MoMA Talks: Conversations

Friday, May 6, 2011 1:00–5:00 PM This half-day symposium centers on the potential of the print as a medium for the dissemination of art and ideas. We will address the print’s ability to represent formal innovations and aesthetic goals, to communicate issues of war and national pride, and to appear alongside news, commentary, and literature in publications and periodicals. Moderated by exhibition curator, Starr Figura, Associate Curator, Prints & Illustrated Books, MoMA. Held in conjunction with the exhibition German Expressionism: The Graphic Impulse. Program Schedule 
1:05–1:20 p.m. Welcome and introduction, Starr Figura 
1:20–1:45 p.m. Meike Hoffmann, Kunsthistorisches Institut, Freie Universität Berlin, "Early Expressionism between the Artist and the Audience" 
1:45–2:10 p.m. Christian Weikop, Visiting Lecturer, University of Edinburgh, "‘Arboreal Expressionism:’ The Wood Culture of the Brücke Artists" 
2:10–2:35 p.m. Timothy O. Benson, Curator, The Robert Gore Rifkind Center for German Expressionist Studies, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, "Expressionist Periodicals and the Intersection of Literature, Prints, and Politics" 2:35–2:50 p.m. Coffee break, Education and Research Building, mezzanine 
2:50–3:15 p.m. Shulamith Behr, Senior Lecturer in German 20th-Century Art, The Courtauld Institute of Art, "Between Authenticity and the Multiple: Käthe Kollwitz, Graphic Dissemination, and Dealership" 
3:15–3:40 p.m. Peter Jelavich, Professor of History, Johns Hopkins University, "Graphic War" 
3:40–4:05 p.m. Rose-Carol Washton Long, Professor of 19th- and 20th-Century European Art, Department of Art History, The CUNY Graduate Center, "Prints and Politics in the Immediate Postwar Era" 
4:05–4:40 p.m. Moderated discussion 
4:40–5:00 p.m. Q&A 
5:00–6:00 p.m. Reception, Education and Research Building, mezzanine

April 04, 2011 12:00 PM Join us for Artists Present at Noon, a special two-part series of talks by 10 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 contemporary abstract painters. Presenting artists on April 4 include Keltie Ferris, Jaya Howey, Jacob Kassay, Zak Prekop, and Patricia Treib. Moderated by Peter Eleey, Curator, MoMA PS1.

April 04, 2011 12:00 PM Join us for Artists Present at Noon, a special two-part series of talks by 10 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 contemporary abstract painters. Presenting artists on April 4 include Keltie Ferris, Jaya Howey, Jacob Kassay, Zak Prekop, and Patricia Treib. Moderated by Peter Eleey, Curator, MoMA PS1.

March 03, 2011 06:00 PM Writer John Giorno, who conceived of the Giorno Poetry Systems, will read his own poetic works inspired by the life and times of Andy Warhol, followed by artist Conrad Ventur screening his contemporary screen test films. John Giorno was a subject of Warhol’s original screen tests. A conversation to follow moderated by director of MoMA PS1 and exhibition curator Klaus Biesenbach.

March 03, 2011 06:00 PM Writer John Giorno, who conceived of the Giorno Poetry Systems, will read his own poetic works inspired by the life and times of Andy Warhol, followed by artist Conrad Ventur screening his contemporary screen test films. John Giorno was a subject of Warhol’s original screen tests. A conversation to follow moderated by director of MoMA PS1 and exhibition curator Klaus Biesenbach.

February 25, 2011 01:00 PM In conjunction with the exhibition Abstract Expressionist New York, MoMA presents New Perspectives on Abstract Expressionism: A Young Scholars’ Panel. The following four international graduate students have been selected to present their papers which uncover new scholarship, interpretations, approaches, and analysis of Abstract Expressionism: Leanne Carroll, University of Toronto “From Motherwell’s Tragedy, Newman’s Alienation, and Reinhardt’s Isolation to the Minimalist’s Renown: On the Reception of Artist-Writers” Eileen Costello, The University of Texas at Austin “Beyond the Easel: The Dissolution of Abstract Expressionist Painting into the Realm of Architecture” Michelle DuBois, Boston University “New Demarcations for Old: Refining and Redefining Abstract Expressionism Vis-à-vis a Consideration of the Willard Gallery Artists” Valerie Hellstein, Stony Brook University “Abstract Expressionism’s Countercultures: The Club, the Cold War, and the New Sensibility” The panel’s selection committee members, David Anfam, Michael Leja, Katy Siegel, and Ann Temkin, will serve as respondents and moderate a discussion among the four selected scholars.

