Dear Colleague:
Greetings from Kansas City and Memphis! With this letter, we are providing information on an exhibition about spirituality in contemporary art with a working title of Being: Spirituality in Contemporary Art. It is organized by and slated to open at The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in June of 2018 and then at the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art in September. There is a reserve placed on the exhibition for early 2019. We are currently looking for a fourth venue for summer 2019 and would like to invite you to participate with us in this exciting endeavor. The exhibition checklist has been refined and verbal agreements to lend many works of art are in place. The formation of the accompanying exhibition publication is well underway including a distinguished line-up of contributing authors. Multiple publishers such as Yale University Press, Princeton University Press, University of California Press, and Prestel Publishing have expressed strong interest in the book. We are enclosing a brief exhibition summary that describes Being in greater detail along with images and provisional checklist.
Being is the first major exhibition to focus on the topic of spirituality in decades and will include approximately 47 works from around the world, primarily created from the 1980s to the present. The exhibition demonstrates the depth and complexity of spirituality in contemporary art today. Being will include art by both internationally established and upcoming artists. It will encompass paintings, sculpture, installation, performance, sound and new media art. We are confident that Being will be groundbreaking, accessible and yet also profound. We further believe that an exhibition exploring spirituality is timely and will appeal to our many diverse visitors. The exhibition is curated by the Nelson-Atkin’s Leesa Fanning Ph.D., Curator, Contemporary Art. Please, feel free to contact Dr. Fanning (lfanning@nelson-atkins.org) if you have questions or need additional materials. We hope you will consider hosting the exhibition and we look forward to speaking with you about this possibility. With warm regards,
JuliĂĄn Zugazagoitia Menefee D. & Mary Louise Blackwell Director/CEO
Emily Ballew Neff, Ph.D. Executive Director
Being
Spirituality in Contemporary Art Exhibition themes and selected images
This Nihonga painting is Makoto Fujimura’s response to the Twin Towers/9-11 tragedy. He believes in the healing power of beauty and art.
Being: Spirituality in Contemporary Art
Aaron Kuffner’s sculpture is made of Indonesian instruments. Mallets motorized through computer technology strike gongs to play Gamelan music.
Y.Z. Kami’s monochromatic painting is a tribute to the spiritual poetry of Rumi.
Sources of Inspiration Artists are inspired by sources, subjects and motifs found in diverse spiritual traditions.
Aboriginal artist Maringka Baker’s abstract painting tells the story of two mystical ancestral sisters who become constellations.
We Pray for Rain is a peyote fan made by Navajo artist Monte Claw and is related to the Native American Church.
Sources of Inspiration
Inuit artist David Ruben Piqtoukun depicts a
Bear in Shamanic Transformation.
MÊtis artist Christi Belcourt’s Watersong represents 50 healing plants. Its bilateral symmetry reflects balance with nature.
The Artist’s Body The artist’s body informs the spiritual meaning of the art and is usually present as a motif.
Artist Anselm Kiefer lies in the savasana yoga pose while communing with the cosmos.
This sculpture is a reliquary of the artist James Lee Byars.
The Artist’s Body
A video of artist Ana Mendieta becoming one with the earth.
In this video, Kimsooja lies in the pose of a famous Buddha. Nothing moves but the clouds above.
Materials/Form/Color One or more of these fundamental aspects of art provides the spiritual content.
Mierle Laderman Ukeles and Stephen Handel’s sculpture using herbs, spices, leaves and seeds awakens the senses and celebrates the Havdalah ritual.
Materials/Form/Color
James Lee Byars’s sphere of 3,3333 Roses represents the ephemeral nature of beauty, life and death.
Anish Kapoor’s void draws the spectator into it and invites contemplation of the Buddhist idea of emptiness and the Western notion of the sublime.
In Fred Tomaselli’s Airborne Event, an astral body floats in space, the head explodes in visions.
Art Making as Spiritual Process The act of making art is a form of meditation, ritual or spiritual activity.
Artist Ding Yi meditatively paints 100s of cross-like patterns to create his abstract compositions.
