to New York was a machine rigged to perform for half an hour and ultimately self-destruct in The Museum of Modern Art's Sculpture Garden. Hailed by the press as a "gadget to end all gadgets," Tinguely's work evoked somber and amusing responses. Some critics considered the Homage a critical comment on the threat of nuclear catastrophe while others deemed it pure entertainment. How are we to understand Tinguely's willful performance of destruction today? The lecture also includes discussion of contemporary artists who have taken up the Swiss artist's legacy as a means to register the violence that continues to define our present. Lecturer Kaira Cabañas (PhD, Princeton University) is a Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Art History and Archaeology at Columbia University.

December 4, 2008 12:30 p.m. In 1948, the Junior Council of The Museum of Modern Art, led by Blanchette Rockefeller, met to discuss the creation of an art lending library that would function as a forum to educate young collectors about modern art and that would allow the public to rent works of art. This early conception of an art lending library became the Art Lending Service (ALS) in 1951. In addition to renting artworks in the lending library, the ALS organized temporary exhibitions in the Museum's Penthouse Restaurant. Many of the Penthouse Exhibitions included works by emerging artists who would later become well known. This lecture focuses on the history of the ALS and will include discussion of archival objects such as photographs, brochures, invitations to events, sales cards, lending cards, and other related objects. MacKenzie Bennett (MA, Courtauld Institute of Art) is an assistant archivist in the Museum Archives at MoMA.