Arts Summary

September 11, 2019

Kate Crawford | Trevor Paglen: Training Humans at Osservatorio Fondazione Prada, September 12, 2019 – February 24, 2020

“’Training Humans’” is the first major photography exhibition devoted to training images: the collections of photos used by scientists to train artificial intelligence (AI) systems how to ‘see’ and categorize the world. In this exhibition, Crawford and Paglen reveal the evolution of training image sets from the 1960s to today. Their work highlights how the private and public sectors are harvesting people’s online photographs as raw material for human classification and surveillance. Audiences have a rare opportunity to look within the AI technologies that have permeated our society: including facial recognition, gait detection, biometric surveillance, and even emotion recognition.

This exhibition aims to open the black boxes of AI. ‘Training Humans’ exposes the biases, assumptions, errors, and ideological positions within AI technologies. By revealing how AI systems have been devised over the last six decades, Crawford and Paglen show how present-day AI systems perpetuate practices of social classification, surveillance, and segmentation — and how they echo the phrenology and eugenics of the past.” — Fondazione Prada

Exhibition views of “Kate Crawford | Trevor Paglen: Training Humans” at Osservatorio Fondazione Prada, 2019. Photos by Marco Cappelletti. Courtesy Fondazione Prada.

As stated by Trevor Paglen, “when we first started conceptualizing this exhibition over two years ago, we wanted to tell a story about the history of images used to ‘recognize’ humans in computer vision and AI systems. We weren’t interested in either the hyped, marketing version of AI nor the tales of dystopian robot futures.” Kate Crawford observed, “We wanted to engage directly the images that train AI systems, and to take those images seriously as a part of a rapidly evolving culture. They represent the new vernacular photography that drives machine vision. To see how this works, we analyzed hundreds of training sets to understand how these ‘engines of seeing’ operate.”

Exhibition was conceived by Kate Crawford, AI researcher and professor, and Trevor Paglen, artist and researcher.

September 8, 2019

Beyond Midnight: Paul Revere at New-York Historical Society, September 6, 2019 – January 12, 2020

“The New-York Historical Society explores the life and accomplishments of Paul Revere (1735–1818), the Revolutionary War patriot immortalized in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s 1861 poem, ‘Paul Revere’s Ride.’ Paul Revere separates fact from fiction, revealing Revere as a complex, multifaceted figure at the intersection of America’s social, economic, artistic, and political life in Revolutionary War-era Boston as it re-examines his life as an artisan, activist, and entrepreneur. The exhibition, featuring more than 140 objects, highlights aspects of Revere’s versatile career as an artisan, including engravings, such as his well-known depiction of the Boston Massacre; glimmering silver tea services made for prominent clients; everyday objects such as thimbles, tankards, and teapots; and important public commissions, such as a bronze courthouse bell.” — New-York Historical Society

“When many of us think of Paul Revere, we instantly think of Longfellow’s lines ‘One if by land, and two if by sea’, but there is much more to Revere’s story,” said Dr. Louise Mirrer, president and CEO of the New-York Historical Society. “This exhibition looks beyond the myth of Paul Revere to better understand the man as a revolutionary, an artisan, and an entrepreneur, who would go on to become a legend. We are proud to partner with the American Antiquarian Society to debut this exhibition in New York.”

Photographs by Corrado Serra.

Beyond Midnight was organized by the American Antiquarian Society in Worcester, Massachusetts, and curated by Nan Wolverton and Lauren Hewes. At New-York Historical Society, it is coordinated by Debra Schmidt Bach, New-York Historical’s curator of decorative arts.

The exhibition will travel to the Worcester Art Museum and the Concord Museum in Massachusetts for a two-venue display (February 13 – June 7, 2020) and to Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas (July 4 – October 11, 2020).

September 4, 2019

Zarina: Atlas of Her World and Susan Philipsz: Seven Tears at Pulitzer Arts Foundation, September 6, 2019 – February 16, 2020

Zarina: Atlas of Her World

“Born in Aligarh, India, in 1937, New York-based artist Zarina Hashmi (who prefers to be referred to by her first name only) originally studied mathematics with an interest in architecture—fields that have influenced her work throughout her more than five-decade career. Her prints and sculptures, the works for which she is best known, bring abstraction and minimalism together with an ongoing engagement with themes of memory, place, and loss.

