BAMPFA to Present 'MIND OVER MATTER' Conceptual Art Collection

The University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA) presents MIND OVER MATTER: CONCEPTUAL ART FROM THE COLLECTION, on view October 19 to December 23, 2016.

Showcasing BAMPFA's considerable holdings of first-generation international Conceptual art, it is one of several shows spotlighting key areas of strength of the BAMPFA collection during the inaugural year in our new downtown Berkeley building. Mind Over Matter is a lively illustration of the Conceptualist notion, referenced in the exhibition title, that the idea behind an artwork is primary, and its manifestation, however engaging, is secondary.

On view are language-based works, performance documentation, photography, mail art, artist books, film and video, and ephemera by Ant Farm, James Lee Byars, Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, Fluxus, the Museum of Conceptual Art, and others.

The wide-ranging exhibition offers text-based works by such well-known artists as John Baldessari, Jenny Holzer, and Ed Ruscha. Text also figures importantly in objects by Alice Hutchins, and maps in more documentary-like works by Douglas Huebler and Howard Fried. Posters by Sol LeWitt, Robert Morris, Tom Marioni, and Lawrence Weiner show how ephemera was integrated into conceptual exhibitions of the late 1960s to the 1980s, while Yoko Ono's instructional "paintings," collected in the artist's book Grapefruit, provide a link to Fluxus's event scores in which text and object, viewer and performer are inseparable.

Performance documentation was a focus of early video art, and the exhibition features key examples by Marina Abramovic and Ulay, Eleanor Antin, Scott Burton, Terry Fox, and Carolee Schneemann, to name a few. In video art by Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, Bruce Nauman, Linda Montano, Ant Farm, and Paul Kos we see how the medium in its heyday developed into a canvas for thought.

Not all the artists in Mind Over Matter reject the art object altogether. Among the most intriguing and delightful pieces on view are the various boxes and Fluxkits, including George Maciunas's Burglary Fluxkit, providing all the keys needed for break-ins, but no addresses.

BAMPFA is one of the world's leading centers for the study of Conceptual art and related materials. Its collection, housed in the Steven Leiber Conceptual Art Study Center, includes the archives of the Museum of Conceptual Art, the Ant Farm collective, and Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, as well as significant Fluxus and mail art holdings and extensive materials on James Lee Byars and Lowell Darling. The recently acquired Steven J. Leiber collection added a wide selection of works on paper, posters, mail art, artists' books, and ephemera by virtually all of the major international Conceptualists.

As part of BAMPFA's ongoing commitment to engage students with our collections, curator Constance Lewallen invited UC Berkeley professor of art history Julia Bryan-Wilson to bring her students to view Conceptual works from collection during the planning stages of the exhibition. Twelve undergraduates enrolled in the course Contemporary Art in the Americas were selected to engage with and write about works included in Mind Over Matter. Their essays, as well as contributions by Bryan-Wilson and exhibition curator Constance Lewallen, are presented in an accompanying booklet that will be available for download on the BAMPFA website.

Mind Over Matter: Conceptual Art from the Collection is organized by BAMPFA Adjunct Curator Constance M. Lewallen. The exhibition is supported in part by Alexandra Bowes and Stephen Williamson, Rena Bransten, and Robin Wright and Ian Reeves.

PUBLIC PROGRAMS:
All programs included with admission; no advance reservations required, unless otherwise noted

Guided Exhibition Tours of Mind Over Matter
Selected Sundays at 12:15, and Wednesdays at 2 PM

Specially trained UC Berkeley graduate student tour guides offer fresh points of view informed by the latest scholarship.

Gallery Talk with Curator Constance Lewallen
Wednesday, October 19, 12:15 PM

Study Center Viewing with John Held Jr.
Friday, October 21, 5:30 PM
Space is limited; RSVP required

Artist and writer John Held Jr. (author of Mail Art: An Annotated Bibliography) introduces you to selected examples of mail art from the Steven Leiber Conceptual Art Study Center in this intimate hour-long viewing and conversation.

Mail Art History and Practice with John Held Jr.
Friday, October 21, 7-9 PM

Learn about the history of mail art with John Held Jr., author of Mail Art: An Annotated Bibliography, then use the Art Lab's extensive rubber stamp collection to create your own experimental mail.

Gallery Talk with Artist Anne Walsh
Friday, October 28, 12:15 PM

Artist and UC Berkeley professor Anne Walsh explores artworks on view in Mind Over Matter that resonate with her own art practice and her interest in language and time, including the work of Theresa Hak Kyung Cha and Eleanor Antin.

Gallery Talk with Artist Stephanie Syjuco
Friday / 11.4.16 / 12:15

Stephanie Syjuco, assistant professor of sculpture at UC Berkeley, discusses how artists consider documentation as part of their practice.

Gallery Talk with Artist Tom Marioni
Friday / 12.2.16 / 12:15

Artist Tom Marioni discusses his work and the works from the archive of the Museum of Conceptual Art on view in Mind Over Matter.

Gallery Talk with UC Berkeley Students
Sunday / 11.13.16 / 2:00

Students who participated in a special curatorial component of the course Contemporary Art in the Americas, co-taught by Adjunct Curator Constance Lewallen and Associate Professor of Art History Julia Bryan-Wilson, discuss artwork in the exhibition that was the focus of their individual research.