Agnes Martin used Zen meditation as a way of seeing a finished painting in her mind’s eye before she made it.
Art Making as Spiritual Process
Although not visible here, Shirazeh Houshiary’s Echo is overlaid with 1000’s of minute patterns made through a labor-intensive process. Using colored pencils she inscribes a Sufi phrase “I am” and “I am not.” The process is devotional.
Wofgang Laib ritually pours milk into a shallow recess carved into marble to make his Milkstone.
Exhibition Description and Fact Sheet Being: Spirituality in Contemporary Art, 2018 Leesa K. Fanning Ph.D., Curator, Contemporary Art The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art Introduction
Being: Spirituality in Contemporary Art (working title), reflects sweeping changes that have transpired in the art world, including the tremendous freedom artists have to draw from seemingly unlimited sources of inspiration. Being attempts to account for the diverse and global nature of art today, and, as a survey, it explores a selection of work from more than 20 countries. Beginning in the 1980s, this exhibition presents the theme of spirituality as an on-going, everevolving continuum that brings us to the current moment. The art in Being —spanning simple acts of generosity to transcendence—represents as many variations of spirituality as there are artists in the exhibition. It is not about organized religion, doctrine or creed, and believers, agnostics and inveterate skeptics are all welcome. In Being, the term spirituality is used in the most encompassing sense of the word. It may involve solitude, looking within and be highly personal, yet conversely, it is sometimes communal and participatory. Spirituality is a direct and immediate experience, characterized by a leaving behind of the individualistic, egocentric self, the “I,” to achieve a heightened state of being, awareness— or transcendence. Spirituality in art aims for transcendence—through any number of means—including a deeply moving encounter with a work of art. Our prevailing ideology today values rational thought. Yet, logical thinking frequently fails to account for aspects of human experience related to transcendent dimensions of being and life. Words are not capable of adequately describing spiritual experience and we thus encounter the boundaries of language. Art, however, shows what cannot always be said. It embodies essential truths that rational thought, science and technology can never fully explain. Including varieties of worldwide experience, this art and these artists seek a higher purpose. Many artists express themselves through abstraction. Others use referential imagery, the written word or allusions to it. Some are associated with traditional and non-traditional religions and indigenous practices. Others are entirely independent. Yet a key characteristic of the art in this exhibition is its diversity—sources of inspiration are often transformed into complex new amalgamations.
Thematic Organization of the Exhibition These four themes are inherently linked to the practice of creating art • Sources of Inspiration (sources, subjects and motifs that have inspired artists) • The Artist’s Body (the artist’s body informs the spiritual meaning of the art and is usually present as a motif) • Materials/Form/Color (one or more of these components contribute to the spiritual content of the art) • Art Making as Spiritual Process (the art making process is meditative or ritualistic)
Being in the Context of Earlier Exhibitions Since the Enlightenment, art, in certain instances, has become the vehicle of spirituality, and the museum, a new temple. During the early and mid-20th century, Wassily Kandinsky, Piet Mondrian, Constantin Brancusi, Ad Reinhardt, Mark Rothko, Barnett Newman, Yves Klein and many more created art imbued with spirituality. Maurice Tuchman’s landmark exhibition, The Spiritual in Art: Abstract Painting, 1890-1985 explored the impact of mysticism on the abstract art of that era. It has been decades since a large-scale exhibition explored spirituality. In Being, extraordinary new works will be exhibited together for the first time, and new art will be created for the exhibition. While some works have been seen before, they have not been presented in this context. Further, the beauty, diversity and sum of the whole will strengthen the experiential impact. This exhibition demonstrates, for the first time in our historic moment, the expansiveness of spirituality in contemporary art. It is urgent, timely and will be compelling for a general audience, contemporary art enthusiasts and those interested in spirituality. A scholarly publication will accompany the exhibition. Please see following pages for publication details. Exhibition Design/Installation and Didactic Materials At the Nelson-Atkins Museum Being will be installed in the featured exhibition galleries. Approximately 47 works are represented, and they will require approximately 8,000 square feet/745 square meters. The exhibition encompasses a wide range of media—paintings, sculpture, video, performance, sound and installation art. New media works, such as video installations that require a separate constructed space, are noted in the checklist. The works included in this exhibition are diverse, but have in common the fact that they are sincere expressions of/about the spiritual. The exhibition does not include works that critique spiritual practices or traditions. Spirituality may be one of the most challenging topics an exhibition can explore. The tone of the didactic materials for Being will acknowledge that challenge. It will suggest that there are many ways to understand the works in the exhibition. The interpretive tone will reinforce the very human, complex endeavor of communicating about the spiritual—while offering information about the artists, art, and ideas presented. One exhibition cannot encompass the diversity of spiritual practice and expression—it is too vast an arena of human creative output, even when limited to contemporary works. However, the exhibition will include ways for visitors to respond and contribute to a broader range of perspectives on the intersection of art and spirituality.
