HESSEL MUSEUM OF ART TO OPEN AT BARD COLLEGE MAJOR EXPANSION OF BARD’S CENTER FOR CURATORIAL STUDIES ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON

OPENING NOVEMBER 12, 2006 Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, June 5, 2006 – Located on the campus of Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, the new Hessel Museum of Art will open on November 12, 2006. Promising to be one of the highlights of the fall contemporary art season, the Museum’s inauguration will also be the beginning of a revitalized program of exhibitions, artist commissions and public programs at Bard’s Center for Curatorial Studies (CCS Bard). The Hessel Museum continues Bard’s expansion as a premiere cultural destination in the Hudson Valley, which first began with the Bard Music Festival in 1990, and developed further with the construction of the Frank Gehry-designed Fisher Performing Arts Center. Located in a new 17,000 square-feet building designed by architects Goettsch Partners, the new Museum will house the contemporary art collection of Marieluise Hessel, one of the most prestigious collections in the country and internationally. The new Museum features intimate rooms encircling two large, central galleries, and is linked to the existing CCS by an atrium named for Audrey and Sydney Irmas. A new graphic identity for CCS Bard’s Hessel Museum will also be created by Goto Design. The naming of the new Hessel Museum of Art is in recognition of more than fifteen years of leadership on the part of Ms. Hessel to Bard College and its Center for Curatorial Studies. Marieluise Hessel’s generous support includes the permanent loan of the Marieluise Hessel Collection to the Museum, a gift of over 14,000 art publications to the CCS library, continued support of the graduate program, and the new Museum building. Additional support for the new Museum was provided by Ms. Hessel’s husband, Edwin Artzt. Laura-Lee Woods and Melissa Schiff Soros and Robert Soros provided the funding for the renovation of the CCS library, archive, and student lounge. The Marieluise Hessel Collection on permanent loan at the Museum consists of over 1,700 contemporary art works from the Marieluise Hessel Foundation, including works by Carl Andre, Janine Antoni, Louise Bourgeois, Anne Chu, Francesco Clemente, Dan Flavin, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Thomas Hirschhorn, Isaac Julien, Yayoi Kusama, Robert Mapplethorpe, Paul McCarthy, Sigmar Polke, Gerhard Richter, Pipilotti Rist, Doris Salcedo, David Salle, Rosemarie Trockel, Kara Walker, and Christopher Wool, as well as major works from movements such as Arte Povera, Pattern and Decoration (P&D), Minimalism and Transavantguardia. The Marieluise Hessel Collection also includes two major new commissions permanently installed in the new Museum facilities: a walkway designed by Lawrence Weiner incorporating the artist’s signature text works, and a large-scale installation by Korean-born artist Do-Ho Suh with thousands of diminutive figures buried beneath the glass floor-scape of the Museum entrance gallery. The Hessel Museum will present at least three exhibitions per year under the leadership of Tom Eccles, CCS Bard’s Executive Director. Wrestle, the Museum’s inaugural exhibition, which he will curate along with independent curator Trevor Smith, will open on November 12. Wrestle offers a compelling overview of the Hessel Collection with a focus on works that challenge our notions of self and others, offering surprising connections in form and content between works from diverse artistic and social positions. The exhibition will feature more than 200 works from the Collection, including works by Cindy Sherman, Richard Prince, Roni Horn, Paul McCarthy, Rosemarie Trockel and Robert Gober. A major, innovative catalogue will document the exhibition. About the Center for Curatorial Studies and the Hessel Museum of Art The Center for Curatorial Studies and Art in Contemporary Culture is an exhibition and research center dedicated to the study of art and exhibition practices from the 1960s to the present day. Created in 1990 by Marieluise Hessel and Richard Black, the Center initiated its graduate program in curatorial studies in 1994. The Center’s original 38,000-square-foot facility, designed by architect Jim Goettsch and design consultant Nada Andric, was completed in December 1991. Expanded and completely renovated in 2006, the Center now offers 9,500 square feet of exhibition galleries, advanced collection storage facilities, classrooms, a library and archive, and offices for faculty, staff, and visiting curators and scholars. # # #

This event was last updated on 11-01-2006

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