MoMA Talks: Performances and Readings

June 30, 2008 6:30 p.m. This program showcases a range of Salvador Dalí's provocative and poetic writings, from his opinions on art and popular culture and his well-known explanations of Surrealist practice (including his so-called paranoid-critical method) to unpublished and newly-translated texts. Performers read the artist's poetry, diary entries, musings about New York, letters, interviews, and film scripts, as well as his notorious 1928 Manifest Groc (Yellow Manifesto). Participants include performance artist Laurie Anderson, former U.S. Poet Laureate Charles Simic, Academy Award nominee David Strathairn and Wooster Group founding member Kate Valk. This event is held in conjunction with the exhibition Dalí: Painting and Film.

December 11, 2007 7:30 p.m. Toward the end of his brief but influential career, Georges Seurat turned to the Parisian café-concert for subject matter, creating a significant body of work that explored the singers, musicians, and audience of this intriguing nineteenth-century urban cultural spectacle. Using these drawings by Seurat as a springboard, The Civilians, a New York–based theater company, will bring together a selection of original songs rarely performed today with projected depictions of the café-concerts by Seurat's Impressionist predecessors, such as Edouard Manet and Edgar Degas, as well as those by Seurat and his contemporary Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Interspersed between these songs—providing texture and context—will be readings from contemporary literature offering evocative descriptions of these locales. Founded in 2001 by Artistic Director Steven Cosson, The Civilians is an innovative theater company that produces original work from creative investigations of real life. The company has created four shows—Canard, Canard, Goose?, Gone Missing, The Ladies, and (I am) Nobody's Lunch—which have been performed in New York and at theaters nationally and internationally. The Obie- and Edinburgh Festival Fringe First Award–winning company recently made its commercial Off-Broadway debut with Gone Missing at the Barrow Street Theatre; its run has been extended through January 2008. Two projects currently in development, Paris Commune, which loosely relates to their MoMA performance, and This Beautiful City, which explores the Evangelical Christian movement, will premiere in the coming year.

December 11, 2007 7:30 p.m. Toward the end of his brief but influential career, Georges Seurat turned to the Parisian café-concert for subject matter, creating a significant body of work that explored the singers, musicians, and audience of this intriguing nineteenth-century urban cultural spectacle. Using these drawings by Seurat as a springboard, The Civilians, a New York–based theater company, will bring together a selection of original songs rarely performed today with projected depictions of the café-concerts by Seurat's Impressionist predecessors, such as Edouard Manet and Edgar Degas, as well as those by Seurat and his contemporary Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Interspersed between these songs—providing texture and context—will be readings from contemporary literature offering evocative descriptions of these locales. Founded in 2001 by Artistic Director Steven Cosson, The Civilians is an innovative theater company that produces original work from creative investigations of real life. The company has created four shows—Canard, Canard, Goose?, Gone Missing, The Ladies, and (I am) Nobody's Lunch—which have been performed in New York and at theaters nationally and internationally. The Obie- and Edinburgh Festival Fringe First Award–winning company recently made its commercial Off-Broadway debut with Gone Missing at the Barrow Street Theatre; its run has been extended through January 2008. Two projects currently in development, Paris Commune, which loosely relates to their MoMA performance, and This Beautiful City, which explores the Evangelical Christian movement, will premiere in the coming year.

February 20, 2008 6:30 p.m. Alvaro Barrios and Fernando Bryce, artists featured in New Perspectives in Latin American Art, 1930-2006: Selections from a Decade of Acquisitions, use newspaper clippings, comics, and advertisements, as well other documentary images and texts, in order to reflect upon history, popular culture, and issues of identity. For this evening's reading, these artists read poetry that has informed the political and social consciousness of their work. Mónica de la Torre, poet and translator, joins them, offering her own selection of poetry about Latin American politics and identity. Following the reading, Luis Pérez-Oramas, The Estrellita Brodsky Curator of Latin American Art at MoMA and organizer of the exhibition, moderates a discussion. Selected readings are in Spanish. Photo courtesy of Paula Court

February 20, 2008 6:30 p.m. Alvaro Barrios and Fernando Bryce, artists featured in New Perspectives in Latin American Art, 1930-2006: Selections from a Decade of Acquisitions, use newspaper clippings, comics, and advertisements, as well other documentary images and texts, in order to reflect upon history, popular culture, and issues of identity. For this evening's reading, these artists read poetry that has informed the political and social consciousness of their work. Mónica de la Torre, poet and translator, joins them, offering her own selection of poetry about Latin American politics and identity. Following the reading, Luis Pérez-Oramas, The Estrellita Brodsky Curator of Latin American Art at MoMA and organizer of the exhibition, moderates a discussion. Selected readings are in Spanish. Photo courtesy of Paula Court

