SPRING 2011 A letter from the director

A new decade is upon us, and with it, I am pleased to introduce As you know from recent issues of the magazine, many of a new tone for this magazine, one that reflects the Museum’s these programs will be anchored in the new Seasonal Inflatable engagement with a greater level of complexity in the larger world, Structure and Lobby Classroom scheduled for completion this year and with the wider perspectives that will be represented in our and next. We are extremely pleased to report major gifts for these exhibitions and collection in the coming years. To achieve this, projects from Bloomberg, the Pearson Foundation, Nokia, and the each issue of the magazine will be guest edited by a member of MacArthur Foundation, and look forward to keeping you closely the Museum’s senior staff, a trustee, or a noted thinker in the informed about progress with these initiatives. arts brought in from outside. Ultimately, their contributions will also address the fundamental concern at hand for the Hirshhorn The magazine will also continue to keep readers apprised of the and cultural institutions in general today: their evolving roles and exciting exhibitions, programs, and films each season brings. deeper purpose in contemporary society overall. This spring we are proud to be part of the first US retrospective of the work of , long appreciated in Europe as a We are pleased to launch our “new” magazine with the creative major force in postwar abstract painting. will input of Kerry Brougher. As the Hirshhorn’s chief curator since speak about the importance of his friendship with Palermo to the 2000, Kerry has overseen a remarkable series of exhibitions development of his own work and will introduce a screening of and the focused growth of the permanent collection, building on one of his films. Our next Directions exhibition presents the video prior strengths while also forcefully striking out in new directions installations of Grazia Toderi, and Marina Abramović will explore (making significant acquisitions in new media, for example). the preservation and persistence of performance art at the annual As deputy director too, Kerry has been instrumental in sustaining James T. Demetrion Lecture. the Hirshhorn’s excellent reputation for originality and relevance in the visual arts. With the Hirshhorn’s fortieth anniversary now just three years away, this is an opportune time to explore the true meaning of Since my arrival in 2009, Kerry and I have engaged in an intensive the institution. I would like to think of the Museum, and even discussion about the evolving role of museums internationally— this magazine, as a perpetual work in progress resulting from and especially the ways that the Hirshhorn can be at the center continual experimentation and surprise. We look forward to having of this change. The dynamic of the artist’s place in society is very you accompany us on this voyage into a new era at the Hirshhorn. much at the heart of our concerns; thus as I have mentioned in prior letters, in the coming years our exhibitions will increasingly focus on themes relevant to the art world and the larger cultural context, both nationally and in various regions of the world. This expanded “territory” also mandates a greatly expanded role for our curators: to present thematic exhibitions based on intensive research and complex points of view; to deploy new collecting strategies that depart from the art world’s traditionally monolithic narrative and encompass a more diverse range of cultural Richard Koshalek production; and to push education programs—and the very meaning of education at a museum—far beyond the conventional approaches seen at most cultural institutions.

General Information The Hirshhorn is located on the Administrative Offices: Admission is free. To subscribe to National Mall on Independence Avenue at 202.633.4674 Hirshhorn eNews, e-mail Seventh Street, SW, Washington, DC. The [email protected]. For up-to-date nearest Metro stops are L’Enfant Plaza Press/Marketing: information about tours and program (Maryland Avenue/Smithsonian Museum 202.633.1618 listings, call 202.633.1000 or visit exit) and Smithsonian. hirshhorn.si.edu. Development/Membership: Contact 202.633.2836 Hours and Location Information: Open daily except December 25 202.633.1000 This publication is a benefit of Museum: 10 am to 5:30 pm membership in the Hirshhorn Annual Plaza: 7:30 am to 5:30 pm Programs/Tour Information: Circle. Join today by visiting Sculpture Garden: 7:30 am to dusk 202.633.EDUC (202.633.3382) hirshhorn.si.edu or calling 202.633.2836.

Cover: Chermayeff & Geismar DIRECTIONS: Grazia Toderi April 21–September 5

I imagine video as a fresco made of light emanations, as I cannot forget the marvelous ones at Assisi or Padua…. I am fascinated by video’s changing but impalpable material, the fact that it is not an object, it has no weight (and also has the discretion to disappear if you turn it off). Grazia Toderi

Grazia Toderi (Italian, b. Padua, 1963) as source material her own films and lives and works in Milan and Turin, and attributes her fascination with visualizing photographs, as well as satellite and will include her signature work, Orbite the infinite to the commonplace yet military footage, she layers, doubles, Rosse [Red Orbits], 2009. In this dual sensational experience of flying into a city mirrors, and otherwise manipulates the projection, the eye strains to pick out at night. She has also cited the formative imagery with computer . architectural landmarks from the twin influence of a historic moment from her Some projections are rinsed in vistas, while the mind wonders whether childhood, the simulcast of the Apollo 11 golden or reddish tones that evoke the the trajectory of a speeding ball of light lunar landing, which connected the world mysterious lingering haze of nocturnal indicates the flight path of an incoming via television as viewers marveled at urban light but also recall night-vision red-eye, the fiery zip of a meteor crashing witnessing Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin news broadcasts of the first Gulf War. through the atmosphere, or something taking the first steps on the moon. Curator João Fernandes has pointed more threatening—or perhaps more Toderi’s projections transform imagery out that Toderi deployed this quasi- promising. of stadiums, theaters, and cities into infrared coloration in advance of the meditations on how these spaces express data transmissions from the Planck “collective unity.” Yet the distant vantage space telescope in 2009—astronomical Meet the Artist: Grazia Toderi will be presented Thursday, April 21, at 6:45 pm in the Lerner Room, immediately point of her lens and the subtle scoring images are similarly dependent on digital followed by a preview of the exhibition. of her soundtracks also reinforce a sense intervention in order to give invisible of solitude for viewers who become self- phenomena a visible presence. Directions: Grazia Toderi is organized by associate curator conscious participants in this disorienting, Directions represents the first US Kelly Gordon. if poetic, form of surveillance. Taking museum solo exhibition for Toderi, who

