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The Puppet Show |
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The Puppet Show is a provocative group exhibition that explores puppet imagery in contemporary art. International in scope, the work of the 27 participating artists is presented in a variety of media, with a particular focus on sculpture, video, and photography. Some pieces involve puppets as figures—marionettes, shadow puppets, and ventriloquist dummies—others involve artists as puppeteers. The exhibition also explores manipulation, miniaturization, and control, topics often associated with puppetry. The participating artists are: Guy Ben-Ner, Nayland Blake, Louise Bourgeois, Maurizio Cattelan, Anne Chu, Nathalie Djurberg, Terence Gower, Dan Graham, Pierre Huyghe, Christian Jankowski, Mike Kelley, William Kentridge, Cindy Loehr, Annette Messager, Paul McCarthy, Matt Mullican, Bruce Nauman, Dennis Oppenheim, Philippe Parreno and Rirkrit Tiravanija, Thomas Schütte, Doug Skinner and Michael Smith, Laurie Simmons, Kiki Smith, Kara Walker, Andy Warhol, and Charlie White. Southern California is home to an abundance of artists at the forefront of experimental and avant-garde puppetry. The extraordinary site-specific programming offered during The Puppet Show breaks the exhibition “fourth wall,” revealing the vitality and variety of contemporary puppet-inspired art in the immediate community. Read more about The Puppet Show and related special programs. Programs for The Puppet Show are funded, in part, by the City of Santa Monica’s Community Arts Grant Program.
The Puppet Show is organized by the Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania. It is co-curated by Ingrid Schaffner, ICA Senior curator, and Carin Kuoni, Director, The Vera List Center for Art and Politics at The New School. ICA thanks the following funders: Barbara B. & Theodore R. Aronson; Etant donnes: The French-American Fund for Contemporary Art; Susquehanna Foundation; The Bandier Family Foundation; Goldberg Foundation; Sotheby’s; Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation; The Chodorow Exhibition Initiative Fund; and the Philadelphia Exhibitions Initiative, a program of the Philadelphia Center for Arts and Heritage, funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts, and administered by University of the Arts. |
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Opening Night Workshop for Young People: Puppets |
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Young visitors create puppet projects with artist Nadia Reed during the Opening Reception of The Puppet Show. Space is limited. RSVP and pre-payment required. Contact: Asuka Hisa, SMMoA's Director of Education, 310 586-6488 x118, asuka.hisa@smmoa.org. |
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Project Room 1: Bruce Busby: Super Faulty Reconfiguration |
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Bruce Busby creates safe-havens from the impurities and “inhibitants” in the environment that cause creative blockage, frustration, inefficiency, and confusion. His hand-sewn nylon multicolor Creativity Enhancement Shelters range from bifurcated and curvilinear structures to what appear to be cutting-edge teepees. These shelters are also completely collapsible and transportable, so that one’s “oasis” can be taken along and erected anywhere. In his museum exhibition debut, Busby creates a new large-scale shelter that is modular and can be attached to any number of other like structures through a system of quick-release buckles and zippers. The exhibition also includes three new large scale drawings of Creativity Amplification Quakes (CRAQUE), intricate, billowing clouds of contamination rising from actual fault lines of the San Francisco Bay and Los Angeles areas. Read more about Super Faulty Reconfiguration. |
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Park Studio: Shadows and Gags |
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The exhibition features three shadow puppet shows, prints, and animations by 17 students mentored by artists Lynn Jeffries, Artemio Rodriguez, and Paul Zaloom. Park Studio is a free outreach program offered to neighborhood middle and high school students during spring break. The program is developed and organized by Asuka Hisa, SMMoA's Director of Education. |
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Free Family Day: Teeny Tiny Toy Theater |
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Beth Peterson works with participants to create their own miniature worlds using traditional toy theater techniques. Open to all ages and skill levels. Drop in any time between 1 and 5 p.m. This is a free event. If you enjoy this event, Beth Peterson will also be performing at the Music Center’s Toy Theater Festival on June 14 an 15. |
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The Puppet Show with artist Charlie White |