1907/2007: Poets on Les Demoiselles d'Avignon May 23, 2007 6:30 p.m. In conjunction with the one hundredth anniversary of Pablo Picasso's Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, May's installment of Modern Poets reflects upon Picasso's masterpiece, other works in the Museum's collection made in 1907, and the year 1907 itself. Readings include works written by Picasso's friends and acquaintances—such as Guillaume Apollinaire, André Salmon, and Gertrude Stein—who saw and responded to Les Demoiselles, as well as other literature from this cultural and artistic milieu. Following in the tradition of the MoMA Members Magazine, which commissioned poets to respond to works in the collection and then published the results, the Museum also offers contemporary poets the opportunity to write new poetry about art from all curatorial departments made one hundred years ago. Participants include Mary Jo Bang, poet and Associate Professor of English and Director of the Creative Writing Program, Washington University, St. Louis; Mary Ann Caws, author, translator and Distinguished Professor of English, French, Comparative Literature, and Film Studies, The Graduate Center, The City University of New York; Pierre Joris, poet, translator, essayist, and Professor of Poetry and Poetics, State University of New York, Albany; and Jerome Rothenberg poet and professor of visual arts and literature, University of California, San Diego. This event is held in conjunction with the exhibition Picasso's Demoiselles d'Avignon at 100.

1907/2007: Poets on Les Demoiselles d'Avignon May 23, 2007 6:30 p.m. In conjunction with the one hundredth anniversary of Pablo Picasso's Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, May's installment of Modern Poets reflects upon Picasso's masterpiece, other works in the Museum's collection made in 1907, and the year 1907 itself. Readings include works written by Picasso's friends and acquaintances—such as Guillaume Apollinaire, André Salmon, and Gertrude Stein—who saw and responded to Les Demoiselles, as well as other literature from this cultural and artistic milieu. Following in the tradition of the MoMA Members Magazine, which commissioned poets to respond to works in the collection and then published the results, the Museum also offers contemporary poets the opportunity to write new poetry about art from all curatorial departments made one hundred years ago. Participants include Mary Jo Bang, poet and Associate Professor of English and Director of the Creative Writing Program, Washington University, St. Louis; Mary Ann Caws, author, translator and Distinguished Professor of English, French, Comparative Literature, and Film Studies, The Graduate Center, The City University of New York; Pierre Joris, poet, translator, essayist, and Professor of Poetry and Poetics, State University of New York, Albany; and Jerome Rothenberg poet and professor of visual arts and literature, University of California, San Diego. This event is held in conjunction with the exhibition Picasso's Demoiselles d'Avignon at 100.

April 9, 2007 6:30 p.m. The Venezuelan Armando Reverón (1889–1954), a figurative and landscape painter who also created life-sized dolls later in his career, experimented with the sensations and effects of light, color, opacity, and shadow. In this Spanish reading with English translations, José Luis Blondet, poet and Administrator of Education Programs, Dia Art Foundation; José Falconi, Curator, Latino and Latin American Art Forum Program, and Associate Director, Cultural Agents Initiative, David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies, Harvard University; Alejandro Merizalde, painter, translator, and Book Specialist, The Museum of Modern Art; Luis Pérez-Oramas, poet and The Estrellita Brodsky Curator of Latin American Art, The Museum of Modern Art, read works by Jorge Luis Borges, José Gorostiza, José Antonio Ramos Sucre, Ana Enriqueta Teran, and others. Mónica de la Torre and Laura Pérez provide the English translations. The evening reveals the relationship between the pictorial qualities of poetry and Reverón's poetic qualities of painting. This event is held in conjunction with the exhibition Armando Reverón.

April 9, 2007 6:30 p.m. The Venezuelan Armando Reverón (1889–1954), a figurative and landscape painter who also created life-sized dolls later in his career, experimented with the sensations and effects of light, color, opacity, and shadow. In this Spanish reading with English translations, José Luis Blondet, poet and Administrator of Education Programs, Dia Art Foundation; José Falconi, Curator, Latino and Latin American Art Forum Program, and Associate Director, Cultural Agents Initiative, David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies, Harvard University; Alejandro Merizalde, painter, translator, and Book Specialist, The Museum of Modern Art; Luis Pérez-Oramas, poet and The Estrellita Brodsky Curator of Latin American Art, The Museum of Modern Art, read works by Jorge Luis Borges, José Gorostiza, José Antonio Ramos Sucre, Ana Enriqueta Teran, and others. Mónica de la Torre and Laura Pérez provide the English translations. The evening reveals the relationship between the pictorial qualities of poetry and Reverón's poetic qualities of painting. This event is held in conjunction with the exhibition Armando Reverón.

