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MoMA

TALKS & READINGS

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See art from different perspectives and get inspired by artists, writers, curators, and designers.

  • Join us for daily gallery talks and weekly lunch lectures
  • Attend performances and poetry readings inspired by modern and contemporary art
  • Talk with artists and curators about their work
  • Explore our online multimedia player for past lectures and events
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Panels & Symposia

Cindy Sherman: From 1975 to Now

Monday, May 21, 2012, 6:30 p.m.
In conjunction with the exhibition Cindy Sherman
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On the occasion of The Museum of Modern Art's Cindy Sherman retrospective and the publication of Cindy Sherman: The Early Work, 1975–1977, Catalogue Raisonné, MoMA and Parsons The New School for Design present a lecture on Sherman’s career from the very beginning to the present. Gabriele Schor, author of the catalogue raisonné, will discuss Sherman’s early works, produced during her studies in Buffalo from 1975 through the summer of 1977. In just two-and-a-half years the young artist created an impressive number of portraits, films, and complex cutout pictorial narratives that have remained unknown until now. Eva Respini will discuss connections between early works and more recent bodies of work, emphasizing how identity, feminine roles, and the artifice of photography have been at the heart of Sherman’s artistic practice from its earliest phases.

Eva Respini is Associate Curator at The Museum of Modern Art, New York, and curator of the exhibition Cindy Sherman. She has organized numerous exhibitions on contemporary art and photography at MoMA, including Boris Mikhailov: Case History (2011), Staging Action: Performance in Photography since 1960 (co-curated 2011), Pictures by Women: A History of Modern Photography (co-curated 2010), Into the Sunset: Photography’s Image of the American West (2009), Artist’s Choice: Vik Muniz (2008), and New Photography (2012, 2009, 2007, and 2005), among others. She is the author of Cindy Sherman and Into the Sunset: Photography’s Image of the American West, co-author of Fashioning Fiction in Photography since 1990, and a contributor to other museum publications.

Gabriele Schor is director of the collection Sammlung Verbund, which was established in 2004 in Vienna. A former teacher of American and European modern art and contemporary photography at the Universities of Graz and Vienna, she is author of Cindy Sherman: The Early Works 1975–1977, Catalogue Raisonné (2012) and The Prints of Barnett Newman 1961–1969 (1996). She has organized numerous exhibitions, including Cindy Sherman: That's me – That's not me: The Early Works 1975–1977; DONNA: Avanguardia Femminista negli anni '70, at the Galleria nazionale d'arte moderna in Rome (2010); and Held Together with Water, at MAK Vienna (2007) and the Istanbul Museum of Modern Art (2008). Together with Abigail Solomon-Godeau, she edited the first monograph of the Austrian artist Birgit Jürgenssen (2009).

When

Monday, May 21, 2012, 6:30 p.m.

Where
Parsons The New School for Design
Fees

The event is free and open to the public. No tickets required. This program is hosted by the BFA in photography program at Parsons. Visit parsons.edu for more information.

This event is held at:
Parsons The New School for Design
Tishman Auditorium
66 West 12 Street
New York, NY 10011

Performances & Readings

55978

MoMA Nights with DJ Redboy

Thursday, June 7, 2012, 5:30 p.m.–8:30 p.m.
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55978

Tonight's DJ: Redboy
Fueled by caffeine and a deep love for all things musical, Redboy has traveled the globe sharing sounds from his beloved record crates. As a founding member of NYC's influential electronic-music night Oxygen, Redboy performed alongside everyone from breakbeat godfather Fatboy Slim to the trip-hop duo Lamb to the jazz-influenced downtempo artist Mocean Worker. Redboy's passions have led him to work in nearly every aspect of the music business, including a lengthy stint at AOL Music, where he helped found Spinner.com—the Web's most trafficked indie music site. Redboy is also an accomplished photographer, shooting for sites like Billboard, BrooklynVegan, and his own Streetandstage.com. For MoMA Nights, Redboy will spin a mixture of cinematic and downtempo beats to compliment and enhance the evening's festivities.

Cash Bar
5:30–8:00 p.m.
Visit the cash bar for a variety of beverages, including specialty cocktails.

Terrace Dining
5:00–7:00 p.m., Terrace 5 (floor 5)
Terrace 5 will offer an à la carte menu indoors, as well as an "urban picnic"—antipasti, salumi, cheese, and sweets, with optional choice of wine—outdoors on the terrace, with seatings at 5:00 and 7:00 p.m. Menus are presented by Chef Lynn Bound. The "urban picnic" is $32 per person (not including beverage or NYS sales tax and service charge), and is not eligible for the 10% member discount. For reservations, please email jhackimer@artfoodny.com with name, preferred time, number of guests, and phone number.

