In its galleries, at venues across the MSU campus and in the community, the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum will surprise and engage audiences with the best in contemporary performance, live art and educational programs, focusing on emerging voices and international perspectives, events and programs that engage the community.
MAY 2013
Wednesday, May 22—Endless Imagery Panel Discussion
7pm, Broad MSU Education Wing
Admission: free
In Conjunction with the special exhibition, Pattern: Follow the Rules, the Broad MSU is presenting an exciting interdisciplinary panel that looks at the idea of Endless Imagery. In our digital era, there is a dramatic effect that transitions our ideas about the state of images from the singular and authentic to the many and reproduced. In a time in which we all have digital cameras and facebook accounts, we see the world as mediated by the ability to repeatedly view and repeatedly share images etc. This panel examines the issues of rote repetition and excessive patterning, the absence of authenticity and the effect of a seemingly endless visual field on perception from a variety of disciplines.
Speakers include: Adam Brown, Professor of Art, Art history and Design; Robert Root-Bernstein, Professor of Physiology, MSU; Jonathan Hall, Professor of Mathematics, MSU; and Alison Gass, Curator of Contemporary Art at the Broad MSU
JUNE 2013
Saturday, June 1—Family Day
12–4pm, Broad MSU Education Wing
Admission: free
Join The Broad MSU for June's Family Day! Make hands-on projects based on our exhibition, Pattern: Follow the Rules, take a special family tour, and check-out our iPad scavenger hunt!
Wednesday, June 5—Artist Talk: Alyson Shotz in converstaion with Broad MSU Curator of Contemporary Art, Alison Gass
Private Reception: 6–7pm
Public Talk: 7–8pm
Member Reception: 8–9pm
Julie and Edward J. Minskoff Gallery
Admission: free
Artist Alyson Shotz will be in conversation with Curator of Contemporary Art, Alison Gass, discussing her recent works on display at the Broad MSU, White Wave (2013, as part of the exhibition, Pattern: Follow the Rules), and Geometry of Light (2011, Education Wing installation). Shotz’s sculptures investigate perception and space by utilizing common materials such as mirror, glass beads, plastic lenses, thread, steel and wire in inventive ways. Guided by an interest in the natural world, her work simultaneously mirrors and refracts elements of our universe, merging the realms of art and artifice. Shotz has been exhibited in numerous public and private institutions including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Hirshhorn Museum, and the Guggenheim Museum.
Friday, June 7—Exhibition Opening: Blind Field
June 7–September 8, 2013
Brazil has long been called "the country of the future." This exhibition focuses on a young generation of twenty-one artists working in Brazil who offer a critical perspective on processes of transition within contemporary society, be it from the public space of the street to the virtual zone of the computer screen, or the scale of local communities to the structure of large-scale political action. From the dramatic construction of the ultramodern capital of Brasília in the late 1950s to the country's status as an emerging economic powerhouse in the 21st century, Brazilian national identity is inextricably intertwined with the idea of potentiality or promise and possibility. Yet the Brazilian saying from which this idea derives is more complex, for it suggests that the notion of potentiality is itself something of a mirage, an illusion that blinds its citizens to the reality of present day constraints. In 1970, the French sociologist and philosopher Henri Lefebvre described the "blind field" as a particular experience of urban existence, in which the culturally or politically constructed concept of a place obscures the actual experience of daily life. The work in this exhibition builds a portrait of a nationalistic disconnect between idealism and the mundane. Blind Field powerfully examines the way in which the obstruction of perception can illuminate alternate modes of knowledge and experience. Together, these works convey the complexity and heterogeneity of an art milieu that is at once tied to a specifically Brazilian experience, but is manifestly global in reach, reminding viewers of the constant cultural messages that impact the way we see our world.
This exhibition is curated by Tumelo Mosaka and Irene Small and organized by the Krannert Art Museum at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where it is on view January 25 - March 31, 2013. Sponsored in part by Office of the Provost and Vice-Chancellor for Academic Affairs, U of I; the Francis P. Rohlen Visiting Artists Fund/College of Fine and Applied Arts, U of I; Lemann Institute for Brazilian Studies, U of I; College of Fine and Applied Arts Creative Research Award, U of I; Consulate General of Brazil in Chicago; Fox Development Corporation; the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency; School of Art + Design Visitors Fund, U of I; Jerrold Ziff Lecture on Modern Art, and Krannert Art Museum.
Friday, June 7—Concert: Bridges to Choro
7pm, Broad MSU Courtyard (weather permitting)
Admission: free
Choro, a popular Brazilian instrumental music that dates back to the late 19th century, combines virtuosic performance practice with sophisticated compositional techniques. The music's popularity rose with the commercial recording and radio industry in the early 20th century and inspired an entire generation of musicians and composers, both popular and classical. Though it declined in the 1950s, choro was revived in the 1970s, and this uniquely Brazilian music is today performed throughout Brazil and across the world. Bridges to Choro was started by Carlos Eduardo Mello, Professor of Trombone and Music Technology at University of Brasilia and MSU alumnus during Mello’s time as a visiting scholar in MSU's music department. The group is made up of MSU music students and alumni—each member contributing their own unique cultural and musical experience to the Bridges of Choro.
Friday, June 14—Fiction 440
Drinks: 6pm
Fiction 440: 7–8pm
Broad MSU Education
Admission: free
Fiction 440 is Lansing’s flash fiction series, where writers can submit complete works of fiction in 440 words or less, based on the prompt given to them monthly. In June, The Broad MSU invites you to a special edition of Fiction 440 in the museum! Enjoy a beer and pull-up a chair to listen to local wordsmiths tell original stories. Stories must contain the words: apocalypse, shapely, and sequence. Stories can be submitted to fiction440@gmail.com. Authors should include their full name and the story title. Terms of submission can be found at fiction440.org.
Broad MSU Summer Art Camp 2013
One-week sessions run June 17–July 12, 2013
Broad MSU Education Wing
Register at: http://broadmsusummerartcamp.eventbrite.com/
The Broad Art Museum at MSU welcomes children to participate in an exciting week of summer camp in the state-of-the-art education wing of our new building. We will look at, talk about, and make original art during the course of a week. Kids will learn about historical and contemporary artists and will create their own work using mixed media, architectural design, and sculpture. Tap into your “inner artist” and immerse yourself in the Broad MSU summer camp! Bring your imagination and creativity to the museum for this unique opportunity to explore contemporary art. Camp is led by art educators, museum staff, docents, and student teachers. Children will learn about the Broad MSU’s collection and will use the education wing as their own studio space. At the end of the week, campers will showcase their work in an exhibition at the museum. Registration deadline: May 30
Friday, June 28—Oscar Niemeyer: A Vida E Um Sopro (Life is a Breath of Air), 2007
Directed by Fabiano Maciel, 90 minutes, in Portuguese with English Subtitles
7pm, Broad MSU Education Wing
Admission: free
One of the most important figures in international modern architecture, Oscar Niemeyer passed away last December just shy of his 105th birthday! By combining modern building techniques with his trademark curved concrete forms, Niemeyer created designs that exude liquidity. In this program, Niemeyer reflects on his long life and prolific output, sharing his thoughts on his buildings in Brasília, his ideals for a fairer society and his philosophical contemplations on the nature of existence.