WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Clark Art Institute presents two free virtual conversations with artists who created works presented in "Ground/work," the Clark's first outdoor exhibition.

 

On Wednesday, Sept. 8, at 12:30 pm, artist Nairy Baghramian and "Ground/work" guest curators Molly Epstein and Abigail Ross Goodman discuss Baghramian's marble and stainless-steel sculpture, "Knee and Elbow." The conversation will explore the process of making this new site-responsive commission for the Clark's exhibition. 

 

On Monday, Sept. 13, at 7 pm, artist Kelly Akashi discusses her practice and her work, "A Device to See the World Twice." 

 

The conversation will be held via Zoom and Facebook Live. Registration is required. Visit clarkart.edu/events to register

 

According to a press release:

 

Nairy Baghramian (b. 1971, Isfahan, Iran) grapples with issues of vulnerability and authority as she deconstructs and reassembles the human form, ever mindful of the forces of history, material, and context. Baghramian's work is held in the permanent collections of the Centre Pompidou, Paris; The Art Institute of Chicago; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; the S.M.A.K. Museum of Contemporary Art, Ghent, Belgium; the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; Tate Modern, London; and the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, among others. Baghramian's most recent solo presentations include projects at PERFORMA-19, New York (2019), Palacio de Cristal del Retiro, Madrid (2018); the Walker Art Center, (2017); and the S.M.A.K. Museum of Contemporary Art, (2016). Forthcoming solo projects include an exhibition at the Musée d'art contemporain de Nimes in France, and a show at the Galleria d'Arte Moderna, Milan. Baghramian lives and works in Berlin, Germany.

 

Trained as an analog photographer, Kelly Akashi (b. Los Angeles, 1983) brings a documentarian's instincts and curiosity to a practice that embraces a range of diverse materials and age-old practices. Inspired by the photographic process of fixing an image in a darkroom, she often casts natural forms in bronze, halting their development and transforming them into relics of the original objects. Akashi's work is included in the permanent collections of the Brooklyn Museum; the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art; the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; and the Sifang Museum, Nanjing, China, among others. New and recent solo exhibitions include presentations at the Aspen Art Museum (2020), Tanya Bonakdar Gallery (2020), Headlands Center for the Arts (2019), Carolyn Glasoe Bailey Foundation (2019), ARCH Athens (2019); François Ghebaly Gallery, Los Angeles (2019 and 2016); and SculptureCenter, New York (2017). Akashi lives and works in Los Angeles.

 

"Ground/work" consists of commissioned site-responsive installations by six international artists including Akashi and Baghramian, along with Jennie C. Jones, Eva LeWitt, Analia Saban, and Haegue Yang—set throughout the Clark's distinctive 140-acre campus. The grounds are open day and night at no charge. The exhibition is on view through October 17.