Gallery Talks
Free with admission
MoMA educators give engaging talks in the galleries at 6:00 and 7:30 p.m. Groups meet the lecturer in the Marron Atrium on the second floor. Gallery talks are approximately sixty minutes in duration. For enhanced hearing in the galleries, FM headsets and neck loops are available at the meeting spot.

MoMA is open late the first Thursday of the month, September–June, with a DJ, a cash bar, a special menu in Terrace 5 or Cafe 2, and free Gallery Talks.

Regular Museum admission applies.

Program

MoMA Nights

When

Thursday, June 7, 2012, 5:30 p.m. –8:30 p.m.

Modern Poets: Frank O'Hara’s Lunch Poems

Friday, June 8, 2012, 12:00 p.m.
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In the 1960s, when poet Frank O’Hara worked at MoMA, he often spent his lunch breaks roaming the streets of midtown Manhattan, finding inspiration in the bustling city and its people and writing poems about his encounters. For our special summer session of Modern Poets, two New York–based poets read their favorite Lunch Poems and then give you prompts and guidelines for hitting the streets and writing your own.

Stefania Heim's poems have appeared in numerous publications, including Harp & Altar, La Petite Zine, The Paris Review, A Public Space, and The Literary Review. She is the author of a chapbook, 3 Poems, published by handheld editions, and is founding editor of CIRCUMFERENCE: Poetry in Translation. She teaches at Columbia University and Hunter College.

Revitalizing Frank O'Hara's legacy and MoMA's historical commitment to poetry, this series invites poets and performers to bring the literary tradition to the Museum's collection. They read historical works and their own work that reflects on modern and contemporary art.

Can't make this event? This event also occurs on:

Program

Modern Poets

When

Friday, June 8, 2012, 12:00 p.m.

Where
The Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Sculpture Garden, exterior, first floor
Fees
Free with Museum admission. Seating is available on a first-come, first-served basis.

Modern Poets: Frank O'Hara’s Lunch Poems

Friday, June 15, 2012, 12:00 p.m.
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In the 1960s, when poet Frank O’Hara worked at MoMA, he often spent his lunch breaks roaming the streets of midtown Manhattan, finding inspiration in the bustling city and its people and writing poems about his encounters. For our special summer session of Modern Poets, two New York–based poets read their favorite Lunch Poems and then give you prompts and guidelines for hitting the streets and writing your own.

Wayne Koestenbaum has published 15 books of poetry, criticism, and fiction, including Humiliation, The Anatomy of Harpo Marx, Blue Stranger with Mosaic Background, Best-Selling Jewish Porn Films, Hotel Theory, and Moira Orfei in Aigues-Mortes. He also holds a post as Distinguished Professor of English, CUNY Graduate Center.

Revitalizing Frank O'Hara's legacy and MoMA's historical commitment to poetry, this series invites poets and performers to bring the literary tradition to the Museum's collection. They read historical works and their own work that reflects on modern and contemporary art.

Can't make this event? This event also occurs on:

Program

Modern Poets

When

Friday, June 15, 2012, 12:00 p.m.

Where
The Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Sculpture Garden, exterior, first floor
Fees
Free with Museum admission. Seating is available on a first-come, first-served basis.

Modern Poets: John Cage Day

Thursday, August 9, 2012, 12:00 p.m.
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Celebrate the centenary of legendary artist, composer, philosopher, and writer John Cage with a series of readings, performances, musical compositions, and personal reflections by poets, writers, musicians, and scholars. Participants include writer and editor Richard Kostelantez; Joan Retallack, John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Professor of Humanities, Bard College; pianist and toy-piano virtuoso Margaret Leng Tan; and poet, editor, and curator Roger van Voorhees. In the evening (at 6:30 p.m.), enjoy John Cage-composed and Cage-inspired percussion music during MoMA Nights, when Third Coast Percussion Ensemble presents Revolution: The Cage Century.

Revitalizing Frank O'Hara's legacy and MoMA's historical commitment to poetry, this series invites poets and performers to bring the literary tradition to the Museum's collection. They read historical works and their own work that reflects on modern and contemporary art.

Program

Modern Poets

When

Thursday, August 9, 2012, 12:00 p.m.

Where
The Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Sculpture Garden, exterior, first floor
Fees
Free with Museum admission.