Moma Talks: Conversations

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 Cornel

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.

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 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.

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 Uni

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

October 30, 2008 6:30 p.m. With every presidential election beginning in 1984, Antoni Muntadas and Marshall Reese have compiled and edited Political Advertisement, a historical survey of television campaign spots from 1952 to the present. This anthology, updated to include advertisements from the 2008 presidential campaign, documents the selling of the American presidency since the 1950s. As Muntadas and Reese trace the development of the TV "spot," a social and media history emerges revealing how campaign spots have become a political strategy and manipulative marketing technique. This evening, the artists debut the latest version of Political Advertisement in a premiere presentation followed by commentary by Laura Flanders, journalist, Air America host of Radio Nation, and author of Blue Grit. NOTE: The audio of the screening is not included in this recording.

October 15, 2008 6:30 p.m. Many architects throughout the twentieth century have focused their creative energies on the development of design for prefabricated structures. From domestic dwellings to imaginative prototypes, the possibilities for living in the modern world are vast. In this panel, five architects whose work is exhibited in Home Delivery make brief presentations on their vision and practice. They include James Timberlake FAIA (Fellow, American Institute of Architects), and Partner, KieranTimberlake Associates, Philadelphia; Lawrence Sass, Associate Professor, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Oskar Leo Kaufmann, Oskar Leo Kaufmann & Albert Rüf; Douglas Gauthier & Jeremy Edmiston, New York; and Richard Horden, Horden Cherry Lee Architects, London. This event is held in conjunction with the exhibition Home Delivery: Fabricating the Modern Dwelling.

Artists Speak: Conversations on Contemporary Art with Glenn D. Lowry Art and Commerce: Alternative Economies October 16, 2008 6:30 p.m. From F.T. Marinetti, the founder of the Italian Futurist movement in 1909, to Andy Warhol in the 1960s, many artists have reveled in the promotion of their own work, linking it to marketing and commerce. Others, however, resist or challenge this dynamic by instead addressing issues surrounding art and social exchange. In this program, artists Christine Hill and Rirkrit Tiravanija discuss how they create artworks for an alternative "economy." Moderated by Glenn D. Lowry, director of The Museum of Modern Art.

September 25, 2008 3:30 p.m. To complement the wide variety of historical and contemporary models and designs for prefabricated architecture featured in MoMA's galleries, architect Larry Sass leads the public through Digitally Fabricated Housing for New Orleans, his full-scale project situated outside in the lot to the west of the Museum. This event is held in conjunction with the exhibition Home Delivery: Fabricating the Modern Dwelling.

September 24, 2008 12:30 p.m. Our social and political landscape has changed dramatically from 2001 to 2008. As a result, the November presidential election seems to be one of the most highly anticipated, eagerly awaited, and critically important in years. This fall's series invites artists working in film and photography who have their finger on the pulse, and are activating our perception of the relationship between politicians and our everyday lives. Shelly Silver, a New York–based artist who utilizes video, film, and photography, screens and discusses in complete world (2008), a feature-length documentary made up of street interviews done throughout New York City. Mixing political questions ("Are we responsible for the government we get?") with more broadly existential ones ("Do you feel you have control over your life?"), the film centers on the tension between individual and collective responsibility. in complete world can be seen as a user's manual for citizenship in the twenty-first century, as well

September 17, 2008 6:30 p.m. As one of the concluding events in the Jazz Score exhibition, this panel of celebrated composers, artists, and scholars explores the process of writing jazz music for the cinema. Participants include the Academy Award-winning composers Johnny Mandel (I Want to Live!, The Sandpipers, M*A*S*H, and Being There) and David Shire (The Taking of Pelham One Two Three, All the President's Men, The Conversation, and Zodiac); the artist Stan Douglas, whose two-channel video installation Hors-champs (1992) examines the interplay and tension between free-jazz improvisation, film editing, and the construction of narrative; and moderator Gary Giddins, one of the leading jazz and film critics in America, who in 1998 received the National Book Critics Circle Award for his landmark work Visions of Jazz. This event is held in conjunction with the exhibition Jazz Score.