With some forty prints, sculptures, and collages dating from the 1960s to the present, Zarina: Atlas of Her World is the first exhibition to also include examples of artworks and objects—spanning cultures and centuries—that have inspired the artist throughout her career, from an etching by Dürer, to a drawing by Malevich, to an architectural fragment from Mughal era India. In the process, it will show how Zarina has synthesized these diverse points of inspiration into her unique practice.” — Pulitzer Arts Foundation

Zarina, Traces, 1980. Paper cast, 29 1/2 x 29 1/2 x 1 inches (74.9 x 74.9 cm) © Zarina; Courtesy of the artist and Luhring Augustine, New York

Zarina, Home is a Foreign Place, 1999. Portfolio of 36 woodcuts with Urdu text printed in black on Kozo paper and mounted on Somerset paper. Edition of 25 and 5 Roman Numeral sets. Image size: 8 x 6 inches (20.32 x 15.24 cm) Sheet size: 16 x 13 inches (40.64 x 33.02 cm) © Zarina; Courtesy of the artist and Luhring Augustine, New York

Zarina, Delhi, 2000. Portfolio of 3 woodcuts printed in black on handmade Nepalese paper, mounted on Arches Cover white paper. Edition of 25. Image size: 17 x 13 inches (43.2 x 33 cm) Sheet size: 25 1/2 x 19 1/2 inches (64.8 x 49.5 cm) © Zarina; Courtesy of the artist and Luhring Augustine, New York

Zarina, Veil, 2011. 22-karat gold leaf on bamboo blinds, 142 x 48 inches (360.7 x 121.9 cm) © Zarina; Courtesy of the artist and Luhring Augustine, New York

Susan Philipsz: Seven Tears

“Born in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1965, Turner Prize-winning artist Susan Philipsz is best known for her works that explore the potential of sound—often including her own, untrained voice—to define space and its interaction with architecture. Created in response to specific spaces and their architectural, environmental, and historic contexts, Philipsz’s sound installations bring to life the meaning of the places in which they are sited. She has said, “I work with sound but that sound is always installed in a particular context and that context with its architecture, lighting, and ambient noises forms the entire experience of the artwork. It is a visual, aural, and emotive landscape.”

Susan Philipsz: Seven Tears will include a specially commissioned installation created for the Pulitzer’s Tadao Ando-designed building. Situated in the museum’s central water court, where a reflecting pool offers dynamic views of the surrounding environment, the installation features Philipsz’s own voice singing a seventeenth-century lament on the themes of reflection, tears, and mourning. Other works—poetic meditations on loss, hope, and longing—will animate the museum’s galleries and surrounding architecture, creating a constellation of singular, immersive environments.” — Pulitzer Arts Foundation

Susan Philipsz, Seven Tears, 2016. Installation view at Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York. Seven-channel vinyl installation. Dimensions variable. Edition 1 of 3, 2 AP. Courtesy the artist and Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York / Los Angeles

Susan Philipsz, Seven Tears (detail), 2016. Seven-channel vinyl installation. Dimensions variable. Edition 1 of 3, 2 AP. Courtesy the artist and Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York / Los Angeles

Susan Philipsz, Vernebelt V, 2016. Chromogenic print mounted on Aludibond behind glass, 12 7/8 x 19 5/8 inches (32.7 x 49.8 cm). Courtesy the artist and Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York / Los Angeles

Susan Philipsz, Vernebelt VII, 2016. Chromogenic print mounted on Aludibond behind glass, 13 3/16 x 19 11/16 inches (33.5 x 50 cm). Courtesy the artist and Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York / Los Angeles

Organized by the Pulitzer Arts Foundation, Zarina: Atlas of Her World is curated by Tamara H. Schenkenberg, Curator at the Pulitzer, and Susan Philipsz: Seven Tears is curated by Associate Curator Stephanie Weissberg.

Images courtesy Pulitzer Arts Foundation.

September 3, 2019

Roger Brown: Virtual Still Lifes at Museum of Arts and Design (MAD), through September 15, 2019

“The Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) presents an exhibition dedicated to the work of American artist Roger Brown (1941-1997), examining the ways in which collecting, arrangement, and the theatrical informed and enriched his artistic practice. Roger Brown: Virtual Still Lifes features works made in the final years of the artist’s life that combined his passion for collecting with his groundbreaking approach to painting. Marking the first solo museum show in New York devoted to Brown, the exhibition at MAD offers a rare opportunity to view over forty works that trace the artist’s evolution through the lens of collection and display.” — MAD

“Roger Brown is a historically significant figure in American painting,” said Shannon R. Stratton, exhibition curator and former MAD William and Mildred Lasdon Chief Curator, “whose signature style of ominous weather, patterned landscapes, omnipotent points of view, and nods to the theatrical make for a nuanced critique of the artificiality of post-war American culture. His and his contemporaries’ influence can be felt anew, as young artists today re-explore surrealism, pop culture, and vernacular aesthetics as a means to examine contemporary life.”

Installation views of Roger Brown: Virtual Still Lives at the Museum of Arts and Design, New York (May 2–September 15, 2019). Photo by Jenna Bascom. Courtesy the Museum of Arts and Design.

