Videos and Virtual Visits

Using the Wisconsin Triennial as a point of departure, Professor Katherine Cramer explores the important difference between portraying a group, such as Wisconsinites, in a caricatured manner and appreciating the fullness and depth of their identities. In this talk, Cramer discusses the various ways in which political culture and communication systems tend to steer people toward caricature rather than reflection, listening, and close engagement with one another, which are necessary for acknowledging the complexity inherent in each individual.

Join artists Tom Antell, Jolene Frechette, Tom Jones, and John Hitchcock for a lively conversation unique to their experiences and perspectives as Indigenous contemporary artists in Wisconsin. Get to know the artwork on view at MMoCA from the artists who made it themselves. Stop into the museum for an insightful gallery talk by different artists each time. In these intimate discussions, learn more about the process, inspiration, and intention behind the art in the Wisconsin Triennial.

José Lerma’s Domestic in A Foreign Sense showcases his signature large-scale portraits. Characterized by thick impasto and minimal brushstrokes, these pieces defy traditional notions of painting and portraiture. Lerma, a recognized artist, debuted in the 1999 Wisconsin Triennial with his first museum exhibition.

Amir H. Fallah creates paintings, murals, sculptures, and installations that explore systems of representation embedded in the history of Western Art. In his ornate environments, Fallah often disrupts expectations of representation in portraiture with images of the main sitter being amended or replaced by a system of signs and symbols related to the sitter’s identity(ies).

In October 2024 MMoCA’s Gabrielle Haberland Director, Paul Baker Prindle sat down with Tom Jones, an artist, a member of the Ho-Chunk Nation, a professor at UW Madison, and Paul’s mentor and friend. The conversation covered various topics, including the distinction between art and craft in museums and the evolution of Tom’s artistic practice. However, one theme kept resurfacing: the significant role Tom’s mother played in shaping his life and career.

Dr. Ruth Goldstein, Assistant Professor of Gender and Women’s Studies at UW-Madison, explores the socio-environmental consequences of transnational infrastructure projects and climate change along Latin America’s recently constructed highway and the emergence of indigenous women voices as stewards of the land.

Do you know how MMoCA’s permanent collection started? In this short video Eleanor Pschirrer-West, MMoCA’s Assistant Curator, explores Bird and Blossom, diving into the importance of these prints historically and in the creation of MMoCA’s permanent collection.

Dr. Mou Banerjee will explore the legacy of partition and how it continues to influence the Indian subcontinent’s politics, citizenship, and culture to the present day. This lecture was in connection to Shilpa Gupta, I did not tell you what I saw, but only what I dreamt.

Eleanor Pschirrer-West, MMoCA’s Assistant Curator, explores Line to Form: Richard Hunt’s Prints and Sculpture, highlighting how the themes in Hunt’s celebrated sculptures translate to the prints in the Museum’s permanent collection.

William Villalongo: Myths and Migrations showcases 33 works created in the last two decades by the Brooklyn-based artist William Villalongo. Recognized for his paintings, collages, and signature velour paper cut-outs, Villalongo’s striking visual narratives invite the viewer to engage with the complexities and precarity of Black existence.

Composer and pianist Igor Santos performs a collaborative multi-media piano piece, Offering. The original composition features a synced video montage of works from the exhibition Myths and Migrations, amid a milieu created by William Villalongo.

Artist William Villalongo discusses the evolution of his artistic practice, culminating with his works from Myths and Migrations.

The 2024 Stephen Fleischman Lectureship features Nick Cave and Bob Faust. Moderated by Faisal Abdu’Allah, Cave and Faust speak about their multidisciplinary creative space, Facility.

Artist Erika Blumenfeld provides an overview of her artistic practice and her collaborations with scientists and research institutions, along with her inspiration behind the print series Tracing Luminaries, which was on display in imaginary i.

Artists Zach Kaiser and Gabi Schaffzin use the process of producing Blessed is the Machine as a lens to examine the development of AI systems and the dangerous consequences that do not address the history and political economy of computing.

In honor of International Women in STEM Day, James Lattis and Kelly Tyrrell gave a presentation on the early days of astronomy studies in Wisconsin, emphasizing the role of female astronomers and their contributions to astronomic research for imaginary i.

Artist Martha Glowacki speaks about the “contemporary cabinet of curiosity” included in imaginary i placing it in context with its original installation at the historic Washburn Observatory in 2005.

Artists Faisal Abdu’Allah and Floyd Newsum talk with Tandem Press Director Paula McCarthy Panczenko about the lasting legacy of Black artists such as Sam Gilliam and the influence they had on their artistic practice.

Federico Uribe discusses his creative practice in conversation with the guest curator, Laura Dickstein Thompson for Federico Uribe: Metamorphosis | Metamorfosis.

Federico Uribe discusses his creative practice in conversation with the guest curator, Laura Dickstein Thompson for Federico Uribe: Metamorphosis | Metamorfosis.

Danielle Burns Wilson, Project Row House’s Curator and Art Director, gives a history of Project Row Houses, as it celebrates its 30th year in operation.

Floyd Newsum talks about the arc of his career, from his early influences to his current work. Evolution of Sight is the artist’s first retrospective.

In this audio recording of the Curators Panel for Floyd Newsum: Evolution of Sight, the two guest co-curators of the exhibition, Dr. Lauren Cross and Mark Cervenka, reflect on the depth and extent of Newsum’s artistic output.

Sarah Canright discusses her time as a member of the Chicago Imagists, and her friendship with fellow Imagist Christina Ramberg, whose work is the focus of Christina Ramberg: Vertical Amnesia. Canright is joined by Edgewood College Art History Professor Emerita Melanie Herzog.

Floyd Newsum discusses his first retrospective exhibition Evolution of Sight which features work spanning more than 50 years, and will address the personalized signs and imagery that he utilizes.

(Counter)Monuments was a virtual panel discussion about the past, present, and future of monuments. This panel discussion was presented in conjunction with Blu³eprint by Faisal Abdu’Allah, located outside the museum on State Street.

In her first solo museum exhibition, Chicago-based new media and performance artist Ava Wanbli brings her video game-based work Sertraline Dolls (2021–22) to the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art.

Pao Houa Her, a 2023 Guggenheim Fellow, discusses her highly personal work, which utilizes a documentary aesthetic, from landscape photography to Southeast Asian–style portraiture, but one infused with conceptual rigor.

We had the pleasure of speaking with aspiring barber Felipe E. Quintana Mora who set up shop next to “Blu³eprint,” a public sculpture by artist Faisal Abdu’Allah who is seated in a barber’s chair.

Faisal Abdu’Allah discusses the exhibition DARK MATTER, which includes a selection of the artist’s most celebrated series, along with the continuing arc of his artistic practice.