January Artful Thursday: Reimagining a Collection for the 21st Century

The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston presents its January Artful Thursday program Reimagining a Collection for the 21st Century. Presented by Brady Roberts, chief curator, Milwaukee Art Museum.

The Milwaukee Art Museum recently concluded a master expansion plan that dramatically increased the gallery spaces allotted to modern and contemporary art.

Complementing existing buildings created by Santiago Calatrava, David Kahler, and Eero Saarinen, the architectural firm HGA reimagined the MAM campus in ways that both welcome the public and provide new platforms for presenting and interpreting art.

In addition to galleries dedicated to postwar art, Minimalism, Neo-Expressionism, and contemporary art, the expansion includes a photography center to house video and light installations.

In this talk, Brady Roberts describes the curator’s role in shaping a museum’s campus and collections for the 21st century. He also discusses major works from the MAM collection, with special emphasis on recent acquisitions of works by artists such as Charles Atlas, Reinike Djikstra, Tara Donovan, Thomas Houseago, ?Anthony McCall, ?David Schnell, Yinka Shonibare, and Penelope Umbrico.

“Reimagining a Collection for the 21st Century” comes at a timely moment as the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, embarks on its own campus expansion and collection reassessment. A focal point of this MFAH expansion is the Nancy and Rich Kinder Building, designed by Steven Holl Architects, with two floors and 54,000 square feet of galleries dedicated to art after 1900.

About Artful Thursdays
Artful Thursday is a monthly program related to the Museum’s art collections and exhibitions. At lectures and performances, the visual arts cross paths with other disciplines—dance, music, prose, poetry, fashion, film, science, psychology, and more. Each event is followed by a brief Q&A.

Pictured: Anthony McCall, detail You and I Horizontal II, 2006, computer, digital video, video projector, and haze machine, 33 min. cycle in six parts, Milwaukee Art Museum, purchased with funds from Contemporary Art Society.