Calendar

¡Tierra y Libertad! Revolution and the Modernist Mexican Print
This exhibition draws from the permanent collection of the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, whose holdings in Mexican prints are one of the finest and most extensive in the Midwest. Tierra y Libertad! presents linocuts, woodcuts, lithographs, and etchings by Orozco, Rivera, and Siqueiros, and also includes a broad array of prints produced by the Taller de gráfica popular (the print workshop of the people). State Street Gallery. more »

Gallery Talk / Melanie Herzog on Prints for the People: Revolutionary Mexican Printmaking
Melanie Herzog, professor of art history at Edgewood College, will highlight ways in which “prints for the people” represented an historically grounded notion of Mexican identity and manifested the possibilities for social transformation envisioned in the aftermath of the Mexican Revolution. more »

MMoCA Nights
MMoCA Nights celebrates the opening of Houdini: Art and Magic takes place on Friday, February 10. The evening will include a talk by the exhibition’s curator, Brooke Kamin Rapaport, at 6:30 pm in the museum’s lecture hall, followed by live music from Yid Vicious, roaming magicians, Fresco hors d’ouevres, and a cash bar. The evening is free for MMoCA members and $10 for nonmembers. more »

Brooke Kamin Rapaport on Houdini: Art and Magic
Independent curator Brooke Kamin Rapaport will consider Houdini’s evolution from struggling performer, to world-famous marquee entertainer and Hollywood leading man, to muse for contemporary filmmakers, performance and installation artists, painters, and sculptors. This talk is part of the MMoCA Night event, which is free to museum members and $10 for nonmembers. more »

Houdini: Art and Magic
Houdini: Art and Magic is the first major art museum exhibition to examine Houdini’s life, legend, and enduring cultural influence. The exhibition includes works in a variety of media by contemporary artists who have been inspired by Houdini--as well as historic photographs; dramatic Art Nouveau-era posters and broadsides; theater ephemera; and archival and silent films illuminating Houdini’s role as a world-famous celebrity in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Main galleries. more »

Drop-in Tour
A MMoCA docent will lead a 30-minute tour considering Houdini's craft and relation to contemporary artworks in the exhibition Houdini: Art and Magic.

Kids’ Art Adventures
Participants will create a mystery box inspired by Houdini’s Metamorphosis Trunk. What will be inside your box? more »

Gallery Talk / Rick Axsom on the Taller de Gráfica Popular
MMoCA curator Richard H. Axsom will speak on the history of the Taller de Gráfica Popular (Print Workshop of the People) and discuss prints from the workshop on view in ¡Tierra y Libertad! more »

Drop-in Tour
A MMoCA docent will lead a 30-minute tour considering Houdini's craft and relation to contemporary artworks in the exhibition Houdini: Art and Magic.

Cremaster 5
Part of Matthew Barney’sThe Cremaster Cycle, Cremaster 5 is set in romantic late-nineteenth-century Budapest—Harry Houdini’s birthplace. Operatic in tone and scope, and performed without dialogue, Cremaster 5 presents Ursula Andress as the Queen of the Chain, and Matthew Barney as Diva, Magician, and Giant. Free for MMoCA members/$7 for nonmembers.

Drop-in Tour
A MMoCA docent will lead a 30-minute tour considering Houdini's craft and relation to contemporary artworks in the exhibition Houdini: Art and Magic.

Cremaster 5
Part of Matthew Barney’sThe Cremaster Cycle, Cremaster 5 is set in romantic late-nineteenth-century Budapest—Harry Houdini’s birthplace. Operatic in tone and scope, and performed without dialogue, Cremaster 5 presents Ursula Andress as the Queen of the Chain, and Matthew Barney as Diva, Magician, and Giant. Free for MMoCA members/$7 for nonmembers.

Lauren Kroiz on “Harry Houdini’s American Escapes”
UW-Madison Assistant Professor of Art History Lauren Kroiz will locate Houdini’s magic within its turn-of-the-century Progressive-era context and examine the notion of miraculous self-liberation as a defining element of American identity for Houdini’s audiences then and contemporary artists now.

Drop-in Tour
A MMoCA docent will lead a 30-minute tour considering Houdini's craft and relation to contemporary artworks in the exhibition Houdini: Art and Magic.

Drop-in Tour
A MMoCA docent will lead a 30-minute tour considering Houdini's craft and relation to contemporary artworks in the exhibition Houdini: Art and Magic.

Kids’ Art Adventures
Kids and their families will explore works of art in ¡Tierra y Libertad! and create modeling clay stamps for making prints inspired by the stunning patterns and colors of traditional Mexican arts. more »

Drop-in Tour
A MMoCA docent will lead a 30-minute tour considering Houdini's craft and relation to contemporary artworks in the exhibition Houdini: Art and Magic.

Gallery Talk / Donald Thompson on Art and Revolutionary Ideals
Donald Thompson will discuss how works shown in ¡Tierra y Libertad! reflected the aims of the Mexican Revolution and ways in which artists included in the exhibition sought to build a new Mexican identity. more »

Cremaster 2 
Part of Matthew Barney’sThe Cremaster Cycle, Cremaster 2 is a visual re-telling of The Executioner’s Song, Norman Mailer’s story of convicted killer Gary Gilmore. Filmed in the style of a gothic Western, Cremaster 2 features Mailer as Harry Houdini and Barney as Gilmore. Free for MMoCA members/$7 for nonmembers.

Drop-in Tour
A MMoCA docent will lead a 30-minute tour considering Houdini's craft and relation to contemporary artworks in the exhibition Houdini: Art and Magic.

