PEI timely materials

6/27/2008 – Taking a Bartram’s 18th-century trek For "Mark Dion: Travels of William Bartram - Reconsidered," an installation in the historic Bartram house at Philadelphia's Bartram's Garden, Dion made his own version of the Philadelphia-to-Florida expedition undertaken by the city's own great 18th-century explorer, artist, and ornithologist William Bartram. The exhibit is funded by PEI. (Philadelphia Inquirer article)

6/25/2008 Shadow Boxing Dion’s collection playfully echoes Bartram’s original. (Philadelphia Weekly article)

5/29/2008 Innovation 2: Risk and the University Gallery, a conversation with Ian Berry, Curator, The Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College and Jens Hoffmann, Director, CCA Wattis Institute, California College of the Arts. Read announcement.

4/8/2008 Rethinking “Thinking Through Craft,” a lecture and conversation with Glenn Adamson, Deputy Head of Research and Head of Graduate Studies, Victoria and Albert Museum and author of Thinking Through Craft. Read announcement.

1/13/2008 - Art: Bold tapestries revivify a medium. William Kentridge's innovative tapestries, displayed at the Art Museum, are a subtle response to the apartheid of his home, South Africa. (Philadelphia Inquirer article)

12/31/2007 - Art Review | 'William Kentridge: Tapestries'Shadowy Nomads, Writ in Warp and Woof (New York Times review)

9/14/2007 - With bottle trees & African art, exhibit pays homage to ancestors. Evoking Spirit, Embracing Memory exhibition features artificial trees decorated with colorful bottles, as well as other African-inspired art in Baobab Park, 11th and York Streets, Philadelphia, through the Village of Arts and Humanities. (Philadelphia Inquirer article)

11/27/2007 - PEI Curatorial Roundtable on Curatorial Innovation in Emerging Alternative Spaces

05/03/07 - 2007 Exhibition Awards Bring Internationally Recognized Artists to Philadelphia
Three first-time grantees among those receiving a total of $651,650 for new exhibitions

PEI Curatorial Roundtable
Richard Flood, Chief Curator, New Museum of Contemporary Art, NYC
May 17, 2-5 pm RSVP 267-350-4930
Philadelphia Center for Arts and Heritage
1608 Walnut Street, 18th Floor
Click here to read announcement (PDF) >>

Philadelphia Exhibitions Initiative
Philadelphia Center for Arts & Heritage
“QUESTIONS OF PRACTICE: WHAT MAKES A GREAT EXHIBITION?”

With contributions by Glenn Adamson | Paola Antonelli with Bennett Simpson | Carlos Basualdo | Iwona Blazwick | Lynne Cooke | Thelma Golden with Glenn Ligon | Mary Jane Jacob | Jeffrey Kipnis | Paula Marincola | Detlef Mertins | Mark Nash | Ralph Rugoff | Ingrid Schaffner | Robert Storr

Rising attendance at museums and megashows plus increased press coverage in the age of the international biennial and blockbuster have translated into a growing interest in how exhibitions are made. The new art histories and the curatorial studies programs springing up across North America and Europe often deal with theoretical issues, yet one of the central questions of curatorial practice frequently remains unstated: What makes a exhibition great? In this book, 14 essays by active curators and historians address the issue head on. Their perspective on realizing high ideals in the face of budget constraints and various, sometimes conflicting, institutional and public imperatives provide pragmatic examples of thinking by doing and ways to address the public through that central nexus of art and audience: the exhibition.

This volume aims to stimulate thought about how overarching issues meet-on-the-ground practicalities. What Makes a Great Exhibition? is vital reading for arts professionals, art and curatorial studies students, art historians, practicing artists, and anyone curious about exhibition-making today.

What Makes a Great Exhibition? will be available through Reaktion Books, London and University of Chicago Press. Visit University of Chicago Press to place your order.

If you need any further information, contact us at pei@pcah.us or by calling (267) 350-4930.

Click here to visit the Curating Now: Imaginative Practice/Public Responsibility minisite where you can view the complete publication in PDF format.