Grazia Toderi Orbite Rosse [Red Orbits], 2009. Two video projections, loop, variable dimensions, color, stereo sound. Installation view, which he investigated and challenged BLINKY PALERMO: painting’s fundamentals, questioning not only its conventional materials and RETROSPECTIVE 1964–1977 traditional format and structure but its very definition. Growing up in Germany in the after- FEBRUARY 24– math of World War II and studying under noted teacher and artist MAY 15 at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf in the early 1960s, Palermo worked in a period and in a context in which the viability of painting was being widely contested, yet he remained steadfastly committed to this He believed in painting— North America. Palermo himself art form. While he engaged with and was in the visual communication had a particular admiration for open to the ideas and techniques of both of ideas which he could not American art and culture, especially European and American artists—including Beat literature and Abstract not only Beuys but fellow students otherwise express. Expressionist painting, and, in fact, and , Gerhard Richter the name by which he is known European conceptualists Daniel Buren (he was born Peter Schwarze) was and Marcel Broodthaers, and American taken from an American Mafioso abstract painters Brice Marden, Blinky Palermo (German, b. , 1943; and boxing manager the artist Agnes Martin, and Robert Ryman, as d. Maldives, 1977) is well established in supposedly resembled. The current well as diverse predecessors such as Europe as one of the most important figures retrospective, the first comprehen- Kasimir Malevich and Barnett Newman— in postwar painting, yet despite the fact that sive US survey of Palermo’s career, he is known for charting an independent he has influenced generations of artists in this introduces the full scope of his course throughout his brief yet country, his work has rarely been shown in diverse practice and the ways in prolific career. hirshhorn.si.edu 2 Taking Beuys’s installations and portfolio of images and drawings that Blinky Palermo, performance props as a point of offers a sense of the innovative nature Coney Island II, 1975. Collection Ströher, Darmstadt. departure for his own exploration of of these architectural installations. The © 2010 Artists Rights Society found and constructed forms, Palermo Metallbilder [Metal Pictures], usually (ARS), New York/VG kept painting poised on the brink of multipartite works of acrylic on aluminum Bild-Kunst, . Photo: Jens Ziehe sculpture in a decade-long series of anchored slightly off the wall, combined what he called “objects.” As hands-off as elements of Palermo’s three previous the Objects were hands-on, the disarm- series: the materiality of the Objects, the ingly radical Stoffbilder [Cloth Pictures], precise yet unusual color chords of the designed by Palermo but sewn first by Stoffbilder, and the acute spatial aware- friends and later by a hired tailor, were ness of the wall drawings and paintings. composed of reductive arrangements The most notable Palermo installation (sometimes monochromatic, sometimes in the is the forty-panel, comprising two or even three hues) of the fifteen-part suite To the People of New solid-color fabrics that would have been York City, 1976, normally on view at available to any fashionable German Dia:Beacon and now traveling outside Blinky Palermo: Retrospective 1964–1977 is organized consumer of the day. New York for the first time. Palermo by and the Center for Curatorial Studies, Palermo reasserted the importance of conceived the work on a flight back to and is curated by Lynne Cooke. the artist’s hand at the same time that he Germany from New York, where he had The national tour of Blinky Palermo: Retrospective dispensed with the art object altogether. maintained a studio since moving there 1964–1977 is made possible by GUCCI. Additional tour Contingent not only on the direct in 1973. The exhibition culminates in a support is provided by The Foundation for the participation of the artist but also on the full presentation of this work, which was Visual Arts, the Brown Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and Glenstone. Funding for the publication specific spatial configurations to which found in Palermo’s studio after his death is provided by Sotheby’s, the Marx Family Advised Fund he was responding at the time, none of from unknown causes in February 1977 at Aspen Community Foundation, and The Andrew J. and the artist’s wall drawings and paintings in the Maldives. Christine C. Hall Foundation. survives in its original state; however, Palermo compiled a substantial

hirshhorn.si.edu 3 Chris Burden, Samson, 1985. Photo © Chris Burden. Courtesy a n i s h e

Sometimes it is necessary to make things disappear in order to reinvent them.

Kerry Brougher, Deputy Director and Chief Curator

Chris Burden’s Samson consists of two new buildings packed with art, visitors, large timber beams wedged against the gift shops, and cafés—all connected by interior walls of a museum. At the Day-Glo branding strategies. Finding a entrance to the space is a turnstile space conducive to contemplation of the connected to a gearbox and a hundred- work of art itself—be it a painting, ton jack. As each visitor enters, the sculpture, installation, or new media beams are pressed ever so slightly against work—is increasingly challenging amid the walls. If enough visitors enter the the noise generated by the new museum gallery, the museum could theoretically be climate of interactivity and its role as a brought down by its own success. social gathering space. Many museums This piece from 1985, which questions have lost their “sacred” spaces, which the “structure” and “foundation” of have been tainted or overwhelmed by museums, presciently foreshadows the entertainment and framed by the situation that museums find themselves redundant consumer culture that in today. Institutions such as the Andy Warhol so clearly spotlighted back Museum of in New York, the in the 1960s. Merely embracing new Tate in London, and a host of others, technology and the idea of the museum often compelled to measure success by as destination does not meet the needs visitation numbers, seem to be of either artists or visitors today.