Cremaster 2 
Part of Matthew Barney’sThe Cremaster Cycle, Cremaster 2 is a visual re-telling of The Executioner’s Song, Norman Mailer’s story of convicted killer Gary Gilmore. Filmed in the style of a gothic Western, Cremaster 2 features Mailer as Harry Houdini and Barney as Gilmore. Free for MMoCA members/$7 for nonmembers.

Drop-in Tour
A MMoCA docent will lead a 30-minute tour considering Houdini's craft and relation to contemporary artworks in the exhibition Houdini: Art and Magic.

Drop-in Tour
A MMoCA docent will lead a 30-minute tour considering Houdini's craft and relation to contemporary artworks in the exhibition Houdini: Art and Magic.

Kids' Art Adventures
Kids will discuss Joe Coleman’s The Man Who Walked Through Walls (Harry Houdini) and then create their own vivid portrait telling their story or the story of someone they admire. Portraits will be completed with a tooled metal frame. more »

Drop-in Tour
A MMoCA docent will lead a 30-minute tour considering Houdini's craft and relation to contemporary artworks in the exhibition Houdini: Art and Magic.

Design MMoCA 2012
MMoCA will invite designers from a range of fields—including graphic, fashion, industrial, landscape, and interior design—to use an artwork from the museum's permanent collection as the point of departure for a new professional project. It will present audiences with a stunning display of works while raising funds to support MMoCA’s free-admission policy.
more »

Drop-in Tour
A MMoCA docent will lead a 30-minute tour considering Houdini's craft and relation to contemporary artworks in the exhibition Houdini: Art and Magic.

Gallery Night

Organized by the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, Gallery Night is Madison’s semiannual celebration of the visual arts. Art lovers can look forward to free demonstrations, new works of art, and live performances at arts venues and galleries across the city. An interactive map showing participating galleries will be published on mmoca.org.

MMoCA Nights
The May 4 MMoCA Night will celebrate Gallery Night, include a closing reception for Houdini: Art and Magic, and provide a chance to view Design MMoCA before it closes on May 6. Enjoy poetry and The Houdini Monlogues in the main galleries starting at 6 pm, plus live music from Classical Revolution, and Fresco hors d’oeuvres in the lobby from 7–9 pm. Free.

Magic and Metamorphosis: An Evening of Poetry
Members of the Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets will read original works that delve into themes expressed in Houdini: Art and Magic. The evening will include a performance by Karl Elder of his major work The Houdini Monologues.

Drop-in Tour
A MMoCA docent will lead a 30-minute tour considering Houdini's craft and relation to contemporary artworks in the exhibition Houdini: Art and Magic.

Kids' Art Adventures
Make paper sculptures inspired by birds—living and illustrated—in Houdini: Art and Magic. Kids will meet and learn about the guest homing pigeons that live on the Madison Children’s Museum’s Rooftop Ramble. If weather permits, participants will watch the birds fly back to the Children’s Museum. Pre-registration is required for this workshop. more »

Cecilia Condit: Within a Stone’s Throw

The Milwaukee-based artist will present new works in still and moving images. A major new three-channel video challenges conventional perceptions of reality, scale, and nature. With beautiful simplicity, Condit transforms geographically distant images into fluid landscapes, toying with the viewer’s ability to interpret the world. Within a Stone’s Throw will also feature a new series of digital color photographs focused on the natural world. Cecelia Condit: Within a Stone’s Throw will be on view in the State Street Gallery.

MMoCA Nights
The June 1 MMoCA Night will celebrate the opening of two new exhibitions: Cecilia Condit: Within a Stone’s Throw and Zoo/ology.

Zoo/ology

From the earliest cave drawings and tribal totems, animals have served as a constant subject throughout the history of art. Artistic depictions of animals can communicate ways humans make sense of both nature and civilization, and the often complex intersection of the two. Presenting artworks that feature animals occupying various environments and contexts—from natural to manmade, scientific to domestic, and religious to mythological—Zoo/ology explores the use of animal imagery by modern and contemporary artists. At the same time that it considers the cultural roles and meanings of animals in contemporary life, it investigates what these roles and meanings reveal about the human species. Zoo/ology will be on view in the main galleries.

Seen/Unseen

Artists throughout history have pictured reality as understood by their societies. Implicit in all works of art are assumptions about the nature of everything that exists. What is reality? Is it objective and understandable, or subjective and elusive? Mundane or sacred? Set in time, or not? Finite or infinite? Philosophers, scientists, poets, and artists approach these questions through their culture’s notion of the world and the role of human beings within it. Seen/Unseen offers the ponderings of modern and contemporary artists such as John Steuart Curry, Marsden Hartley, Mary Heilman, Sol Le Witt, and Alyson Shotz, whose works directly or indirectly address the greater scheme of things. Seen/Unseen will be on view in the Henry Street Gallery.

Art Fair on the Square

For hundreds of thousands of area residents, Art Fair on the Square has become central to summers in Madison. It is also the most important annual fundraiser for the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, supporting the museum’s free exhibitions and education programs. This year’s fair will feature the work of more than 450 artists exhibiting paintings, prints, photographs, sculpture, jewelry, wearables, and fine craft as well as a mix of music, entertainment, and dining. more »

Holiday Art Fair
MMoCA and Overture Center for the Arts sponsor the 2012 Holiday Art Fair, which will include such favorite traditions as the Friday evening Opening Reception, the silent auction, the Gourmet Gallery, the Rediscovered Art & Treasures Sale, and performances by local arts organizations.