BAM/PFA Announces Community Celebration for the Final Day of Public Programming, 12/21

The University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAM/PFA) will host a free day-long celebration on December 21, 2014 to commemorate its last day of programming in its current building at 2626 Bancroft Way. Let's Go! A Farewell Revel will feature dance battles by the brilliantTURFinc; a concert by the all-women vocal ensemble Kitka; a performance by groundbreaking artist Dohee Lee; sound art by Chris Kallmyer; art-making for kids of all ages with Veronica Graham; and a performance of György Ligeti's 1962 compositionPoème symphonique for one hundred metronomes, led by pianist/composer Sarah Cahill. The event will culminate in a celebratory procession across the UC Berkeley campus to the site of BAM/PFA's future home, which is under construction at 2155 Center St., on the corner of Oxford and Center Streets in downtown Berkeley.

"The day's events reflect the dynamism and diversity that has been key to BAM/PFA's programming in this space, and which we will deepen and expand in our new home," says BAM/PFA Director Lawrence Rinder.

BAM/PFA ends public programming in its current gallery building after December 21 as it prepares to move into the new building, opening in early 2016. Film programming at the current PFA Theater location (2575 Bancroft Way) will continue as usual through summer 2015.

Designed by the world-renowned architecture firm Diller Scofidio + Renfro (New York City's High Line elevated park, The Broad Museum in Los Angeles, and the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston), the new project integrates an Art Deco-style former UC Berkeley printing press building with a dynamic new structure.

BAM/PFA's current building was designed by architect Mario Ciampi (1907-2006) and opened in 1970. An extraordinary concrete structure with galleries that spiral upwards like a fan, one above the other, it was the largest university art museum at the time, and has won many architectural awards. In 2011 the building was named Woo Hon Fai Hall in honor of the father of David Woo; as a young architect, David Woo worked on the Ciampi project. The building has provided a dramatic setting for numerous internationally acclaimed exhibitions organized by the institution over the past forty-four years, including In a Different Light, The Eighties, Made in U.S.A: An Americanization in Modern Art, and Andre,Buren, Irwin, Nordman: Space As Support, among others, as well as important solo presentations of works by iconic artists, including Richard Avedon, Joan Brown, Bruce Conner, Jay DeFeo, Eva Hesse, Barry McGee, Bruce Nauman, Sebastião Salgado, and countless others.

In 1997, a seismic survey revealed that the building did not meet current earthquake standards. Upgrading the building is expected to include construction that would significantly change the open gallery space that the institution requires for its exhibitions. Therefore, BAM/PFA sought a new space that could accommodate its exhibitions, and bring together the art and film programming under one roof. UC Berkeley will determine the Ciampi building's future use, which will likely be tied to academic programs.

Let's Go! A Farewell Revel
Sunday, December 21, 2014; 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Free admission!

Schedule:
Art-making with Veronica Graham, 11 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Choral music by Kitka, 2 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.
Dance battles with TURFinc, 2:30 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.
Sound art by Chris Kallmyer, 3:30 p.m. - 4 p.m.
Performance art by Dohee Lee, 4 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Poème symphonique for 100 metronomes, 4:30 p.m. - 5 p.m.
Procession to new building site, 5 p.m.

*All times subject to change
*BAM/PFA members will receive a special gift at this event. To learn more about charter membership visit bampfa.berkeleu.edu/join

BAM/PFA: 2626 Bancroft Way, Berkeley

ABOUT BAM/PFA
Founded in 1963, the UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAM/PFA) is UC Berkeley's primary visual arts venue and among the largest university art museums in terms of size and audience in the United States. Internationally recognized for its art and film programming, BAM/PFA is a platform for cultural experiences that transform individuals, engage communities, and advance the local, national, and global discourse on art and ideas. BAM/PFA's mission is "to inspire the imagination and ignite critical dialogue through art and film."

BAM/PFA presents approximately twenty art exhibitions and 380 film programs each year. The museum's collection of over 16,000 works of art includes important holdings of Neolithic Chinese ceramics, Ming and Qing Dynasty Chinese painting, Old Master works on paper, Italian Baroque painting, early American painting, Abstract Expressionist painting, contemporary photography, and video art. The museum's collection of over 14,000 films and videos includes the largest collection of Japanese cinema outside of Japan, Hollywood classics, silent film, and Bay Area avant-garde film and video. BAM/PFA's archive includes hundreds of thousands of articles, reviews, posters, and other ephemera related to the history of film, many of which are digitally scanned and accessible online.

RELATED LINKS

BAM/PFA Building Project News Center
press.bampfa.berkeley.edu/building/