Hirshhorn Plaza

Tuesday, September 2, 2003

Jack Cowart, Michael Govan, Peter Greenaway, Ann Hamilton and Guillermo Kuitca to Talk About Their Current Projects

The Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden is bringing well-known speakers in the visual arts and film to Washington this October and November. These special presentations, all held in the museum’s Ring Auditorium, are in addition to the on-going free films, staff talks and hands-on activities offered by the museum beginning Sept. 19 and running through Dec. 19. A complete program chronology is attached. Seating for the talks is limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis. Admission is free.

Two artists whose works are featured in “Gyroscope,” a museum-wide presentation of the Hirshhorn’s permanent collection (through Jan. 4, 2004), will offer slide-illustrated discussions about their art. Argentine painter Guillermo Kuitca speaks on Oct. 2 at 7 p.m. Kuitca’s black, white and gray image of a vacant airport baggage carousel—a stark and elegant investigation of an everyday site of human interaction—is currently installed on the museum’s lower level. Ann Hamilton, a MacArthur award-winning American artist known for poetic large-scale installations, delivers her talk on Oct. 21 at noon. She will discuss “at hand” (2001), a work in which pieces of paper drop from six suspended mechanisms and accumulate on the floor of a gallery on the museum’s second level.

Acclaimed British filmmaker Peter Greenaway will present two episodes from his epic, in-progress multimedia trilogy, “The Tulse Luper Suitcases Project” (Oct. 16, at 8 p.m.). Greenaway’s appearance is just one of the many unique cinematic experiences that make up the Hirshhorn’s 27-year-old film program, one of the oldest, continually running venues for independent film anywhere. This fall the series will also showcase movies by Guy Maddin (Oct. 23-24) and Jan Švankmayer (Nov. 13-14), and sponsor a forum on Indian action film (Sept. 25-26).

On Nov. 2 at 3 p.m., the Hirshhorn welcomes Michael Govan, director of the Dia Center for the Visual Arts, who will present the 2003 Marvin and Elayne Mordes Lecture. Govan, who will discuss the new Dia:Beacon facility (Beacon, New York) among other topics, is the 11th speaker in this distinguished annual series, which has also featured lectures by Michelangelo Pistoletto, Thomas Krens and Harald Szeemann.

Other free programs include a daylong open house on Oct. 25, celebrating the museum’s permanent collection, with a special focus on its monumental recent acquistion—Roy Lichtenstein’s towering outdoor sculpture “Brushstroke” (1996). The festive day will feature music, art making, the premiere of a dance by the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange and a lecture by scholar Jack Cowart of the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation. Also scheduled this fall are a series of 10 talks on insiders’ techniques for conserving and caring for artwork starting Sept. 19 and a Dec. 6 children’s program that honors the centenary of artist Joseph Cornell’s birth.

For times and more program information, please see the complete chronology. Registration is required for some programs.

Museum Hours and Location
The Hirshhorn Museum is open to the public from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., seven days a week (closed Christmas Day). The museum is located at Independence Avenue and Seventh Street S.W. By Metrorail, take the L’Enfant Plaza Metro stop and exit at Maryland Avenue and Seventh Street. Admission to the museum is free.

< Back to Press Releases