T h e M u s m V collapsing under the weight of expansive Trim to this line Above left: Installation view of Hall of Mirrors: Art and Film Since 1945 Installation view of Yves Klein: With the Void, Full Powers at the Hirshhorn, at The Geffen Contemporary at the Los Angeles Museum of May 20–September 12, 2010. © 2010 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New Contemporary Art, March 17–July 28, 1996. Photo: Fredrik Nilson York/ADAGP, . Photo: Lee Stalsworth

Below left: Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris. Photo: Stephen A. Edwards

What is required is another model, one MASS MoCA in North Adams, Media (ZKM) in Karlsruhe, Germany, and that embraces the new but also provides Massachusetts, and the Hamburger the Ars Electronica Center in Linz, Austria. meaningful experiences centered on the Bahnhof in . The international, interdisciplinary, art itself, both past and present. Simultaneously, cinema, then and multimedia nature of much of In fact, the reinvention of the museum undergoing its own rejuvenation, was the artwork being created today, as is already well underway, and has been exerting a strong influence on art and well as the evolution of the notion of at least since around 1977, when the museums. The medium was being the museum itself, inspires and even opened in Paris amid reinvented as artists and experimental perhaps demands institutions that the radical aspirations of post-1968 filmmakers began to deconstruct it, can operate on a number of different Europe. Bringing together a modern art shifting it from the movie palace into platforms simultaneously—as traditional museum with a massive public library the museum space. In the 1960s, the gallery, media showcase, international and an experimental center for music traditional audience/screen relationship, think tank, innovative education center, research, all within a structure that turned which hid the apparatus from view performance space, and conference hall. the museum inside out and exposed and created a fictional space “within” It makes less and less sense to speak of its inner workings, the Pompidou broke the screen at the front of the theater, divisions between past and present, static down conventional barriers between art was being subverted by artists who works and moving images, conventional disciplines and between the building were breaking the mechanism of film materials and new media. As art historian and the surrounding communities. As a apart, hanging screens in the center of Donald Preziosi once observed, we result, the elitist notion of the museum the room, using multiple projections, have entered the era of the “world-as- as a temple was turned on its head. placing the projector right in the viewers’ exhibition…a labyrinth…where the exits to The creation of spaces in which the space, and surrounding the visitor with an exposition, fair, theme park, theatre, public could interact with the museum phantasmagoric moving images that or museum seem to lead immediately and artists could engage more with the create something akin to “dark rides” into more of the same.”1 Art surrounds public continued with the opening of in which the viewer is sent on a journey us, fluidly moving between gallery, studio, the Temporary Contemporary (now the through the screen. The rise of the moving museum, street, and city; in response, Geffen Contemporary) in Los Angeles in image in the art world was not only the institution needs to expand beyond its 1983, a converted warehouse space that reflected in the ever-expanding emphasis walls and explode conventions. brought art down off the pedestal, making on collecting and exhibiting film and new The Hirshhorn is in the process of a trip to the “museum” more like a visit media works, but in the development doing just that in its physical architecture to an artist’s studio. This reimagining of of centers that serve as an intersection and its programming. As part of a the museum as an approachable space between museums, research centers, concerted effort to redefine and renew proliferated with such institutions as the media labs, festival showcases, and social its public spaces in the coming years, an original in London, institutions, such as the Center for Art and innovative digital education center will hirshhorn.si.edu 6 also attempting to knock down walls and with multiple components; rather than a establish new ways of engaging with art, single exhibition, these projects will layer contemporary culture, and its audience. exhibition, catalogue, online presence, The “Bubble,” in many ways, is not only commissions, conferences, film series, a means of increasing the Museum’s special events, and performances to capacity for projects, interactive forums, create the “exposition”—a whole greater film series, lectures, and performances, than the sum of its parts. Indeed, the but is also a metaphor for the expanded project might not be limited to one vision of programming as a whole. Like exhibition, but could require two or more the signature architectural monuments consecutive shows—or even a series of the great world’s fairs, such as the of shows and events over time—to fully Crystal Palace in London in 1851, the address its subject matter. An initial effort Electric Tower in Buffalo in 1901, and in this direction was the Museum’s recent the Trylon and Perisphere in New York in two-part exhibition The Cinema Effect: 1939, the “Bubble,” particularly given Illusion, Reality, and the Moving Image, its location in the nation’s capital, is not an endeavor that enabled the curatorial simply a functional structure but a symbol team to delve in more depth into the of the future. Perhaps ironically, it seems complex and intriguing issues raised appropriate to look to the past, to these by this important topic in today’s digital grand “expos,” for inspiration for future world. Likewise, the notion of layered programming as well. programming was explored in recent years There was a moment in the late with the retrospective Postcard of the Trylon and Perisphere nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and its 24 Hour Access/24 Hour from the New York World’s Fair, 1939 when the concept of exhibition display event, and with Visual Music and the was extended to include the latest late-night “Cosmic Drift” light show. technology and to focus on social The upcoming Art and Destruction issues, globalism, and visions of the exhibition is an even more expanded future. Subjects were explored from a example of this exposition approach. establish a classroom of the future in multiplicity of viewpoints, and various art The project investigates the theme of the translucent lobby of the Museum; a forms were woven together into a more destruction in international contemporary feasibility study will begin the process of or less coherent whole. Similarly, but visual culture and reaches beyond art reimagining the Sculpture Garden more cohesively, upcoming exhibitions to enable a broader understanding of as a place that intertwines the indoors at the Hirshhorn will investigate new culture and society in the aftermath of and outdoors and where modern territory or reconsider the past in light of World War II, under the looming fear sculpture can be placed within a more the present. These deeply researched, of total annihilation in the atomic age, contemporary context of recent sculpture thematic exhibitions, like the displays and in the age of terrorism and other and new media work; and, soon, Gordon at world’s fairs, will be achieved only disasters, real and imagined. The project Bunshaft’s remarkable floating bunker will hover even more provocatively when the Seasonal Inflatable Structure—the “Bubble”—comes to life within its central Plaza. Inside its galleries, the Museum is reaching back to its past: removing confining walls and ceilings, which were never part of Bunshaft’s plan, restoring the spaciousness, narrative flow, and CinemaScope-like effect of the circular galleries to permit the works in the permanent collection and special exhibitions to be seen to their best advantage. The benefit of these more open vistas has already been evident in the retrospectives of Hiroshi Sugimoto in 2006 and Yves Klein in 2010 and will be even more obvious in such upcoming exhibitions as Andy Warhol: Shadows, scheduled to open in fall 2011, which will occupy most of the Second Level with a dramatic, continuous “film strip” Joshua White and Gary Panter’s “Cosmic Drift” light show at the Hirshhorn during the Visual Music exhibition, June 25, 2005. installation of the 102-piece work. Photo: Christopher Smith In its programming, the Hirshhorn is hirshhorn.si.edu 7 Installation view of Douglas Gordon’s Play Dead; Real Time, 2003, from the Hirshhorn’s collection. Photo: Lee Stalsworth