April 9, 2007 6:30 p.m. The Venezuelan Armando Reverón (1889–1954), a figurative and landscape painter who also created life-sized dolls later in his career, experimented with the sensations and effects of light, color, opacity, and shadow. In this Spanish reading with English translations, José Luis Blondet, poet and Administrator of Education Programs, Dia Art Foundation; José Falconi, Curator, Latino and Latin American Art Forum Program, and Associate Director, Cultural Agents Initiative, David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies, Harvard University; Alejandro Merizalde, painter, translator, and Book Specialist, The Museum of Modern Art; Luis Pérez-Oramas, poet and The Estrellita Brodsky Curator of Latin American Art, The Museum of Modern Art, read works by Jorge Luis Borges, José Gorostiza, José Antonio Ramos Sucre, Ana Enriqueta Teran, and others. Mónica de la Torre and Laura Pérez provide the English translations. The evening reveals the relationship between the pictorial qualities of poetry and Reverón's poetic qualities of painting. This event is held in conjunction with the exhibition Armando Reverón.

April 9, 2007 6:30 p.m. The Venezuelan Armando Reverón (1889–1954), a figurative and landscape painter who also created life-sized dolls later in his career, experimented with the sensations and effects of light, color, opacity, and shadow. In this Spanish reading with English translations, José Luis Blondet, poet and Administrator of Education Programs, Dia Art Foundation; José Falconi, Curator, Latino and Latin American Art Forum Program, and Associate Director, Cultural Agents Initiative, David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies, Harvard University; Alejandro Merizalde, painter, translator, and Book Specialist, The Museum of Modern Art; Luis Pérez-Oramas, poet and The Estrellita Brodsky Curator of Latin American Art, The Museum of Modern Art, read works by Jorge Luis Borges, José Gorostiza, José Antonio Ramos Sucre, Ana Enriqueta Teran, and others. Mónica de la Torre and Laura Pérez provide the English translations. The evening reveals the relationship between the pictorial qualities of poetry and Reverón's poetic qualities of painting. This event is held in conjunction with the exhibition Armando Reverón.

Thursday, November 30, 2006 6:00 p.m. Frank O'Hara worked at The Museum of Modern Art on and off for fifteen years—first selling postcards, then curating exhibitions and writing catalogue copy—all while composing poems during his lunch hour. This program features poets John Ashbery and Bill Berkson, artist Alfred Leslie, and Museum Archivist Michelle Elligott as they share their memories of O'Hara and his love for poetry and art during his time at MoMA. Photo courtesy of Miriam Berkley

Thursday, November 30, 2006 6:00 p.m. Frank O'Hara worked at The Museum of Modern Art on and off for fifteen years—first selling postcards, then curating exhibitions and writing catalogue copy—all while composing poems during his lunch hour. This program features poets John Ashbery and Bill Berkson, artist Alfred Leslie, and Museum Archivist Michelle Elligott as they share their memories of O'Hara and his love for poetry and art during his time at MoMA. Photo courtesy of Miriam Berkley

with Melvin Gibbs, Mary Halvorson, Lee Ranaldo, Vernon Reid, and Elliott Sharp Musical director: Elliott Sharp September 13, 2006 6:30 p.m. The Museum of Modern Art presents Christian Marclay: Graffiti Composition, a performance of Christian Marclay's musical score Graffiti Composition. In 1996 the artist plastered more than 5,000 blank musical notation sheets in public places throughout Berlin during a month-long sound festival, thus randomly enabling the public to fill them freely with musical notations, scribblings, or anything else. Marclay photographed the graffitied sheets, selected 150 from the group, and compiled them into a portfolio that is meant to be used by musicians to perform. Graffiti Composition has been interpreted by a variety of musical ensembles in the last few years, including at the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin in 2001, the Contemporary Arts Center, New Orleans in 2002, and the Barbican Centre, London, in 2005. For this one-time performance, composer/producer/sound artist Elliott Sharp leads a musical ensemble comprising five renowned guitar players-Melvin Gibbs, Mary Halvorson, Lee Ranaldo, Vernon Reid, and Sharp-who will interpret the musical score. The performance is offered in conjunction with the exhibition Out of Time: A Contemporary View.

with Melvin Gibbs, Mary Halvorson, Lee Ranaldo, Vernon Reid, and Elliott Sharp Musical director: Elliott Sharp September 13, 2006 6:30 p.m. The Museum of Modern Art presents Christian Marclay: Graffiti Composition, a performance of Christian Marclay's musical score Graffiti Composition. In 1996 the artist plastered more than 5,000 blank musical notation sheets in public places throughout Berlin during a month-long sound festival, thus randomly enabling the public to fill them freely with musical notations, scribblings, or anything else. Marclay photographed the graffitied sheets, selected 150 from the group, and compiled them into a portfolio that is meant to be used by musicians to perform. Graffiti Composition has been interpreted by a variety of musical ensembles in the last few years, including at the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin in 2001, the Contemporary Arts Center, New Orleans in 2002, and the Barbican Centre, London, in 2005. For this one-time performance, composer/producer/sound artist Elliott Sharp leads a musical ensemble comprising five renowned guitar players-Melvin Gibbs, Mary Halvorson, Lee Ranaldo, Vernon Reid, and Sharp-who will interpret the musical score. The performance is offered in conjunction with the exhibition Out of Time: A Contemporary View.