CLARK ART INSTITUTE FELLOW TO PRESENT LECTURE ON BRITISH ARTIST JOHN MCHALE

October 30, 2018
[Digital image available upon request]

Williamstown, Massachusetts—Mark Wigley, Beinecke Fellow at the Clark Art Institute, presents the free lecture, “John McHale and the Dissolving Architecture of Pop” on Tuesday, November 13 at 5:30 pm. The lecture, sponsored by the Clark’s Research and Academic Program, will be held in the auditorium, located in the Manton Research Center.

The British artist John McHale (1922–1978) made some of the most radical and prophetic propositions about art, information, media, ecology, education, social life, prosthetics, the body, buildings, and the brain in the post-war years—yet has remained somehow easily overlooked. Wigley’s lecture explores the artist’s unique ability to be both transformative and forgotten.

Mark Wigley is professor of architecture at Columbia University. The historian and theorist explores the intersection of architecture, art, philosophy, culture, and technology. His books include: Derrida’s Haunt: The Architecture of Deconstruction (The MIT Press, 1995); White Walls, Designer Dresses: The Fashioning of Modern Architecture (The MIT Press, 2001); Constant’s New Babylon: The Hyper-Architecture of Desire (010 Uitgeverij, 1999); and Buckminster Fuller Inc.: Architecture in the Age of Radio (Lars Muller, 2015). He is the co-author of Are We Human: Notes on an Archeology of Design (Lars Muller, 2016) with Beatriz Colomina in association with their curation of the third Istanbul Design Biennial. He has also curated exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art and The Drawing Center in New York; the Witte de With and Het Nieuwe Instituut in Rotterdam, and the Canadian Centre for Architecture in Montreal. His latest book is Cutting Matta-Clark: The Anarchitecture Investigation (Lars Müller, 2018). During his Clark Fellowship, Wigley plans to complete the monographic study, “Prosthetic Ikons: The Expanding Architecture of John McHale.”

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, consisting of more than 270,000 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, which has a three-star rating in the Michelin Green Guide, is located at 225 South Street in Williamstown, Massachusetts. Galleries are open Tuesday through Sunday, 10 am to 5 pm; open daily in July and August. Admission is $20; free year-round for Clark members, children 18 and younger, and students with valid ID. Free admission is available through several programs, including First Sundays Free; a local library pass program; EBT Card to Culture; Bank of America Museums on Us; and Blue Star Museums. For more information on these programs and more, visit clarkart.edu or call 413 458 2303.

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