Installation view of Isaac will comprise six separate but equally the movie theater, literally animating Julien’s Fantôme Créole, 2005, in The Cinema important components: the exhibition the world around us, from Cinerama Effect: Illusion, Reality, and in the galleries, a substantial catalogue and CinemaScope to projections in the Moving Image, Part that examines this rich subject from a planetariums and geodesic domes to Two: Realisms. Photo: Lee Stalsworth range of perspectives, a marathon film the moving images on the small screens series of disaster movies from the 1950s, of smartphones and the massive a conference (including a partial re- screens of today’s liquid architecture. creation of the pivotal 1966 Destruction The galleries, the “Bubble” (a space in Art Symposium [DIAS]), a related artist that offers an exciting opportunity commission for the website, and satellite to have performances that capture the Doug Wheeler, Eindhoven, Environmental Light events at other art spaces around the spirit of the multiple projections of Installation, 1969, from the city. Together, these elements will allow Stan VanDerBeek and the sound/ Panza Collection in the curators, experts in a host of disciplines, light/space “Polytopes” of composer Hirshhorn’s collection. Photo: Lee Stalsworth visitors, and interested audiences around Iannis Xenakis), screens and the world to explore and exchange ideas architecture around Washington, about a subject that is as relevant today and our website will all be vital as it was more than half a century ago. components of this look at our Looking further ahead, the Museum cinematic world. will move even further beyond its Any reconsideration of the concept walls as it focuses on how, since the of the exhibition, or the museum itself, 1950s, cinema has expanded beyond must also include an expanded notion hirshhorn.si.edu 8 Doug Aitken, conceptual rendering for 360-degree projection installation of the permanent collection and its Sometimes it is necessary to make commissioned by the display. In 2014, the Hirshhorn will turn things disappear in order to reinvent Hirshhorn, scheduled forty. To celebrate this milestone, the them. In 2012, Doug Aitken will cause for 2012. Photo: Doug Aitken Workshop collection will be highlighted in a series the Bunshaft building to vanish. Using of exhibitions, some focusing primarily on the entire façade, Aitken will produce a the Museum’s holdings, others using its 360-degree projection, creating a motion objects as a catalyst for a reevaluation of picture that cannot be viewed from one twentieth-century art—including a major perspective, but, like the museum of the survey of surrealist sculpture, organized twenty-first century, is a multifaceted jointly with the Pompidou, as well as interactive experience. In Aitken’s work, an exhibition studying the relationship the Hirshhorn will recede into cinematic between American abstraction and space, rotating, rising, transforming landscape. It will also highlight the into new forms that suggest the way ways in which the Museum has used the Hirshhorn itself will change into a its exhibition program as an integrated museum for our time. part of its collecting strategy—utilizing works it already owns and adding others to its holdings from its major exhibitions and Directions and Black Box series, 1. Donald Preziosi, “The Other: Art History and/as Museology,” in The Art of Art History: A Critical Anthology especially in the important area of (Oxford: , 1998), 451. new media. hirshhorn.si.edu 9 NEWART

With recent acquisitions, the Hirshhorn strengthens its commitment to new media art, as well as to collecting the work of artists in depth, following in the footsteps of its founder, Joseph H. Hirshhorn. The Hirshhorn’s distinctive architecture will dynamically interact with Untitled (to Helga and Carlo, with respect and affection), 1974, an installation by Dan Flavin (American, b. New York, 1933– 1996) composed of freestanding modules of fluorescent light fixtures that overlap, extending through the Museum’s curving galleries and reconfiguring viewers’ perception of the space. A prime example of Flavin’s “barrier” series, this piece enhances the Hirshhorn’s holdings of both Minimal and Light and Space works. In the photographs Tortillas y Ladrillos, 1990; Yielding Stone Image, 1992/2009; and Cutting Rings, 1995, Gabriel Orozco (Mexican, b. Jalapa, 1962) captures situations outside of the studio, from corn tortillas stacked on bricks to the Stills from Bruce Conner’s imprints left by stonecutting machinery. Valse Triste, 1978. © 2011 Blurring the line between juxtapositions Estate of Bruce Connor/ he observes in daily life and encounters Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York he stages himself, Orozco captures the ambiguous exchange between serendipity and intention. These are the first works to enter the collection by the artist, whose hirshhorn.si.edu 10 Dan Flavin, Untitled (to Helga and Carlo, with respect and affection), 1974. © 2011 Estate of Dan Flavin/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

photographs were featured in a 2004 prepares for a major exhibition focusing Directions show. on the permanent collection to celebrate For the experimental A Movie, 1958; the Museum’s fortieth anniversary in Report, 1967; Crossroads, 1977; and 2014. Valse Triste, 1978, the last of which was featured in the Hirshhorn’s 2008 exhibition The Cinema Effect: Illusion, Reality, and the Moving Image, Part I: Dreams, Bruce Conner (American, b. McPherson, Kansas, 1933–2008) created filmic collages that are by turns nostalgic, ironic, and haunting. These Top: works demonstrate the arc of the artist’s Gabriel Orozco, Cutting achievement and have come to influence Rings, 1995 a generation of filmmakers, video artists, Gabriel Orozco, Yielding and music-video directors. In the avant- Stone Image, 1992/2009 garde classic Wavelength, 1967, by Left: Michael Snow (Canadian, b. Toronto, Gabriel Orozco, Tortillas y 1929), the camera itself becomes the Ladrillos, 1990 lens through which the artist examines the essence of cinema: illusion and fact, space and time, subject and object. All works from the Along with Paul Sharits’s Shutter Hirshhorn’s collection Interface, 1975, purchased in 2009, these five acquisitions anchor the Hirshhorn’s collection of the most important experimental films of the twentieth century. Several of these works will be on view in 2011 and 2012, and they will make a significant contribution as the Hirshhorn hirshhorn.si.edu 11 BLACK BOX: Laurent Grasso April 4–July 24

