Mel Chin, Now You See It (Part 1), 2014.
In this week’s roundup Mel Chin explores lead contamination, Kara Walker examines power and race in Belfast, Hiroshi Sugimoto designs the ideal museum, and more.
- Mel Chin’s Now You See It—a two-part animated series about lead contamination—uses cartoon-like graphics and sound (without words) to explain the causes of lead contamination, how children can be exposed, and the developmental consequences of exposure. Watch part one above and click here to watch part two. Now You See It was commissioned by Freewaves with the support of the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation.
- Exhibition of Capable Artworks by the Notable Hand of the Celebrated American, Kara Elizabeth Walker, Negress is at the Metropolitan Arts Centre (Belfast, Ireland). This exhibition brings together recent works by Walker that examine power, racial myths and stereotypes. Walker articulates suffering and violence in American history that continues to resonate in contemporary culture. This is the artist’s first show in Ireland. Closes April 27.
- William Kentridge: Nose and Other Subjects is on view at Syracuse University’s Art Galleries (Syracuse, NY). The exhibition features recent work from Kentridge, including work that illustrates his signature style of utilizing linocut blocks printed on dictionary and encyclopedia pages. Nose and Other Subjects includes more than 35 original prints and a video installation across three flat screens. Closes March 16.
- Josiah McElheny and artist Carol Brove will join Metropolitan Museum of Art curator Nicholas Cullinan to discuss how Carlo Scarpa’s architecture, museological displays, and work in glass continue to influence and inspire artists today. This program is held in conjunction with the exhibition Venetian Glass by Carlo Scarpa: The Venini Company, 1932-1947. The event will take place February 9, 3-4:30p.m. Free with museum admission.
- Hiroshi Sugimoto: Past Tense will be on view at the Getty Center (Los Angeles, CA) beginning February 4. The exhibition brings together three series by Sugimoto—habitat dioramas, wax portraits, and early photographic negatives—that present objects of historical and cultural significance from various museum collections. Closes June 8.
- Hiroshi Sugimoto is leading the construction of the Odawara Art Foundation (Odawara City, Japan). The facility will feature “a simple, 100-meter long exhibition space whose impeccable quality of light could make, according to Sugimoto, ‘not-very-good artworks’ seem ‘first-class.'” Read more about the project in the Wall Street Journal.