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Join one of The Puppet Show artists for a tour and discussion of selected works in the exhibition. White is Assistant Professor, and director of the MFA program at the University of Southern California's Roski School of Fine Arts. This is a free event. |
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Objects at Rest, Objects in Motion: The Persistence of Puppets as Art |
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Dr. John Bell, puppeteer, teacher, and director of the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry at the University of Connecticut, leads an exhibition walk-through relating The Puppet Show to the history of puppetry. This is a free event. |
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Members Exclusive: SMMoA Book Club
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The SMMoA Book Club illuminates the work of living artists by reading their favorite books. Charlie White, one of the artists in The Puppet Show (on view at SMMoA May 24 through August 9, 2008), will lead a discussion of "One Arm", by Yasunari Kawabata. This is one of the stories in Kawabata's haunting House of the Sleeping Beauties. The talk will be preceded by a paired sake tasting, presented by Venice's Hama Sushi. Discounted copies of Kawabata’s book are available at GRACIE, SMMoA’s museum store. This event is for SMMoA members only. RSVP required: anna.nickila@smmoa.org or 310 586-6488 x 116. SMMoA memberships begin at $45; $35 for students and artists. Join now to attend the Book Club! You can also RSVP by visiting the Book Club blog. |
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SMMoA's Twentieth Anniversary Artist Plate Project |
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Highlighted in the Los Angeles Times and Juxtapoz Magazine’s Style Sheet, this limited edition is available as a set of twelve porcelain plates, each 14 inches in diameter. Each plate is signed and numbered. Original artwork for the Plate Project was contributed by Mark Bradford, Kota Ezawa, Gajin Fujita, Charles Gaines, Joe Goode, Salomón Huerta, Kerry James Marshall, Kim McCarty, Raymond Pettibon, Allen Ruppersberg, Alison Saar, and Álvaro Siza. As there are just a few sets left, please make sure to place your order soon; call 310 586-6488. |
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Wall Works: blik and Me
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In the latest Wall Works project, Los Angeles-based wall graphics company blik collaborated with students from all over Southern California to create a site-specific installation made with color vinyl adhesives. All the adhesive images were made from drawings that answered the question: What would you be if you were not human? Wall Works is an ongoing, free program that involves hundreds of Southern California schoolchildren, artists, and community partners in the creation of large-scale public artworks. To participate in a future Wall Works, please contact Asuka Hisa, SMMoA’s Director of Education, 310 586-6488 x118, asuka.hisa@smmoa.org. Wall Works is funded, in part, by the The Annenberg Foundation. |
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Visit Select U.S. Museums For Free! |
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SMMoA is part of the North American Reciprocal Museums (NARM) program. Museum members at the $125 level and above enjoy the following additional benefits: visit, at no charge, fellow NARM museums such as the University of California, Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive and the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts; receive member discounts on event tickets purchased on site at NARM museums; and receive member discounts on purchases made at NARM museum stores. Just show your SMMoA membership card with a gold NARM sticker affixed when you visit participating NARM museums. To view the list of NARM museums please click here. |
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Join SMMoA in 2008 |
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Support a vibrant organization that fosters diversity, innovation, and discovery in contemporary art. For further information about the benefits associated with joining the Museum, please contact Anna Nickila in SMMoA's Membership Department, 310 586-6488, ext. 116, anna.nickila@smmoa.org, or visit our membership pages. |
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| Volunteer at SMMoA! | |||
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Join the team that brings extraordinary contemporary art experiences to Southern California. SMMoA is looking for people who are interested in volunteering at exhibition openings and special events, working at the front desk, and in SMMoA's new book and gift store GRACIE: Shop/Storage/Installation. Please contact Elizabeth at 310 586-6488, ext. 112 to find out more about an exciting range of involvement opportunities. |
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