Still from Laurent Grasso’s Polair, 2007. © Laurent Grasso. Courtesy of Sean Kelly Gallery, New York

I make fiction…but at the same Polair, 2007, surveys architecture in the although for this work he has cited a time [my work invokes] reality… area that was formerly East Berlin. The specific inspiration. Years ago on a walk and sometimes remorse…. work focuses on the city’s iconic television through Madrid, he marveled at a cloud tower, its tramway equipment, and various of pollen backlit by the sun. Laurent Grasso structures that transmit electromagnetic The Black Box program, which is once waves. Grasso visualizes a mysterious again housed in its original space across connection. Subtle static accompanies the Lower Level lobby, will also include The work of Laurent Grasso (French/ a torrent of lively, sparkly fluff that sails Les Oiseaux, 2008. A rosy sunset over Italian, b. Mulhouse, France, 1972) and somersaults through the air. Is this the Roman skyline, near the Vatican, encompasses projections, drawing, cosmic lint? The preface to a spiritual hosts a curious ballet of dense flocks of painting, sculpture, and recently the visitation? An invasive botanical species? birds. They move as though impossibly, installation of a temporary restaurant on Aliens in a form heretofore unimagined? elastically connected—a startling the roof of the Palais de Tokyo in Paris. Or does this merely represent a mapping manifestation of the hive mind. Probing the seam between the real and of telecommunications pathways? the surreal, Grasso often depicts strange In interviews, the artist has resisted interfaces between the natural realm and speculating about the back stories or Black Box is organized by associate curator Kelly Gordon. Support for the Black Box program is provided in part by the world created by humankind. precise meanings of his mysteries, Lawrence A. Cohen/Ringler Associates.

hirshhorn.si.edu 12 FILM PROGRAM

Still from Bill Cunningham New York, 2009. Image courtesy Semiconductor at the Smithsonian Mineral Sciences Lab. Paul and Sandra Fierlinger. Image courtesy of the artists of Richard Press and Zeitgeist Films Image courtesy of the artists

Bill Cunningham New York, DJ Spooky with Selections The Diving Bell and the 2009 from the Washington Project Butterfly [Le scaphandre et Thursday, March 10, 8 pm for the Arts 2011 le papillon], 2007 Experimental Media Series Friday, May 13, 8 pm Twice weekly, there are photo essays in Thursday, March 31, 8 pm the New York Times that double as cul- Julian Schnabel will introduce his cel- Filmmaker, musician, and writer Paul D. tural anthropology. On the Street makes a ebrated feature based on the memoir of Miller (aka DJ Spooky That Subliminal Kid) case for the fashion trend of the moment, Jean-Dominique Bauby. At the age of 42, won’t be screening, spinning, or reading and Evening Hours covers power bro- the editor of the French fashion magazine his own work. This year, he’s judging kers, swells, and celebs out on the town. Elle is stricken with locked-in syndrome, the latest international competition for Richard Press’s first feature is a portrait which leaves him mentally alert but un- the WPA. He’ll tell you how he selected of Bill Cunningham, the photographer who able to speak or move. When his eyes are his favorite works from hundreds of produces these eye-popping chronicles. also compromised, doctors determine submissions. The octogenarian bikes to his assign- that one must be sewn shut. With blinks ments on his Schwinn, attired as always of the remaining eye, Bauby commu- in a stylish yet utilitarian outfit: oversize Paul Fierlinger: Animation Now nicates his thoughts letter by letter to lab coat, pinwale cords, black shoes, thick Thursday, April 28, 7 pm dictate his book. Schnabel’s inventive and socks. “We all get dressed for Bill,” says unsentimental film vividly relates Bauby’s Anna Wintour. Paul Fierlinger, born in 1936 in Japan will to live, work, and connect. to Czech diplomats, is an award-winning

Under the Volcano: An Evening animator and the subject of the In French with English subtitles. with Semiconductor autobio-doc Drawn from Memory, 1995. Thursday, March 24, 8 pm He is best known, however, for his breakout feature My Dog Tulip, 2009, For the most current information on our film program, visit As Smithsonian Artist Research Fellows, adapted from J. R. Ackerley’s 1956 cult hirshhorn.si.edu. All screenings are in the Ring Auditorium. Semiconductor (UK-based Ruth Jarman memoir about breeding his German Admission is free, but seating is limited and available on a shepherd, Queenie. Fierlinger, who runs first-come basis. Films may contain adult content. Visitors and Joe Gerhardt) spent three months at requesting accessibility services, such as a sign-language the Smithsonian Mineral Sciences Lab. his own studio and teaches hand-drawn interpreter, should contact Kristy Maruca at 202.633.2796 Their insights into volcanoes, meteorites, animation at the University of Pennsyl- or [email protected]. Please try to give two weeks’ notice. and those who study them are at the core vania, will join his wife and collaborator, of a three-screen work-in-progress, Worlds Sandra, to discuss Tulip, show samples of in the Making. The artists, who recently their work, and talk about the inspirations performed at After Hours and whose Mag- for his quirky, endearing hit movie. netic Movie, 2007, entered the Museum’s collection from Black Box, will screen and talk about their latest projects.

Presented in conjunction with the Environmental Film Festival in the Nation’s Capital.

hirshhorn.si.edu 13 PROGRAMS

Friday Gallery Talks Fridays at 12:30 pm Meet at the Information Desk

Drop by the Hirshhorn during your lunch break for half-hour gallery talks focused on special exhibitions or works from the collection, led by curators, educators, artists, writers, and scholars from a variety of fields. Visit hirshhorn.si.edu for current listings of upcoming talks.

