To Exalt the Ephemeral: The (Im)permanent Collection

August 14, 2024–July 6, 2025

To Exalt the Ephemeral: The (Im)permanent Collection draws from BAMPFA’s art and film collections to explore how museums collect, care for, and amplify the work of artists who celebrate ideas of impermanence and cycles of decay and regeneration.

Read full description

  • James Lee Byars, untitled photograph (Balloon), 1968. Black-and-white photograph, 10 x 8 in. Bequest of James Elliott, 2003.7.66.2. © The Estate Of James Lee Byars, Courtesy Michael Werner Gallery, New York And London

  • Rosie Lee Tompkins, Untitled, 2003. Denim, felt, found and repurposed embroidered knit fragment, cotton, polyester, and beads. University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive; Bequest of The Eli Leon Living Trust.

  • Sister Corita Kent, with love to the everyday miracle, 1967. Serigraph, 23 x 35 in. Museum purchase, Bequest of Phoebe Apperson Hearst, by exchange, 2012.9.2.

  • David Horvitz, The Distance of a Day, 2013. Digital video, 12 min. Courtesy the artist and ChertLüdde, Berlin.

  • Chiura Obata, Full Moon, Pasadena, Calif., U.S.A. from World Landscape Series: America, 1930. Color woodcut. University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive.

  • Joan Jonas, The Shape, the Scent, the Feel of Things, 2004–05. Installation with five projections, color, sound, and props; dimensions variable. Joint purchase: University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, Bequest of Thérèse Bonney, Class of 1916, by exchange; and Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego with funds from prior donations by the Estate of George E. and Lois P. Osborn, 2006.77

  • Estefania Puerta, Luz/Helena, 2023. Aluminum leaf, resin, mugwort, plaster pulp, porcelain, stained glass, volcano rocks from El Nevado del Ruiz, bristle. University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive; Purchase with donated funds from Chris Birchby.

  • Upcoming
    Films
  • Upcoming
    Events
  • Selected
    Objects
  • Past
    Films
  • Past
    Events

Upcoming Events

  • Selected Wednesday, Sundays, and First Free Thursdays

    Exhibition Tour: To Exalt The Ephemeral

    UC Berkeley graduate students in the English and Critical Theory offer tours of To Exalt The Ephemeral on selected Wednesdays at 12:15 and Sundays at 2:00, and on Free First Thursdays at 1:15.

    BAMPFA
  • Saturday, September 28, 3:00 PM

    Poetry Reading: Sophia Dahlin, Forrest Gander, and Noah Ross

    In conjunction with To Exalt the Ephemeral, BAMPFA presents a reading with three Bay Area poets: Sophia Dahlin, Forrest Gander, and Noah Ross. Their works touch on themes of everyday experience, ecological engagement, and queer legacies, and engage with the many facets of the ephemeral.

    BAMPFA

    Programmed by Tausif Noor

  • Saturday, October 12, 11:30 AM–1:00 PM

    Gallery + Studio—Exploring the Ephemeral with Suminagashi

    Learn the fascinating art of Suminagashi, which means “floating ink” in Japanese, and take home your own uniquely patterned sheet of marbled paper.

    BAMPFA

    For ages 6–12 with accompanying adult(s)

  • Thursday, November 7, 1:15 PM

    Curator's Tour: Tausif Noor on To Exalt the Ephemeral

    Tausif Noor explores how artists have taken up ideas of ephemerality to comment on the nature of memory and acts of memorialization across different media. Noor is BAMPFA Curatorial Associate and cocurator of To Exalt the Ephemeral.

    BAMPFA
  • Sunday, November 24, 3:00 PM

    Clouds from a Crumbling Giant

    Clouds from a Crumbling Giant is an examination of the life cycle and its mapping through a Daoist perspective, the nature and quality of decline through aging, and the inclusion of elder bodies within the performance landscape. It is performed by the physical theater and dance company inkBoat, with guests. Presented in conjunction with To Exalt the Ephemeral: The (Im)Permanent Collection.

    BAMPFA