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Panopticon:
An Art Spectacular
Through August 2003
Speak Up About Art
An
interactive art exhibition? The
curators of Panopticon broke all the “rules” about how to display art, and
the education department took a new approach as well. Stations throughout the exhibition pose
provocative questions, present thoughtful comments, and invite viewer
response. Visitors may use notecards
to write to the museum staff, to other visitors, or simply share their
thoughts and responses. While there
are raves about the exhibition (“Overwhelming and delicious,” “Wonderful in every way!” and “Excellent
for families with young children,”), some people enter into a dialogue with
the art itself.
Visitors
seem to be receptive to the intuitive groupings in the exhibition, and
ready to be surprised. “What a great
body of work actually produced here in Western PA,” wrote one visitor about
a gallery wall dedicated to regional art.
Pittsburgh
writer and teacher Kristin Kovacic visited the exhibition with her daughter
Rosalie, age 7, who enjoyed deciding which chair looked “most comfy, least
comfy, weirdest, and not weirdest."
Kovacic adds, "If this show were in D.C., you wouldn’t be able
to get in the door. I like the fact
that it isn’t sterile. The art is
friendlier in a jumble like that.
And I like finding what you know and seeing it next to something
unfamiliar. You see it differently.”
Take a Tour with the Experts
Several
free audio tours escort visitors through the exhibition from a particular
point of view. Richard Armstrong, the Henry J. Heinz II Director of the
museum, comments on his favorite pieces, including Pierre Bonnard’s The
Violet Fence, 1935, Anselm Keifer’s Midgard, 1980 – 85, and Isamu Noguchi’s
Structure, 1945. Another tour, “A History of Chair Design” by Sarah
Nichols, chief curator and curator of decorative arts, discusses the
various chair themes in the exhibition, which include “curves,”
“recycling,” and “geometry.” The
museum's own Art Cat has a special tour for children, inviting their
responses to René Magritte’s The Heart of the World, 1956, with comments
such as “Magritte believed that art isn’t something you figure out in your
head . . . what kind of a dream can you make up about this unusual
picture?” New tours will be added
throughout the exhibition.
The Panopticon Extravaganza
Saturday, February 22, 2003
7:30 p.m.– midnight
Chase
away those mid-winter blues with this high-energy celebration hosted by the
Women’s Committee of Carnegie Museum of Art. The Panopticon Extravaganza features
music and entertainment all evening, a full bar, and plenty of lighter
fare. There’s no dress code, but
costumes are encouraged, so come as your favorite artist or your favorite
work of art—just come!
Ticket
price is $90. For more information, call 412.622.3325
“It’s
not space, it’s communication”
--Robert
Venturi
Out of the Ordinary: The Architecture and Design of Robert
Venturi, Denise Scott Brown and Associates
Through February 2
“A
playful, colorful manifestation of the philosophy of the designers,” is how
Tracy Myers, curator of architecture, introduces the portion of Out of the
Ordinary mounted in the Hall of Sculpture.
The
centerpiece of this untraditional approach to architecture exhibitions is a
large panel bearing a work entitled The Architect’s Dream, which the
Philadelphia Museum of Art commissioned from Venturi and Scott Brown for
this exhibition. Modeled on a
painting by Thomas Cole also called The Architect’s Dream, (1840), the
original depicts an architect atop a column, reclining on a pile of
architectural treatises. “The theory
of any profession is what grounds it,” explains Myers. In the Cole painting, the background is a
fantastic collection of classic buildings. Venturi and Scott Brown have
added the signs and commercial structures that inspire them, the
celebration of the everyday that informs their work. Three plasma screens embedded in the
panel also show various sources of inspiration.
Opposite
this panel is a wall of aphorisms from the architects, such as “It’s not
space, it’s communication.” and “Viva spatial and perceptual
layering.” Taped interviews with the
architects, replicas of elements from their buildings, and video images of
completed projects make this space a lively introduction to the influential
thinking of Venturi and Scott Brown.
No Ordinary Day at CMA
Saturday, February 1
Venturi
and Scott Brown Lecture
Carnegie
Lecture Hall, 3:00 p.m.