February 25, 2011 01:00 PM In conjunction with the exhibition Abstract Expressionist New York, MoMA presents New Perspectives on Abstract Expressionism: A Young Scholars’ Panel. The following four international graduate students have been selected to present their papers which uncover new scholarship, interpretations, approaches, and analysis of Abstract Expressionism: Leanne Carroll, University of Toronto “From Motherwell’s Tragedy, Newman’s Alienation, and Reinhardt’s Isolation to the Minimalist’s Renown: On the Reception of Artist-Writers” Eileen Costello, The University of Texas at Austin “Beyond the Easel: The Dissolution of Abstract Expressionist Painting into the Realm of Architecture” Michelle DuBois, Boston University “New Demarcations for Old: Refining and Redefining Abstract Expressionism Vis-à-vis a Consideration of the Willard Gallery Artists” Valerie Hellstein, Stony Brook University “Abstract Expressionism’s Countercultures: The Club, the Cold War, and the New Sensibility” The panel’s selection committee members, David Anfam, Michael Leja, Katy Siegel, and Ann Temkin, will serve as respondents and moderate a discussion among the four selected scholars.

Abstract Expressionism Reconsidered: A Roundtable Discussion Thursday, March 10, 2011, 6:30 p.m. Theater 3 The work of the Abstract Expressionists during the postwar period in New York was characterized by the deep conviction that contemporary painting could be not only a vehicle for personal expression, but also a form of spiritual experience. Artists Brice Marden and Tauba Auerbach and anthropologist Michael Taussig discuss the continuing relevance and implications of this viewpoint. Laura Hoptman, curator in the Department of Painting and Sculpture, moderates the discussion.

Abstract Expressionism Reconsidered: A Roundtable Discussion Thursday, March 10, 2011, 6:30 p.m. Theater 3 The work of the Abstract Expressionists during the postwar period in New York was characterized by the deep conviction that contemporary painting could be not only a vehicle for personal expression, but also a form of spiritual experience. Artists Brice Marden and Tauba Auerbach and anthropologist Michael Taussig discuss the continuing relevance and implications of this viewpoint. Laura Hoptman, curator in the Department of Painting and Sculpture, moderates the discussion.

Housing crises repeatedly plagued poor, often minority Americans during the twentieth century, from overcrowded, unsanitary speculative tenement buildings to crime-ridden high-rise public housing projects. The architectural failings of much low-income housing, such as inadequate ventilation, deficient plumbing, shoddy construction, and insensitive site planning, were usually accompanied by even more spectacular social failings—racism, sexism, and xenophobia are all written into the history of public housing, even if inadvertently. For example, the design of modern "tower in a park" housing projects ostensibly provided more light, air, and open space to the urban poor, but the oversized, monotonous buildings and surrounding vacant land also stigmatized the residents by identifying their economic status and isolating them from "normal" society. This lecture investigates the successes and failures of various low-income housing types—from row houses to tenements to high-rise towers—and suggests ways in which their architectural design, tenant selection processes, and associated legislation like slum clearance institutionalized and perpetuated certain social values and prejudices. Lecturer Jennifer Gray (Ph.D. Candidate, Columbia University) is writing her dissertation on the relationship between socio-political reform and the architecture of Chicago designer Dwight Perkins from 1893 to 1918. She has been a lecturer at The Museum of Modern Art since 2004.