*Other Installations and Events at The Nelson-Atkins Museum The museum is also creating installations as a fifth theme entitled Activate—Participate throughout the museum and planning exciting events for an opening and closing of the exhibition. Activate—Participate For the fifth theme, Activate—Participate, interactive works of art are installed at locations throughout the Nelson-Atkins and Bloch buildings. These works of art will enhance the visitors’ immediate experience and deepen the memory of the exhibition. At the Nelson-Atkins, Yoko Ono has agreed to “lend” a Wish Tree—visitors will write wishes on small slips of paper and tie them onto the tree’s branches. Jan Estep’s Are you there, Guanyin? will be installed in the Nelson-Atkins’s Chinese temple gallery accompanying the magnificent historical bodhisattva, Guanyin of the Southern Sea, (907-1125). Estep’s work is a sound piece, a recording of men, women and children reciting phrases she adapted, from traditional Buddhist meditations. Four speakers are isolated over four ottomans and visitors may listen to the recoding while viewing Guanyin. Felix-Gonzalez-Torres’s Untitled (Portrait of Ross in L.A.) (a “spill” of candy), will be present and visitors may take away a single, individually wrapped piece of candy. We encourage other venues to develop their own Activate—Participate works if so desired.
Programming Programming possibilities associated with the exhibition are extensive, for instance, artists’ visits, lectures and community outreach will depend on the institutional goals of each individual venue. We highly encourage museum venues to participate in the development of the same or parallel ideas based on each institution’s permanent collection, audience, strengths, desires, needs and interests. We are pleased to participate in discussion of these ideas and provide additional information on works of art noted above.
Publication Details Encountering the Spiritual in Contemporary Art, 1980s to Present
The spiritual in contemporary art is everywhere evident, yet rarely examined in scholarly research. This survey addresses the subject in depth for the first time since the 1980s and explores an extraordinary new body of work. It significantly broad-ens the scope of previous scholarship to include new media and non-Western and Indigenous art in addition to that of the West. Encountering the Spiritual presents art from diverse cultures with equal status, promotes its cultural specificity, and moves beyond previous notions of “center and periphery,” celebrating the plurality and global nature of contemporary art today. This unprecedented book—a valuable reference for years to come—integrates three different ways of exploring the spiritual in art. Essays based on cultural affinities are rhythmically interspersed with thematic categories. These themes—defined and illustrated—depart from
those of previous generations of artists who explored the spiritual. They demonstrate greater diversity and hybridity of artists’ sources of inspiration and their emphasis on art-making as spiritual process. The artist’s body is highlighted as a new means of conveying spiritual content, as is the inherently spiritual nature of materials, form, and color. Finally, selected artists’ statements further expand the knowledge of an academic and general audience. Encountering the Spiritual provides an alterna-tive to the overarching tone of irony and focus on appropriation, gender, identity, consumerism, and politics prevalent in contemporary art. It offers understanding for believers, agnostics, and inveterate skeptics alike. This timely publication is essential because the need to address the deeper fundamental questions of life is both innate and ongoing.
Trim 9.5 × 11 inches, portrait Extent 288 pages Binding Cloth over board, jacketed Illustrations 150 color Publication Spring 2018
Authors Leesa Fanning, PhD Ladan Akbarnia, PhD Stephen Gilchrist Eleanor Heartney Mar Jane Jacob Karen Kramer Glenn Peers, PhD Dr. Leesa Fanning is Curator of Contemporary Art at The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.