Lynne Cooke on Blinky Palermo: Retrospective 1964–1977 Thursday, February 24, 7 pm Second Level Galleries

On opening night, exhibition curator Lynne Cooke leads visitors on a walk-through of the Hirshhorn installation, exploring Detail of Marina Abramović’s The Kitchen V. From the series The Kitchen, Homage to Saint Therese. Gijon, Spain, 2009. the evolution of Palermo’s aesthetic and Courtesy of Marina Abramović and Sean Kelly Gallery the significance of his contributions to postwar painting. Meet the Artist: James T. Demetrion Lecture: Hans Op de Beeck Marina Abramovic´ Wednesday, March 16, 7 pm Tuesday, April 5, 7 pm Ring Auditorium Location to be determined

Belgian artist Hans Op de Beeck explores Following up on her groundbreaking our problematic relationships with retrospective at the Museum of Modern time, space, and each other through a Art last year, performance art pioneer wide variety of artistic media, including Marina Abramović discusses how the sculpture, painting, drawing, installation, medium is entering the history of art. photography, video, animated film, and After presenting an overview of the field, short story writing. He talks about his from seminal pieces of the 1970s to the recent work, including his video Staging work of today’s foremost practitioners, Silence, 2009, which is on view in Black she will address questions about the Box through March 27. historicization and continued growth of performance art: How is performance art preserved? Can it be re-performed? If so, under what conditions? Can it be taught and how? Can it be collected? Is it part of our mainstream culture or not? Who is performing now and why? Blinky Palermo, Untitled, 1964. Collection Ströher, Darmstadt. © 2010 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn. Photo: Jens Ziehe Please visit hirshhorn.si.edu for location and ticketing information.

This annual program is made possible by the Friends of Jim and Barbara Demetrion Endowment Fund.

hirshhorn.si.edu 14 Meet the Artist: Lecture: Suzanne Hudson Grazia Toderi on Blinky Palermo Thursday, April 21, 6:45 pm Tuesday, May 3, 7 pm Lerner Room Lerner Room

On the opening night of Directions: A German artist with an American moniker Grazia Toderi, the Italian artist introduces and a longtime interest in the New York her recent projections and drawings, art world, Blinky Palermo made the city which transform the artifacts of a his home from 1973 until 1976. Suzanne culture obsessed with technology and Hudson, art historian and contributor surveillance into celestial meditations to the catalogue for Blinky Palermo: both poetic and chilling. Retrospective 1964–1977, examines the artist’s time in the United States and the context it provided for his work. After Hours Friday, April 29 8 pm to midnight Meet the Artist: $18; advance tickets only Julian Schnabel Detail of Julian Schnabel’s Untitled (Julian and Milton), 2004. © 2011 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York To purchase: call 202.633.4629 Thursday, May 12, 7 pm or visit hirshhorn.si.edu/afterhours Ring Auditorium On sale March 29 Artist at Work with Youth: Artist and filmmaker Julian Schnabel Become a member and get free Dan Steinhilber discusses recent projects in light of his admission to the event as well as Saturdays, April 23, May 14, and June 4 early artistic influences, including his access to the VIP lounge friendship with Blinky Palermo, whom he 10 am to noon (ages 6–9) met in New York in 1974. 1 to 3 pm (ages 10–13) Washington’s premier contemporary art Registration required: hirshhorn.si.edu event is back! Stay up late and enjoy Consult Film Program, page 13, for information about Schnabel screening. extended Museum hours, gallery tours, This spring, aspiring young artists and and music and live performances on their families and friends are invited to the Plaza. the Hirshhorn for a series of hands-on art-making workshops. After introducing works in the galleries, artist-in-residence After Hours. Photo: Colin S. Johnson Dan Steinhilber will lead participants in creative projects inspired by Blinky Palermo and selected works from the Hirshhorn’s collection.

Support for educational programs is provided by the Vivian L. and Elliot I. Pollock Fund and contributions to the Hirshhorn Education Fund.

ARTLAB+ A Design Studio for Teens After-school and Saturday sessions throughout the season Sign up at artlabplus.si.edu

In the Art Lab, teens call the shots, making videos, designing websites, recording podcasts, creating , and planning events. The world-class collections of the Smithsonian meet twenty-first century technology in this series of free programs in which participants meet and discuss their projects with working artists.

ARTLAB+ is funded by the Pearson Foundation and Nokia, in partnership with the New Learning Institute.

hirshhorn.si.edu 15 EDUCATION Hirshhorn: Art Classroom of the Future

I can’t believe we get access to all this [equipment]! At school we don’t have as much and have to pay to use it. Yael S.

We get to show our work in the Hirshhorn? Like the other artists? That’s really big. Astrid L.

ARTLAB+ participants trying out the Nokia devices. Photo: Dan Solberg

We all have dreams. We try to understand Working with art and artists means The Hirshhorn is now moving ahead to the world and our role in it. We try to working with and comprehending new transform the lobby, the Art Lab, and figure out what we’ll become. If I look at ideas, dealing with the ambiguity inherent other spaces into vibrant, immersive my own experience, the critical time for in the work of art. Focusing on the learning environments. This project is forming the ideas and opinions that Hirshhorn’s collection and special based on the MacArthur Foundation’s would shape me as an adult was during exhibitions, participants in the mobile ambitious three-year ethnographic study my teens. learning workshops, which began in of how young people are living and I recall most clearly the experience of summer 2010, create blogs, videos, learning with digital media. The important being in the small town in and computer games with art content. relationship between young people and where Milos Forman was shooting his Participants and staff alike learn to the spaces, physical and virtual, in celebrated 1967 film The Firemen’s Ball. communicate with one another, making which they socialize and learn serves I was able to contribute, doing some odd decisions about how to present concepts as the basis for a redesign of the lobby jobs around the set, but I also took care to and discovering how best to use the tools area by the architecture firm Diller observe what makes a production come at their disposal. We are helping youth Scofidio + Renfro. together. Forman was directing ordinary become creators of content rather than So let us learn from each other, from local people—not one of them a profes- just passive consumers of it. artists, from visitors. Let us innovate, sional actor—in everyday scenes. It was a To meet this challenge, the Hirshhorn let us debate messy and uncomfortable melding of planning and improvisation, of has launched several major education problems and issues, let us be disruptive fiction and real life. Everyone was required initiatives. We are developing an to orthodox ways of doing things. Let us to respond to the needs of the moment. innovative learning center, a national commit to reaching out to young and It was an amazing opportunity. museum model for peer-based learning adult audiences in new ways. This is the kind of opportunity we that emphasizes advanced computer and envision for the youth we work with at the digital literacy skills. We have embarked Milena Kalinovska Hirshhorn. We can ensure that the young on this task with active assistance and Director of Public Programs and Education people who come to us will be stimulated financial support from the Mobile Learning and inspired by artists who have the tal- Institute, a Nokia/Pearson Foundation ent, skills, and motivation to influence the alliance, and with major philosophical course of their lives—in very much the way guidance and financial assistance from that Forman influenced mine. the MacArthur Foundation. hirshhorn.si.edu 16 Thank you for your support