Housing crises repeatedly plagued poor, often minority Americans during the twentieth century, from overcrowded, unsanitary speculative tenement buildings to crime-ridden high-rise public housing projects. The architectural failings of much low-income housing, such as inadequate ventilation, deficient plumbing, shoddy construction, and insensitive site planning, were usually accompanied by even more spectacular social failings—racism, sexism, and xenophobia are all written into the history of public housing, even if inadvertently. For example, the design of modern "tower in a park" housing projects ostensibly provided more light, air, and open space to the urban poor, but the oversized, monotonous buildings and surrounding vacant land also stigmatized the residents by identifying their economic status and isolating them from "normal" society. This lecture investigates the successes and failures of various low-income housing types—from row houses to tenements to high-rise towers—and suggests ways in which their architectural design, tenant selection processes, and associated legislation like slum clearance institutionalized and perpetuated certain social values and prejudices. Lecturer Jennifer Gray (Ph.D. Candidate, Columbia University) is writing her dissertation on the relationship between socio-political reform and the architecture of Chicago designer Dwight Perkins from 1893 to 1918. She has been a lecturer at The Museum of Modern Art since 2004.

Wednesday, February 2, 2011, 6:00 p.m. Theater 3 (The Celeste Bartos Theater), mezzanine, The Lewis B. and Dorothy Cullman Education and Research Building 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. Artists throughout the last century have pushed line across the plane and into real space, thus questioning the relation between the art object and the world. The exhibition On Line: Drawing Through the Twentieth Century addresses the transformation of drawing, mark making, and gesture, as well as the role of the political line in art and everyday life. On this special evening, Cecilia Vicuña selects international poets to read their own works about the political line, a theme explored in On Line: Drawing Through the Twentieth Century. In addition to Vicuña, participants include poets Will Alexander, Luljeta Lleshanaku, and Dunya Mikhail, and translator Henry Israeli. In conjunction with the exhibition On Line: Drawing Through the Twentieth Century

Wednesday, February 2, 2011, 6:00 p.m. Theater 3 (The Celeste Bartos Theater), mezzanine, The Lewis B. and Dorothy Cullman Education and Research Building 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. Artists throughout the last century have pushed line across the plane and into real space, thus questioning the relation between the art object and the world. The exhibition On Line: Drawing Through the Twentieth Century addresses the transformation of drawing, mark making, and gesture, as well as the role of the political line in art and everyday life. On this special evening, Cecilia Vicuña selects international poets to read their own works about the political line, a theme explored in On Line: Drawing Through the Twentieth Century. In addition to Vicuña, participants include poets Will Alexander, Luljeta Lleshanaku, and Dunya Mikhail, and translator Henry Israeli. In conjunction with the exhibition On Line: Drawing Through the Twentieth Century

Wednesday, January 26, 2011, 6:00 p.m. Theater 3 (The Celeste Bartos Theater), mezzanine, The Lewis B. and Dorothy Cullman Education and Research Building Wendy Jeffers, curator, independent scholar and at work on a biography of Dorothy Miller titled Dorothy Miller and the Making of the Americans, and Brad Gooch, Professor of English at William Paterson University and author of City Poet: The Life and Times of Frank O’Hara (1994), explore the roles of two MoMA curators, Dorothy Miller, MoMA’s first curator (1934-1969) and Frank O’Hara, special assistant to the International Program (1955-1960) and curator of Painting and Sculpture (1960-66), who were great champions of the Abstract Expressionist artists. In conjunction with the exhibition Abstract Expressionist New York

Wednesday, January 26, 2011, 6:00 p.m. Theater 3 (The Celeste Bartos Theater), mezzanine, The Lewis B. and Dorothy Cullman Education and Research Building Wendy Jeffers, curator, independent scholar and at work on a biography of Dorothy Miller titled Dorothy Miller and the Making of the Americans, and Brad Gooch, Professor of English at William Paterson University and author of City Poet: The Life and Times of Frank O’Hara (1994), explore the roles of two MoMA curators, Dorothy Miller, MoMA’s first curator (1934-1969) and Frank O’Hara, special assistant to the International Program (1955-1960) and curator of Painting and Sculpture (1960-66), who were great champions of the Abstract Expressionist artists. In conjunction with the exhibition Abstract Expressionist New York