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.
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Installation view of To Exalt the Ephemeral: The (Im)Permanent Collection, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, 2024
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Installation view of To Exalt the Ephemeral: The (Im)Permanent Collection, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, 2024
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Installation view of To Exalt the Ephemeral: The (Im)Permanent Collection, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, 2024
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Installation view of To Exalt the Ephemeral: The (Im)Permanent Collection, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, 2024
- Upcoming
Films - Past
Films - Past
Events
Upcoming Films
Joan Mitchell: Portrait of an Abstract Painter
Marion Cajori
United States, 1993New Digital Restoration
Sunday, December 8 1:30 PMView DetailsIn Marion Cajori’s elliptical and intimate documentary, Joan Mitchell—the creator of an eloquent vocabulary of abstract gesture, color, and light—speaks about painting and life. Screens with Meg Partridge’s Academy Award–nominated portrait of photographer Imogen Cunningham.
Gabriel
Agnes Martin
United States, 1976Sunday, December 15 1:30 PMView DetailsGabriel, Agnes Martin’s cinematic celebration of freedom, happiness, and the beauty of the natural world, screens with Bruce Conner’s The White Rose, an elegiac ode to painter Jay DeFeo and her monumental masterpiece.
Eva Hesse
Marcie Begleiter
United States, Germany, 2016Sunday, December 22 1:30 PMIntroduction by Margot NortonView DetailsMarcie Begleiter’s compelling documentary is an indispensable aid to understanding and appreciating the groundbreaking work of artist Eva Hesse. Screens with Obata’s Yosemite, which reflects on painter and educator’s life and his relationship with Yosemite’s landscapes.
Upcoming Events
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Wednesday, November 20, 1:00 PMQi Gong with Eileen Housteau
Join us for an invigorating qigong experience that blends gentle tranquil movements and inner stillness. Eileen Housteau is a caretaker of the Spiritual Wellness traditions, Wudang Mountains, China.
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Thursday, November 21, 1:00 PMTui Na with David Wei
Tui Na is a standalone medical system that includes acupressure, massage techniques, assisted stretching and joint manipulations. Learn about the techniques of the Wei family dragon claw Tui Na to promote self/shared care from Wei Da Wei, who apprenticed under esteemed Wudang blind bone setting master Du Yi Jun in China.
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Sunday, November 24, 3:00 PMClouds from a Crumbling Giant
Clouds from a Crumbling Giant is an examination of the life cycle, performed by the physical theater and dance company inkBoat, with guests.
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Selected Wednesday, Sundays, and First Free ThursdaysExhibition 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.
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Sunday, December 8, 1:00 PMRubber Stamp Postcard Extravaganza with Leavenworth Jackson
Come to the Art Lab for a special postcard making extravaganza featuring a vast collection of rubber stamps created by postal artist and rubber stamp designer Leavenworth Jackson.
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Saturday, December 14, 11:30 AM–1:00 PMGallery+Studio / Sculpting Light and Space
Inspired by Robert Irwin’s Untitled, work with light, shadows, color, and space to make an experimental sculpture that changes according to its surrounding conditions.
For ages 6–12 with accompanying adult(s)
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Sunday, January 12, 3:00 PMSocial Art: The Act of Drinking Beer with Friends Is the Highest Form of Art with Tom Marioni
Legendary Bay Area conceptual artist Tom Marioni, whose work is featured in To Exalt the Ephemeral, introduces his book Social Art, an updated consideration of his ongoing and best-known work, the performance installation The Act of Drinking Beer with Friends Is the Highest Form of Art.
Past Events
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Thursday, November 7, 1:15 PMCurator'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.
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Saturday, October 12, 11:30 AM–1:00 PMGallery + 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.
For ages 6–12 with accompanying adult(s)
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Saturday, September 28, 3:00 PMPoetry 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.
Programmed by Tausif Noor
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Selected Wednesday, Sundays, and First Free ThursdaysExhibition 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.
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Thursday, September 5, 1:15 PMCurator's Tour: Margot Norton on To Exalt the Ephemeral
Chief Curator Margot Norton introduces To Exhalt the Ephemeral, discussing key artworks in each thematic section and highlighting the exhibition’s genesis and relation to BAMPFA’s collecting history.
Past Films
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