The Hirshhorn is pleased to acknowledge the following donors, who made generous contributions to the Museum between October 1, 2009, and September 30, 2010. Annual gifts support the Hirshhorn’s ambitious exhibition program, groundbreaking conservation efforts, and innovative public programs, ensuring the Hirshhorn’s status as a leader among museums of modern and contemporary art. We deeply appreciate this vital support, which is crucial in helping us realize our mission and vision for the future.

SUSTAINED SUPPORT Dr. Penn Lupovich MEMBERS Frederick P. Ognibene, MD Joseph H. Hirshhorn Society* Anita and Burton Reiner Gifts from $100 to $999 $5,000,000+ Anonymous (4) Glenstone $2,500–$4,999 Yonatan Abebe Brian Aitken and Andrea Evers J. S. Adams $1,000,000–$4,999,999 Rody Douzoglou Shawn Adams Mr. and Mrs. J. Tomilson Hill Cary J. Frieze Batool Alshomrani Robert and Aimee Lehrman Harry Grubert Amy Altman James A. and Marsha Perry Mateyka Asha Aravindakshan Richard James Price Nadim Bacho *Cumulative giving Shari Rothstein Yelena Bakaleva Virginia Shore Gwendolyn Baker Martin Beam ANNUAL LEADERSHIP GIFTS $1,000–$2,499 Miranda Beebe Anonymous Eric Behrns $100,000–$249,000 Philip Barlow and Lisa Gilotty Ellen R. Berlow Mr. and Mrs. J. Tomilson Hill Annie Gawlak Brooke Bernold Tom and Kitty Stoner Margaret Heiner Kelsay Best Steven and Lisa Tananbaum Vivienne Lassman Melba L. Black Mrs. and Mr. Robert C. Liotta Clive and Diane Blackwell $50,000–$75,000 Earl and Carol Ravenal Kaleta Blaffer Constance R. Caplan Mr. and Mrs. Edward Rose David P. Block Glenn R. Fuhrman Laura Roulet and Rafael Hernandez Michael Bolden Robert and Aimee Lehrman Judith Seligson Charles Brickbauer and Bernhard Hildebrandt Aaron and Barbara Levine Betty Ustun Lindsey Brill John and Mary Pappajohn Michelle Brown Sue and John Wieland Robin Brown Ginny Williams LEGACY SOCIETY Magalie Brunet Marisa Buchanan $25,000–$49,999 Betty Bass Jessica Buckley Robert and Pamela Goergen R. Andrew Beyer and Susan Vallon Frances A. Bufalo Robert and Arlene Kogod Robert G. Bragg Rebecca Campany Lowell and Joan Creitz Page Carr Christie G. Harris Cherie Carter PATRONS Joseph H.** and Olga Hirshhorn Shannon Casserly Shari Rothstein Jean-Daniel Chablais $5,000–$9,999 Morris Chalick Charles Block **Deceased Jackie Chalkley and Wayne Calloway Virginia Fulton Irene Clouthier Carl and Nancy Gewirz Katie Clune Henry H. and Carol B. Goldberg Robert S. Cohen Marian Goodman Curtis Coleman Olga Hirshhorn, Mrs. Joseph H.

