Doris Salcedo: The Materiality of Mourning

Through April 9, 2017

This exhibition features works by Salcedo, who is known for sculptures and public installations that honor, acknowledge, and mourn individuals lost to civil violence. The accompanying catalogue is now available in our shop.
In December, related programming includes gallery talks in English and Spanish, as well as a screening of Doris Salcedo’s Public Works. Check our calendar for details. Further information about works in the exhibition is now available in a bilingual digital tool.
A special talk on December 13, On Curating: Displacement, looks at connections between Embodied Absence: Chilean Art of the 1970s Now, on view at Harvard’s Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts, and our Materiality of Mourning exhibition. Registration required.
A video recording of the opening celebration discussion between Salcedo, Harvard professor Elaine Scarry, and curator Mary Schneider Enriquez is now available online. Watch

Lightbox Gallery Screening: COMPULSIVE PRACTICE

Thursday, December 1, 10am–5pm
Level 5

To recognize this year’s Day Without Art, the organization Visual AIDS will present COMPULSIVE PRACTICE in the Lightbox Gallery. The hour-long video compilation will screen on loop throughout the day. More

#BostonInstaSwap

Thursday, December 1

Sixteen Boston-area cultural organizations will come together on Instagram on December 1, swapping accounts for the day and making connections from Boston to Salem. Join us on our Instagram for an exploration of the USS Constitution. Follow all participating museums at #BostonInstaSwap and #MuseumInstaSwap.

Modern Art in Technicolor: Art, Film, and American Identity

Friday, December 2, 2–3:45pm
Menschel Hall, Lower Level

This series examines the construction of American identity by pairing artworks from the museums’ collections with films. Today’s film: Samuel Fuller’s Shock Corridor (1963). Before the screening, view Philip Guston’s The Three (in Gallery 1330, Level 1). More

VALIE EXPORT: Medial Imaginations

Wednesday, December 7, 6–7:30pm
Menschel Hall, Lower Level

Austrian artist VALIE EXPORT, a pioneer in conceptual media art, performance, and film, presents this year’s Busch-Reisinger Museum lecture. Free admission. More

Winter Members Celebration

Thursday, December 15, 6–8pm

Members and their guests are invited to enjoy hot beverages, sweet treats, and conversation in the Calderwood Courtyard, as we celebrate the holiday season. A double discount (20%) will also be given in the shop. Registration required. More
Not a member? Join now!

Final Month to See Current University Gallery Installations

Through January 8, 2017
Level 3

Our University Galleries are programmed in consultation with Harvard faculty to support their coursework and are also a site for curatorial experimentation. There are three thematic installations currently on view:
Folding, Refraction, Touch: Modern and Contemporary Art in Dialogue with Wolfgang Tillmans presents a major recent acquisition by Tillmans and objects by other artists whose works resonate with Tillmans’s interest in surface, light, and the body.
Vision and Justice: The Art of Citizenship examines the contested relationship between art, justice, and African American culture from the 19th through the 21st century in the United States.
Modern Art and Modernity explores defining moments in the development of modern European and American art from the 18th through the 20th century.

Shop

Open to the public daily, 10am–5pm

This holiday season, visit the Harvard Art Museums’ shop. Not only do we carry unique gifts that are like works of art themselves, but proceeds support our public programming.
Read more in Index about our book recommendations for this season.

Highlights from Index

Contemporary German artist Wolfgang Tillmans shared insights about the creation of his 19-part installation Folding, Refraction, Touch—Installation for the Busch-Reisinger Museum (2013), now on view at the Harvard Art Museums. More
As the 2016 fiscal year concluded, leaders of our facilities team were pleased to report a significant savings in energy usage and utilities costs, down about 30 percent from the previous year. More