September 2, 2019

Verdi: Creating Otello and Falstaff—Highlights from the Ricordi Archive at The Morgan Library & Museum September 6, 2019 – January 5, 2020

“After Aida in 1871, except for occasional projects, Giuseppe Verdi (1813–1901), Italy’s pre-eminent composer, retired from opera at the age of 58. This, however, did not prevent constant pleas from his publisher and future librettist for the maestro to return to the operatic stage. Reluctantly coaxed out of retirement, Verdi composed what would become the crowning achievements of his career: Otello and Falstaff. From September 6, 2019 to January 5, 2020, the Morgan Library & Museum will present highlights from the Milan-based, Bertelsmann-owned Ricordi Archive, offering visitors insight into the production of these two operas, as well as the complex enterprise of bringing an opera to life. Based on The Enterprise of Opera: Verdi. Boito. Ricordi, created by Bertelsmann/Ricordi and curated by Gabriele Dotto, Verdi: Creating Otello and Falstaff—Highlights from the Ricordi Archive traces the genesis and realization of Otello and Falstaff through original scores, libretti, selected correspondence, set and costume designs, and more, marking the first exhibition of these rare documents and artifacts in the United States.” — The Morgan Library & Museum

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Pietro Tempestini (1843-1917). Verdi a Montecatini Terme, 1899. Photograph. Courtesy of Bertelsmann / Archivio Storico Ricordi, Milan

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Falstaff: A Square; On the Right, the exterior of the Garter Inn, act 3, sc 1. Set design by Adolf Hohenstein (1854-1928). Teatro alla Scala, 1893. Oil on cardboard. Archivio Storico Ricordi, Milan

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Falstaff: Furniture and musical instruments. Design by Adolf Hohenstein (1854-1928). Teatro alla Scala, 1893. Watercolor on paper. Archivio Storico Ricordi, Milan

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Otello: Vanity table, Desdemona’s room. Design by Carlo Ferrario (1833-1907). Teatro alla Scala, 1887. Watercolor on paper. Archivio Storico Ricordi, Milan

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Falstaff costume. Design by Adolf Hohenstein (1854-1928). Teatro alla Scala, 1893. Watercolor on paper. Archivio Storico Ricordi, Milan

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Desdemona costume. Design by Alfredo Edel (1856-1912). Teatro alla Scala, 1887. Watercolor on paper. Archivio Storico Ricordi, Milan

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Production card listing printings of the libretto of Otello, 1887-99. Archivio Storico Ricordi, Milan

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Circolo Fotografico Lombardo (active 1889-99). Giuseppe Verdi in the garden of Giulio Ricordi’s house in Via Borgonuovo, Milan, 1892. Photograph Archivio Storico Ricordi, Milan

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Carlo de Marchi. Giulio Ricordi, early twentieth century. Mixed media. Archivio Storico Ricordi, Milan

Verdi: Creating Otello and Falstaff—Highlights from the Ricordi Archive is organized by the Morgan Library & Museum, New York in cooperation with Bertelsmann/Ricordi Archive.

The curator of the exhibition at the Morgan is Fran Barulich, Mary Flagler Cary Curator and Department Head, Music Manuscripts and Printed Music at the Morgan Library & Museum.

Images courtesy The Morgan Library & Museum.

August 27, 2019

Long Light. Sean Scully & the Panza Collection at Villa Panza, Varese, through January 6, 2020

“FAI – Fondo Ambiente Italiano (the National Trust for Italy) presents Long Light. Sean Scully at Villa Panza & the Panza Collection, an exhibition of works by the Irish-born American artist, who is a master of light and colour. Curated by Anna Bernardini, Director of Villa Panza & the Panza Collection, the spaces of the villa in Varese play host to a group of works that confirm Scully’s status as one of the leading figures on the contemporary painting scene.

The exhibition at Villa Panza brings together 80 works produced by Scully between 1970 and 2019 – paintings, works on paper, photographs, sculptures, installations and videos – arranged along a chronological and thematic route that casts the spotlight on certain crucial moments in the development of his output. His poetics, at once expressive and minimalist, and his research into colour, gesture, equilibrium, geometry and light blend in perfectly with the ethical and aesthetic sensibility of Giuseppe Panza, creating an elective affinity that is reflected in the staging of the exhibition, whereby Scully’s works enter into a dialogue with the permanent collection, confirming once again FAI’s desire to offer exhibitions that are intrinsically bound up with the venue and that engage with the architecture of the museum, its interiors and its grounds. The exhibition ends in the park surrounding the villa, and specifically in the conservatory, with a new, site-specific work called Looking Outward, which has become part of the permanent collection.” — FAI

“Harmony is coming out of what you know. It’s affirming what you already know. […] So disharmony is much more interesting and life affirming than harmony, because disharmony eventually, through history, we change into harmony.” — Sean Scully (1996)