CURATORS TO JOIN IN CONVERSATION ABOUT ‘THOMAS SCHÜTTE: CRYSTAL’ INSTALLATION AT CLARK ART INSTITUTE

For Immediate Release
August 3, 2015

Williamstown, Massachusetts—David Breslin, the John R. Eckel, Jr. Foundation Chief Curator at the Menil Drawing Institute, Menil Collection, Houston, Texas, joins in conversation with Lynne Cooke, senior curator of special projects in modern art, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., on Sunday, August 16 at 3 pm at the Clark Art Institute. The talk will take place in Hunter Studio at the Lunder Center at Stone Hill on the Clark’s campus.

Contemporary artist Thomas Schütte’s first full-scale architectural art installation in the United States, Thomas Schütte: Crystal opened at the Clark on June 14, 2015. The artist arrived at the unusual asymmetrical shape of Crystal, which was conceived specifically for its location in a meadow near the top of the Clark’s Stone Hill trails, by imagining a small piece of crystal scaled up to architectural proportions. Visitors enter the structure through doors on the northwest side; the southeast side of the structure is open and frames a view of cherry and ash trees and the Hoosac mountain range behind them.

Crystal provides visitors the opportunity to reflect on how landscapes and places, including the Clark’s campus, are constructed and preserved. The work’s unusual design does not clearly communicate its purpose, allowing visitors to construct their own meanings and functions for the structure and site.

David Breslin, the former associate director of the Clark’s Research Academic Program and curator of contemporary projects, was instrumental in bringing the contemporary installation to the Clark, where it sits atop Stone Hill trails with magnificent views of the Berkshire hills. Breslin received his master’s degree in the history of art from the Williams College / Clark program in 2004, and his PhD from Harvard University. He curated a number of exhibitions at the Clark including Juan Muñoz, El Anatsui, and Raw Color: The Circles of David Smith, and co-curated Make It New: Abstract Painting from the National Gallery of Art, 1950–75.

Lynne Cooke, prior to her position at the National Gallery of Art, was the deputy director and chief curator at the Museo Reina Sofia, Madrid, Spain, (2008 to 2012) and the curator at the Dia Art Foundation (1991 to 2008). Born in Geelong, Australia, Cooke received her BA from Melbourne University and an MA and PhD in art history from the Courtauld Institute, University of London. She has taught and lectured regularly at the University College London, Syracuse University, Yale University, Columbia University, and the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College. She was a co-curator of the Venice Biennale in 1986, the Carnegie International in 1991, and was artistic director of the Biennale of Sydney in 1996.

ABOUT THE CLARK

The Clark Art Institute, located in the Berkshires of western Massachusetts, is one of a small number of institutions globally that is both an art museum and a center for research, critical discussion, and higher education in the visual arts. Opened in 1955, the Clark houses exceptional European and American paintings and sculpture, extensive collections of master prints and drawings, English silver, and early photography. Acting as convener through its Research and Academic Program, the Clark gathers an international community of scholars to participate in a lively program of conferences, colloquia, and workshops on topics of vital importance to the visual arts. The Clark library, open to the public with more than 240,000 volumes, is one of the nation’s premier art history libraries. The Clark also houses and co-sponsors the Williams College Graduate Program in the History of Art.

The Clark is located at 225 South Street in Williamstown, Massachusetts. Galleries are open daily in July and August, 10 am to 5 pm; open September through June, Tuesday through Sunday, 10 am to 5 pm. Admission is $20; free year-round for Clark members, children 18 and younger, and students with valid ID. For more information, visit clarkart.edu or call 413 458 2303.

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