To Exalt the Ephemeral: The (Im)permanent Collection

August 14, 2024–July 6, 2025

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
Apichatpong Weerasethakul: Morakot (Emerald), 2007: Single-channel video projection; color, sound; 11:50 min (loop); glass lamp; Museum purchase: Bequest of Phoebe Apperson Hearst, by exchange
Sister Corita Kent: with love to the everyday miracle, 1967; Serigraph, 23 x 35 in; Museum purchase: Bequest of Phoebe Apperson Hearst, by exchange

Upcoming
Films
Upcoming
Events
Selected
Objects
Past
Films
Past
Events

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. The exhibition is inspired by the rich history of experimentation, performance, and non-object-based artistic practices in BAMPFA’s exhibition program, as well as the many conceptual projects, scores, ephemera, and works with alternative art making materials and techniques in the museum’s collections. The exhibition explores how institutions can embrace the work of artists who not only acknowledge, but also exalt the inevitability of impermanence, creating artworks with organic and non-archival materials and without the intention for them to last forever. To Exalt the Ephemeral provides an opportunity to showcase key histories and works in the collection by artists across...

Less

To Exalt the Ephemeral is curated by BAMPFA’s art and film curatorial teams, including Margot Norton, Chief Curator; Tausif Noor, Curatorial Fellow; Anthony Graham, Senior Curator; Kate MacKay, Associate Curator of Film; Matthew Villar Miranda, Curatorial Associate; Susan Oxtoby, Director of Film and Senior Film Curator; Jon Shibata, Film Archivist; Victoria Sung, Phyllis C. Wattis Senior Curator; and Elaine Yau, Associate Curator.