Robert
Venturi and Denise Scott Brown will speak about Sign and Pattern in Today’s
Mannerist Architecture. They
champion architecture that is as much about communication as it is about
space and form, and choose "messy vitality over obvious unity." Free
with museum admission. [underlined
copy can be removed if needed to fit copy]
University Night
Museum of Art Galleries, 5:00
p.m.
In the
evening, college students, faculty, and staff with valid ID are admitted
free to University Night. Art, music, and food enliven the museum for this
exclusive evening. Come look, contemplate, discuss, and explore. For more information call 412.622.3288 or
check the web site at www.cmoa.org
Recent Acquisitions:
Modern Art from the Carpenter Collection
Charles
H. Carpenter Jr. never saw art as an investment. Guided by taste, he and his late wife
Mary Grace managed to build an impressive and eclectic collection of art
that was exhibited at Carnegie Museum of Art in 1996. At that time, the museum was allowed to
choose 13 works from the collection.
Carpenter and his family have now finalized the transfer of these
pieces to the museum.
“He had
an unusual instinct for emerging artists,” says Henry J. Heinz II Director
Richard Armstrong of Carpenter.
“That was coupled with a real reservoir of knowledge – about
scrimshaw, Shaker furniture, 19th century American silver . . . When he became engaged in a subject, he
became quite an expert.”
The
Carpenters became personal friends with many of the artists they collected,
paying Claes Oldenburg’s rent for a time, and being one of the first people
to encourage Jim Dine with, as the artist said, “anything besides
words.” This mutual respect
culminated in the bequest by artist Charles Shaw of his entire life’s work.
Works
from the Carpenter collection recently acquired by the museum include Jim
Dine, The Coat (1961); Gilbert and George, Dead Boards (1976); Ellsworth
Kelly, Two Panels: Green Orange (1970); Ad Reinhardt, Red Painting; and
others. As Phillip M. Johnston,
former Henry J. Heinz II Director of the museum, wrote in 1996, “The
Carnegie Museum of Art is immeasurably enriched by these works, as it has
been in so many ways by its long association with Mary Grace and Charles
Carpenter.”
A Witty Look at Reality
Christian Jankowski
Forum Gallery
January 25-April 27
Opening reception January 24,
7:00 p.m.
Christian
Jankowski’s multi-media works blur the border between fiction and reality,
using video to document situations that arise from circumstances both
contrived and spontaneous. He has
filmed himself shopping for groceries, using a bow and arrow to bring down
his prey of yogurt or detergent; he calls television fortune tellers and
asks them about the success of an upcoming art work, then uses their (all
encouraging) responses as the piece itself, which he exhibited in the 1999 Venice
Biennale.
Carnegie
Museum of Art has commissioned a new video from Jankowski featuring puppet
icons popularized through the media. “Christian’s video will bring these
legendary puppet characters together in a slightly absurd 'puppet
conference,' allowing them to speak for themselves on issues related to the
history and philosophy of puppeteering," says Elizabeth Thomas,
assistant curator of contemporary art. His gently witty and
thought-provoking work has been seen in solo as well as group exhibitions throughout
the United States and Europe.
CMA Cinema
Slovak New Cinema
January 16–February 22
These
six films, all made since 1994, represent the work of established
contemporary Slovak directors.
Diverse in both style and content, this series has been organized
with the assistance of Professor Martin Votruba of the Department of Slavic
Languages and Literatures, University of Pittsburgh, and with the support
of the Slovak Embassy, Washington D.C., and the Western Pennsylvania Slovak
Cultural Association. The films will
be shown on Thursdays and Saturdays.
New Novo Brazil
January 10–February 23
The
series presents seven recent films, including the international hit Central
Station (1998), directed by Walter Salles, which heralded a new wave of
outstanding films from Brazil. Also
included is Orfeu (1999), directed by Carlos Diegues, who was a key figure
in the original Cinema Novo movement in Brazil during the 1960s and
1970s. The films will be shown on
Fridays and Sundays.
All
films are at 7:30 in the Museum of Art Theater.
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