August 25, 2008 3:30 p.m. To complement the wide variety of historical and contemporary models and designs for prefabricated architecture featured in MoMA's galleries, Douglas Gauthier and Jeremy Edmiston lead the public through Burst *008, their own full-scale project situated outside in the lot to the west of the Museum. This event is held in conjunction with the exhibition Home Delivery: Fabricating the Modern Dwelling.

September 10, 2008 6:30 p.m. Salvador Dalí first arrived in New York in 1934 and immediately became a flamboyant part of the city's life and art scene. Engaging with the artists and celebrities who helped create the spirit of the city at the time, Dalí pursued his interests in art and commerce, the urban streets, and friendships with members of polite society and those in the rebellious underground. This program brings together scholars and filmmakers who address the impact of Dalí's diverse activities on his work and on the New York artistic community. Participants include Callie Angell, Adjunct Curator, The Andy Warhol Film Project, The Whitney Museum of American Art, who discusses the relationship between Dalí and Andy Warhol; filmmaker Jack Bond, who presents clips of his own film, Dalí in New York, and reflections on his friendship with the artist; Jonas Mekas, filmmaker and Director, Anthology Film Archives, who shares the films he made of Dalí; and Ingrid Schaffner, Senior Curator, Institute of Contem

Artists Speak: Conversations on Contemporary Art with Glenn D. Lowry Icon Culture: Lingua Franca for a Global Culture May 14, 2008 6:30 p.m. Icons are a language of their own in contemporary society, transcending linguistic boundaries with simple graphic imagery. In this program, Matt Mullican discusses how he uses iconic language as a means of communication.

April 25, 2008 6:30 p.m. Using feature films or real life experiences as a source, Fiona Banner creates text-based drawings, sculpture, and sound. She retells stories in her own words, revealing the ways people fictionalize or mythologize imagined or real events through their own accounts. Born in Liverpool, Fiona Banner studied fine art at Kingston Polytechnic, and completed an MA at Goldsmiths College in London. This conversation is moderated by Connie Butler, Robert Lehman Foundation Chief Curator, Department of Drawings, The Museum of Modern Art.

April 18, 2008 6:00 p.m. Presented by The Museum of Modern Art; the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (GSAAP) of Columbia University; and Studio Olafur Eliasson, this program reviews and critiques contemporary cultural theories of color that have emerged from artistic and scientific practices. Discussions and presentations seek to build a contemporary epistemology of color based on recent artistic and scientific experiments and on cognitive research into color perception, with an emphasis on the role that color plays in the physical environment. Photo courtesy of Paula Court

Artists Speak: Conversations on Contemporary Art with Glenn D. Lowry Cinema Studies: History in Slow Motion April 14, 2008 6:30 p.m. Artists Matthew Buckingham and Eve Sussman discuss how they use history, history painting, and avant-garde cinema to create provocative multimedia installations about contemporary life. Note: Audio recordings of films shown during the program have been removed. Photo courtesy of Paula Court

April 9, 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 David Batchelor, artist and the author of Chromophobia, and Chris McGlinchey, conservation scientist, Department of Conservation, The Museum of Modern Art.

Art and Perception Series Modalities of the Visible: Understanding and Sensing Images April 5, 2008 4:00 p.m. This multidisciplinary series of discussions features prominent artists, art historians, scientists, conservators, and others as they provide a variety of perspectives on the complex process of experiencing art. Discussions explore the ways in which the perception of a single artwork evolves over time, how artists adopt optical and perceptive strategies as a means of influencing a particular sensorial experience, and the impact of recent scientific research and color theory on art and architecture. Understanding and engaging the viewer's senses and the ways in which they relate to the intellect is a common concern in art making today. To what extent is a viewer's intellectual and sensorial response predictable and/or malleable? How have artists and other image makers used this knowledge to create works with lasting impact? In this panel, prominent scholars discuss the psychology of the artistic expe