Past, Present, Future: 'State of the Art' reshapes conversation, again

All the works in "State of the Art 2020" were made in 2016 or later. The concept of presenting a large number of living artists, currently creating, many of them unknown, offers the viewer an immediate sense of some of the things happening in the art world at present, and where it may be going in the near future. "Tent Mama" (left) is by Karen Seapker, and "Colonizer" (right) by Mari Hernandez. ("Colonizer" Courtesy Photo/Mari Hernandez) ("Tent Mama" Courtesy Photo/Zeitgeist Gallery)
All the works in "State of the Art 2020" were made in 2016 or later. The concept of presenting a large number of living artists, currently creating, many of them unknown, offers the viewer an immediate sense of some of the things happening in the art world at present, and where it may be going in the near future. "Tent Mama" (left) is by Karen Seapker, and "Colonizer" (right) by Mari Hernandez. ("Colonizer" Courtesy Photo/Mari Hernandez) ("Tent Mama" Courtesy Photo/Zeitgeist Gallery)

From September 2014 to January 2015, some 175,000 visitors viewed a monumental undertaking at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art -- a museum record at the time. The museum gained national attention in its assembling of mostly unknown artists across the country for its exhibition"State of the Art: Discovering American Art Now." The curatorial team visited more than 1,000 artist studios in order to answer the question "What is happening in American art today?"

The resulting 200-plus works would go on to become Crystal Bridges' first internally curated exhibition to travel to other locations. It also earned the museum a 2015 Excellence in Exhibition Award from the American Alliance of Museums and was listed as one of the 15 best art exhibitions of 2014 by Huffington Post.

FAQ

‘State of the Art 2020’

WHEN — Feb. 22-March 24

WHERE — Crystal Bridges Museum, and the Momentary in Bentonville

COST — Free; free timed entry reservations only required during the Momentary’s opening weekend Feb. 21-23

INFO — 418-5700, crystalbridges.org; 367-7500, the momentary.org,

Following the show, "understanding of art seemed to increase, and we wanted to take a look at why that happened," Niki Stewart, CBM chief engagement officer at the time, told What's Up! in 2016. That strong, positive response to the accessible contemporary exhibition -- and its living artists -- was a direct catalyst for the museum looking into development of an experimental space for contemporary art just a mile and a half down the road. Enter the Momentary.

Now, that new space is preparing to celebrate its grand debut with a performance art festival and the second iteration of that inciting exhibition: "State of the Art 2020."

"Crystal Bridges is a different institution than we were in 2014 in terms of the contemporary program," shares Lauren Haynes, curator of visual arts at the Momentary and curator of contemporary art at Crystal Bridges.

Six years after the first exhibition's debut, a fresh team, a resume filled with greater volume and depth of internally curated work, and preparations for a brand new venue's opening instilled the second curatorial journey with an up-to-date vision for the exhibition's objective.

"We didn't start out this trip and the journey saying, 'This is what we're looking for.' It was more about 'let's have these conversations with artists, think about the works that we're captivated by, work that feel like they're well made,'" Haynes says of the process with the exhibition's co-curators Allison Glenn and Alejo Benedetti. "The themes for the exhibition are world-building, mapping, temporality and sense of place. [The process] was looking at and talking about how is this very particular group of artists responding to and making work right now?"

Once the 61 works were selected, next came the placement. "State of the Art 2020" will be the inaugural exhibition for the Momentary, but it will be presented across the sister spaces at Crystal Bridges and the Momentary. That conversation between the two sites was part of the consideration for how audiences will respond to and interact with the work, Haynes shares.

"What does it mean to them to see this work both at Crystal Bridges and the Momentary," Haynes muses. "But it's also the question of, 'Wow, how did they do that?' 'What were they thinking?' 'What were they using?'

"I think for some artists, that's very much a part of what they're wanting to get at -- they're asking people to question the process or question the materials. With all art, and with all the artists and the works that we chose for 'State of the Art 2020,' we want people to have questions. Not everyone's going to like everything, ever, anywhere. But for me, it's successful when people come away with questions or conversations or are really still thinking about something after they've left the space."

NAN What's Up on 02/16/2020

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