Exhibition vEnuEs Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City February–May 2018 Two additional venues
Ding Yi (Chinese, b. 1962) Appearance of Crosses 2007-4, 2007 Acrylic on tartan 79 × 55 in. (200.66 × 139.7 cm) Courtesy the Artist and Waldburger Wouters Gallery, Brussels
contAct Adrian Lucia adrian@luciamarquand.com
1400 second Avenue seAttle WA 98101 (206) 624-2030 luciAmArquAnd.com
Being: Spirituality in Contemporary Art Leesa K. Fanning, Ph.D. Publication Outline Editor: Terry Ann R. Neff Half-Title Page Mini Immersive Photo Essay Title Page Copyright/Colophon Page Table of Contents Directors’ Foreword—Julián Zugazagoitia, Emily Neff (1,500 words) Acknowledgments—Leesa Fanning (1,000 words) Essays and Thematic Essays (written by Nelson-Atkins staff) Introductory Essay — Leesa Fanning (6,000 words including endnotes) Essay 1—Leesa Fanning, The Spiritual in Contemporary Abstract Art (6,000 words) Sources of Inspiration, Plates 1 – 22 (500 word description; 2,200 words for image captions) Essay 2—Karen Kramer, Sustaining Connections: Making Visible that Which is Known (6,000 words) Essay 3— Eleanor Heartney, The Judeo Christian Imagination (6,000 words) The Artist’s Body, Plates 23 – 31 (500 word description; 900 words for captions) Essay 4—Glenn Peers, Inherently Spiritual Materials (6,000 words) Essay 5—Author TBD, Contemporary African art and the Diaspora (6,000 words) Materials, Form, and Color, Plates 32 – 39 (500 word description; 800 words for captions) Essay 6—Stephen Gilchrist, Desert of Abundance: Performing and Painting Country (6,000 words) Essay 7—Ladan Akbarnia, Light of the Eye, Light of the Heart: Sufism and Contemporary Art (6,000 words) Art Making as Spiritual Process, Plates 40 – 47 (500 word description; 900 words for captions) Essay 8—Mary Jane Jacob, Art as Practice (6,000 words)
Selected Artist’s Statements throughout the book (approx. 40 words each x 15 = 600 words) Exhibition Checklist—organized by exhibition themes (approx. 4,000 words) Selected Bibliography (approx. 10,500 words) Photo Credits Index (approx. 4,000 words)
Exhibition Fact Sheet Being: Spirituality in Contemporary Art (working title) Organizer:
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri
Contents:
Approximately 47 works (paintings, sculpture, video, performance, sound and installation) organized in themes: • Sources of Inspiration • The Artist’s Body • Materials/Form/Color • Art Making as Spiritual Process
Publication:
A fully illustrated scholarly publication will be available
In Addition:
Electronic files for interpretive materials and graphic design
Space Requirements:
The Nelson-Atkins will install the exhibition in 11,000 square feet, 3 contiguous temporary exhibition galleries (exhibition can be condensed to approx. 8,000 sqf). Current estimated preparation costs (wall, pedestal, vitrine construction, and IT) for these galleries at the NelsonAtkins is $177,000. Additional spaces throughout the museum incorporate a fifth theme designated Activate—Participate.
Curator:
Leesa Fanning, Curator of Contemporary Art, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, lfanning@nelson-atkins.org
Costs:
A participation fee of $175,000 plus shared costs estimated (for current checklist) at $183,200 for one-fourth share for packing/crating, loan preparation, couriers, transits and insurance. This assumes three U.S.A. tour venues in addition to the Nelson-Atkins. Costs for an international venue would require reconfiguration.
Contact:
Cindy Cart, Manager, Exhibition Planning, ccart@nelson-atkins.org
Tour:
June – August 2018: The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art September – December 2018: Memphis Brooks Museum of Art Winter/Spring 2019: Reserved Summer 2019: Available