April 16, 2012
The Arts Research Center is pleased to welcome Sabine Breitwieser, Chief Curator of Media and Performance Art at the Museum of Modern Art, for a week-long residency at UC Berkeley as a 2012 Regents Lecturer.
Her visit kicked off on Sunday, April 15 in the galleries at the Berkeley Art Museum, where she and curator Constance Lewallen discussed the current exhibit “State of Mind: New California Art circa 1970.” Their conversation about the “de-materialization” and “re-materialization” of conceptual art was enlivened by cameo appearances by two of the artists represented in the show–both Lynn Hershman and Chip Lord (of Ant Farm) were on hand to discuss their own work. Lewallen’s deep immersion in the history of California artists and art movements was neatly complemented by Breitwieser’s European perspective. She reminded the audience that many of the American artists in “State of Mind” were influenced by European artists and art movements, and that many of them were exhibited extensively in Europe while their work was being virtually ignored in the United States. Both curators discussed the ways in which “post-studio” art practices challenge traditions of collection and exhibition–and pointed out the role that gender sometimes played in determining whether work was carefully archived or not.
Breitwieser will speak next at the Art, Technology, and Culture Colloquium on Monday, April 16 at 7:30pm. Her lecture on “Media Bichos and Other Interdisciplinary Displays at the Art Museum” is free and open to the public.
On Thursday, April 19 at 5pm at the Berkeley Art Museum, Breitwieser will give her Regents Lecture on “Performance With Curators: Art and the Public Sphere” to kick off the Arts Research Center’s Making Time symposium, a three-day exploration of issues related to time-based art. This event is also free and open to the public.