hirshhorn.si.edu 17 Daniel and Margaret Collins Jacqueline Ionita Mark and Christina Parascandola Paula Cooper Joette James Laura Paulson Janice Cori Joe Jenkins Sierra Peterson Orlando Croft II Rosa Jeong Meaghan Pierannunzi Matthew and Sarah Daniels Gary Jimenez Noel Pitts Frank H. Day James A. Johnson Jr. and Frank L. Spencer James M. Pontius Ines de las Casas Kaleta Johnson Andy Popovici John R. Delmore Marwa Kamel Elena Postnikova John Mason Denton Melissa Kelley Sophie Prevost Denyette Depierro Barbara Kerne and Sigmund Gordon Charles Price Katherine Dillon Mary Kim Angela Proudfoot John Dominick Larry Kirkland Angela Ramsey George Dougherty Ryan Kociolek Nishi Rawat Paul Durbin Peter Koltay Brenton Raymond Dorothy S. and Herbert Dym Josef H. Korbel Christine Roberts Richard Chartier and Robert Eckhardt Joseph J. Krakoski Joy E. Robertson Karl Egbert Yves Laborde Sharon Ross Dr. and Mrs. Daniel Ein Caroline LaMotte Nathan Russo Seth and Marion Eisen Francis Larcin Kimberly Sackin Xavier Fco. Equihua Miriam Lasar Adam Safir Maria L. Escudero Matt J. Lauer Sam H. Sanders Alyssa Falbo Anne H. Laughlin Lili-Charlotte Sarnoff Marc Fichera Kevin and Barbara Leehey Kevin Savage Andrew Fishbein Michael Lestingi Ama Schulman Whitney Fisler Matthew Levin Gregory Scopino Asa T. Flynn Dorothy Levy Deane and Paul Shatz Howard and Shirlee Friedenberg Dr. and Mrs. Joseph D. Lichtenberg Jason Silverman Hans Gangeskar Colin Lowenberg Ellen W. Sinel Ann Garfinkle Robert Ludwig Leo B. Slater Jacqueline Geis Dalya Luttwak Dean and Andree Smith Geo George Antti and Amy Makinen R Justin Smith Jennifer Gieg Dr. Dana March Amy Snyder Marie Gilmore Noorulain Masood Christopher Soares Jeanne Gobat Gigi Mathews Janet W. Solinger Anna M. Gonzalez Leo Matsuo Barbara Spangenberg Rebecca Gordon Patrick McKinney Cary Spisak Betty Gore JT McLain Joseph Springer William A. Gravely Filip Mielczak Eugene Stacy Elizabeth Greathouse Brina Milikowsky Scott Stephenson Wesley Hacker Dorothy A. Miller Betsy Stewart Demeteris M. Hale, Esq. Leslie Miller Alicja Sulkowska Barbara Hankins Steven Miller Richard V. Sullivan Liam Hanley John Modzelewski Dan Symonds Peter Harbage and Hilary Haycock Erik Moe Donald Syriani Larry J. Hawk Peter Moertl Akio Tagawa and Yui Suzuki Mark Hegedus and Christopher Wilson Diego Molleda Rohini Talalla Ariane Hegewisch Patrick Monahan Kelly S. Talbott Stuart Heiser Claire Ann Monderer Stella Tarnay Nan Helm Harry Montgomery Duncan and Elizabeth Tebow Daniel Hendry Isabelle Moses Henry L. Thaggert III Scott Henry Lauren Murphy Jamie Thomas Linda Hesh Theresa Neilson Joyce L. Tong Nancy Hirshbein Anh-Thien Nguyen Ciarra Toomey Erik Hoffland Caroline Nguyen Rick Vargas Jennifer Holshue Paul Nguyen Lee Vaughan William Hopkins Susan S. Norwitch Caroline Vollmer Chad Hrdina Sarah Oh Kelly Walter Stephen M. Hrutka Nils Olsen Edward J. Walters Philippa Hughes Deborah Palazzo Victoria Weaver

hirshhorn.si.edu 18 BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Nicholas Weil IN-KIND SUPPORT 2010–2011 Board of Trustees Ben Werner J. Tomilson Hill, Chairman Angela Westwater James Alefantis John Wieland, Treasurer Gina Diez Barroso Eric White Embassy of France Peggy P. Burnet William B. Wilhelm Jr. Embassy of Ireland Constance R. Caplan Stephanie Williamson Isabel and Ricardo Ernst Ann Hamilton Robert Lehrman Suzanne Wnek Henry H. and Dani Levinas Grayson Wolfe Carol B. Goldberg Barbara Levine Stephanie Woods L2 Richard S. Levitt Gwoping Yang Robert and Aimee Lehrman John Pappajohn Daniel Sallick Michelle Yankey Dani and Mirella Levinas Paul C. Schorr III Barbara and Aaron Levine Thomas H. Stoner Moët Hennessy Steven A. Tananbaum INDIVIDUAL PROGRAM AND Ginny Williams Frederick P. Ognibene, MD EXHIBITION SUPPORT Heather and Tony Podesta Ex Officio Daniel Sallick and The Honorable John G. Roberts, Jr., Anonymous Elizabeth Miller Chief Justice of the United States G. Wayne Clough, Constance R. Caplan The Source Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution Glenstone Henry L. Thaggert III Dr. Penn Lupovich Wines of Argentina Honorary Trustees Vivian L. and Elliot I. Pollock Jerome L. Greene* Olga Hirshhorn Sydney Lewis* GIFTS OF ART CORPORATE, FOUNDATION, Emeritus Trustees AND INSTITUTIONAL SUPPORT Melva Bucksbaum Heather and Tony Podesta Joseph H. Hirshhorn* Mark Rosman and Anonymous Jacqueline Corco Former Trustees Christie’s H. Harvard Arnason* Charles Blitzer* Lawrence A. Cohen/Ringler Associates Leigh B. Block* Concepts to Conclusions Edward R. Broida* CrossCurrents Foundation Robert T. Buck Delta Air Lines Theodore E. Cummings* Peggy C. Davis EDF, Inc. Anne d’Harnoncourt* Entertainment Software Association Thomas M. Evans* Foundation Glenn R. Fuhrman Marvin J. Gerstin* Graham Foundation Robert B. Goergen Bruce T. Halle Family Foundation Jerome L. Greene* John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Richard D. Greenfield Foundation Agnes Gund George H. Hamilton* National Foundation for the Advancement Elisabeth Houghton* of the Arts Audrey Irmas National Retail Federation Michael L. Klein Jacqueline Leland Nokia Sydney Lewis* Pearson Foundation Linda Macklowe RBC Wealth Management Dorothy C. Miller* Sotheby’s, Inc. Steven T. Mnuchin Marvin Mordes, MD The Honorable Daniel Patrick Moynihan* The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Steven H. Oliver Visual Arts Camille Oliver-Hoffmann Marsha Reines Perelman Ponchitta Pierce Anthony T. Podesta Mitchell P. Rales Craig Robins Robert Rosenblum* Taft B. Schreiber* A. James Speyer* Jerry I. Speyer Hal B. Wallis* Audrey Weil Leonard C. Yaseen* Nina Zolt

*Deceased

hirshhorn.si.edu 19 BLINKY PALERMO: RETROSPECTIVE 1964–1977 FEBRUARY 24– MAY 15

Blinky Palermo, Blaue Scheibe und Stab [Blue Disk and Staff], 1968. Private collection. Courtesy Hauser & Wirth. © 2010 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn. Photo: Jens Ziehe Smithsonian Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden