MADISON, WI–The Madison Museum of Contemporary Art (MMoCA) announces a robust schedule of talks, events, films, workshops, and kids’ programming for the spring and summer of 2014. With family events, art talks, bilingual materials, and hands-on art experiences, the museum offers a wide range of activities to engage audiences of all types in modern and contemporary art. Activities complement the current MMoCA exhibitions, Turn Turn Turn, A Tumultuous Assembly, and Los Grandes del Arte Moderno Mexicano (Masters of Mexican Modern Art).
Events are free except where noted. All events take place at the museum. Additional event information may be found at mmoca.org.
EVENTS, LECTURES, FILMS, AND KIDS’ PROGRAMS
Friday, June 6 · 6–9 pm · Main Galleries
Turn Turn Turn and A Tumultuous Assembly
Come to MMoCA on the first Friday in June to enjoy the openings of two summer exhibitions: Turn Turn Turn, which addresses the cyclical nature of life, andA Tumultuous Assembly, which explores the artistic legacy of collage, assemblage, and the use of the found object. View the works in the exhibition throughout the evening, and hear a compelling gallery talk at 6:30 pm with MMoCA’s curators, Richard H. Axsom and Leah Kolb. Acoustic singer/songwriter Lucas Cates will perform live in the Rooftop Sculpture Garden, and Fresco will serve seasonal hors d’oeuvres. Members free/$10 MMoCA Nights admission.
Friday, June 6 · 6:30–7:15 pm · Main Galleries
To Every Thing There is a Season
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MMoCA curator Richard H. Axsom and associate curator Leah Kolb will offer a curatorial overview of Turn Turn Turn, an exhibition drawn from the museum’s permanent collection. Seven verses from the third Chapter of Ecclesiastes serve as organizing principles for the exhibition, which also makes reference to Pete Seeger’s popular song, Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There is a Season). Axsom and Kolb will highlight a selection of works in Turn Turn Turn that articulate the life circumstances described in Ecclesiastes. Members free/$10 MMoCA Nights admission. |
Friday, June 6 · Sundown (9:30 pm approx.) Rooftop Cinema
The Magical Garden of Jan Svankmajer
Bring a friend, bring a blanket or camp chairs, and prepare yourself for an evening of avant-garde films and videos under the stars. Rooftop Cinema returns for its ninth season to the museum’s rooftop sculpture garden. Films begin at sundown.
Legendary Czech filmmaker Jan Svankmajer is primarily known for his films that combine meticulous stop-motion animation and live action in bizarre, dreamlike narratives. Svankmajer’s short films articulate one of the most individual and fascinating world views in the annals of animation. His work has had a strong influence on such filmmakers as Tim Burton and Terry Gilliam. This program features three of Svankmajer’s most ambitious short films, including his absurdist live-action film The Garden, which previously has not screened theatrically in the US. [Adapted from an article in The New York Times]
The Garden (Zahrada) (1968, Czechoslovakia, 19 min.)
Jabberwocky (Zvahlav) (1971, Czechoslovakia, 12 min.)
Food (1992, UK/Czechoslovakia, 17 min.)
Rooftop Cinema is free for MMoCA members/$7 per screening for the general public; admission in the lobby beginning at 8:30 pm.
Friday, June 13 · 6:30–7:00 pm · Main Galleries
A time to Plant and A Time to Pluck up What is Planted
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Focusing on works by such artists as Thomas Hart Benton and Grant Wood in Turn Turn Turn, professor Jeremy M. Hutton will present a talk on Qohelet and the work ethic of agricultural laborers as expressed in Ecclesiastes 3. |
The author of the Book of Ecclesiastes (often called Qohelet) is typically portrayed as a cynic, viewing the fate of humanity as one of constant toil, “vanity” (ephemerality), and of “chasing after the wind.” Despite the negative connotations of these ideas in our society, Professor Hutton will present a more positive picture of Qohelet’s philosophy: it is one of quiet, stalwart resignation, in which laborers must learn to accept their fate, but are nonetheless encouraged to appreciate—and even to love—the hard work of the agricultural lifestyle, and the benefits that come with it.
Jeremy M. Hutton is assistant professor of classical Hebrew language and Biblical literature in the University of Wisconsin-Madison Department of Hebrew and Semitic Studies.
Friday, June 13 · Sundown (9:30 pm approx.) Rooftop Cinema
The Animated Poetry of Caroline Leaf
Bring a friend, bring a blanket or camp chairs, and prepare yourself for an evening of avant-garde films and videos under the stars. Rooftop Cinema returns for its ninth season to the museum’s rooftop sculpture garden. Films begin at sundown.
The films of Caroline Leaf dramatically expand a tradition of artistic and artisanal animation that flourished in Canada and, to a lesser extent, the United States during the 1960s and 1970s. Although she has made few films, Leaf pioneered important new aesthetic and technical approaches to narrative animation, which have remained deeply influential for later artists, such as William Kentridge.
Sand, or Peter and the Wolf (1968, Canada, 10 min.)
The Street (1976, Canada, 10 min.)
The Metamorphosis of Mr. Samsa (1977, Canada, 9 min.)
Two Sisters (1991, Canada, 10 min.)
Rooftop Cinema is free for MMoCA members/$7 per screening for the general public; admission in the lobby beginning at 8:30 pm.
Saturdays, June 14 – July 26
Weekdays, June 19 – August 14
The museum’s free outdoor art programs are on the road again! Art Cart and Art Cart EXTRA! will travel to parks, playgrounds, and beaches across Dane County this summer. As always, the programs bring expert instruction and a relaxed attitude to art projects.
Beginning Saturday, June 14, Art Cart EXTRA! will travel to the area communities of Black Earth, Cottage Grove, DeForest, Fitchburg, Monona, Mount Horeb, McFarland, Stoughton, Sun Prairie, Verona, and Waunakee. It will also visit Prairie du Sac from 10-11:30 on Wednesday, August 6. Download the full schedule at mmoca.org.
Art Cart begins touring Madison on Thursday, June 19. Art Cart is a joint project of MMoCA and Madison School & Community Recreation. Art Cart EXTRA! is a program of MMoCA.
Friday, June 20 · Sundown (9:30 pm approx.) Rooftop Cinema
The Cabinet of Břetislav Pojar
Bring a friend, bring a blanket or camp chairs, and prepare yourself for an evening of avant-garde films and videos under the stars. Rooftop Cinema returns for its ninth season to the museum’s rooftop sculpture garden. Films begin at sundown.
One of the most important figures in the storied history of Czech animation, Břetislav Pojar first gained recognition as a leading figure in AFIT Studio (Studio of Film Tricks) as a puppeteer and an early adopter of what is known as relief puppet animation. After a successful career in Czechoslovakia, he emigrated to Canada, where he began a fruitful thirty-year collaboration with the National Film Board of Canada. Pojar’s Canadian films are notable for their mesmerizing visual storytelling, strong social commentary, and sophisticated sense of humor.
To See or Not to See (1969, Canada, 15 min.)
Baleblok (1972, Canada, 8 min.)
E (with Francine Desbiens, 1981, Canada, 7 min.)
Narkoblues (1997, Canada, 8 min.)
Why (1995, Canada, 9 min.)
Mouseology (1994, Canada, 9 min.)
Rooftop Cinema is free for MMoCA members/$7 per screening for the general public; admission in the lobby beginning at 8:30 pm.
Thursday, June 26 · 12:30–1:00 pm · Main Galleries Gallery Talk
A Time to Plant, Pluck, and Sing!
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Sociologist, agroecologist, and musician Michael Bell will speak and sing about the enduring place of growing in culture. Accompanying himself on guitar, banjo, and mandolin, he will cultivate connections between the art and the practice of our most fundamental basis of livelihood. |
Michael Bell is professor of Community and Environmental Sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and director of the Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems. A scholar with broad research and teaching interests in the field of sociology, Bell is also an accomplished musician.
Friday, June 27 · 7:30 am – 7:30 pm Chicago Bus Trip
Join MMoCA on June 27 for a trip to the Art Institute of Chicago to see Magritte: The Mystery of the Ordinary. Start the day on the bus with snacks and a mini Magritte lesson led by MMoCA docents. Arrive in Chicago and enjoy a retrospective exhibition of works by René Magritte, creator of some of the 20thcentury’s most extraordinary images. A self-guided tour will allow ample time to enjoy the works at your own pace. In the afternoon, choose to remain at the Art Institute or take the bus to the Museum of Contemporary Art.
$85 MMoCA members; $95 non-members. Includes round-trip coach transportation, refreshments, and Art Institute admission. The bus will depart from the Dutch Mill Park & Ride at 7:30 am and return at approximately 7:30 pm. Call Kaitlin at 608.257.0158 x224 by June 6 for reservations or visitmmoca.org to purchase tickets online.
Friday, June 27 · Sundown (9:30 pm approx.) Rooftop Cinema
The Digital World of Lillian Schwartz
Bring a friend, bring a blanket or camp chairs, and prepare yourself for an evening of avant-garde films and videos under the stars. Rooftop Cinema returns for its ninth season to the museum’s rooftop sculpture garden. Films begin at sundown.
Lillian Schwartz is one of the pioneers in computer art and is known as one of the first female artists to use computers as an art tool. Although fascinated with the technological aspects of the computer as a new approach to creating art, Schwartz was most concerned with the finished product—the permanent work of art. [Adapted from the Lillian Feldman Schwartz Collection, Ohio State University Libraries.]
Complimentary 3-D glasses will be distributed to the first 150 audience members.
Pixilation (1970, US, 4 min.)
UFO’S (1971, US, 3 min.)
Olympiad (1971, US, 3 min.)
Mutations (1972, US, 7.5 min.)
Apotheosis (1972, US, 4.5 min.)
Googolplex (1972, US, 5.5 min.)
Enigma (1972, US, 4 min.)
Papillons (1973, US, 4 min.)
Mirage (1974, US, 5 min.)
Alae (1975, US, 5 min.)
Collage (1975, US, 5.5 min.)
Rooftop Cinema is free for MMoCA members/$7 per screening for the general public; admission in the lobby beginning at 8:30 pm.
Saturday, July 12, 9:00 am – 6:00 pm, Sunday, July 13 10:00 am – 5:00 pm
Art Fair on the Square
Many have relished MMoCA’s Art Fair on the Square over the last 55 years, and nearly 200,000 art enthusiasts will enjoy the 2014 fair. Art Fair on the Square offers visitors the opportunity to see and purchase a wide range of fine artwork from hundreds of active artists from around the country, hear live music, and enjoy the outdoors. This year’s fair has drawn exciting new artists, along with the returning 13 artists who received 2013 Best of Show Awards and the over 50 Invitational Award artists. Additionally, fair visitors will be delighted by the works of sculptor Anthony Pack, the 2014 Featured Artist. His figural, mixed-media creations are built by hand, entirely of recycled materials. Mr. Bluebird, the featured artwork, will be on display in the popular silent auction tent over the weekend of the fair.
Art Fair on the Square continues to be one of the largest art fairs in the Midwest, and is rated among the very best art shows in the United States by artists across the country, and by several arts and trade publications. The Art Fair is MMoCA’s most important annual fund raiser, providing crucial support for exhibitions, education programs, and the preservation of its permanent collection. Preview each artist’s works at mmoca.org beginning June 1.
Thursday, August 14· 6:00 – 9:00 pm
Experience MMoCA after-hours with the museum’s newest series Under the Influence, on Thursday, August 14. Enjoy an evening in MMoCA’s rooftop sculpture garden as you participate in an interactive art experience while enjoying food and beverage pairings from Fresco.
Doors open at 6:00 pm. Program begins at 6:30. Supplies for Under the Influence are generously donated by Artist & Craftsman Supply. For more information, please visit mmoca.org/undertheinfluence or contact Kaitlin at 608.257.0158 x224 or [email protected].
Mark your calendars for the Thursday, November 13 Under the Influence, to finish the 2014 series.
Friday, August 22 · 6:00–9:00 pm
Join us in August to celebrate the opening of a highly anticipated exhibition by multidisciplinary artist Jason S. Yi. Guests can preview Yi’s sculptural installation in the State Street Gallery beginning at 6:00 pm. At 6:30 pm, the artist will share insights about his work and process in a gallery talk. The Jason Seed Stringtet will perform live, and hors d’oeuvres from Fresco will round out the evening. Members free/$10 MMoCA Nights admission.
Friday, August 22 · 6:30–7:00 pm · State St Gallery Gallery Talk
A Fragile Permanence
Jason S. Yi is fascinated by human perception. His works call attention to how we first sense and then comprehend our surroundings, and often contain a contradiction. Although his recent sculptures appear at first to be imposing and powerful, they are in fact formed in part by materials such as snow fencing or tape. Yi transforms these ordinary materials to explore life’s incongruities and conflicts. Members free/$10 MMoCA Nights admission.
Friday, August 22 · Sundown (8:30 pm approx.) Rooftop Cinema
From Puppets to Pixels
Bring a friend, bring a blanket or camp chairs, and prepare yourself for an evening of avant-garde films and videos under the stars. Rooftop Cinema returns for its ninth season to the museum’s rooftop sculpture garden. Films begin at sundown.
Rooftop Cinema concludes in August with an additional selection of short films by the four artists featured in June: Jan Svankmajer, Caroline Leaf,Břetislav Pojar, and Lillian Schwartz.
Dimensions of Dialogue (Moznosti dialogu) (Svankmajer, 1983, Czechoslovakia, 11 min.)
Interview (Leaf, 1979, Canada, 13 min.)
I Met a Man (Leaf, 1991, Canada, 1 min.)
Narkoblues (Pojar, 1997, Canada, 8 min.)
Fantasies (Schwartz, 1976, US, 5 min.)
La Spiritata (Schwartz, 1976, US, 4 min.)
Newtonian II (Schwartz, 1978, US, 5.5 min.)
Rooftop Cinema is free for MMoCA members/$7 per screening for the general public; admission in the lobby beginning at 7:30 pm
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Admission to exhibitions at the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art is free of charge. MMoCA is supported through memberships and through generous contributions and grants from individuals, corporations, agencies, and foundations. Important support is also generated through auxiliary group programs; special events; rental of the museum’s lobby, lecture hall, and rooftop garden; and sales through the Museum Store.
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