Dara Birnbaum: Reaction / Black Melancholia / Martine Syms: Grio College

The Hessel Museum of Art, Bard College, will present three new major exhibitions, all to open on June 25:

Dara Birnbaum: Reaction
June 25–November 27, 2022
Curated by Lauren Cornell

Reaction charts a wide and in-depth view of Dara Birnbaum’s extraordinary and influential practice, marking the indelible contribution she has made not only to American art but to the global histories of video, Conceptual, performance, and appropriation art. Organized chronologically, and marking the first U.S. retrospective of the artist’s work to date, the exhibition surveys works from 1975 to 2011 with a focus on key single-channel videos and major installations, many not seen in the United States for years. An accompanying presentation of archival material will illustrate her rigorous and interdisciplinary method, while illuminating the varied contexts of her work in art, music, and politics.

Black Melancholia
June 25–October 16, 2022
Curated by Nana Adusei-Poku

Bringing together a broad range of works by of twenty-eight artists, Black Melancholia expands and complicates the notion of melancholy in Western art history and cultures. Including new commissions as well as painting, sculpture, film, photography, works on paper, and sound, from the late 19th century to the present day, the exhibition opens a dialogue with traditional art historical discourses around the representation of melancholia.

Featured artists include Clay Apenouvon, William Artis, Ain Bailey, Edward Mitchell Bannister, Selma Burke, Roy DeCarava, Ja’Tovia Gary, Cy Gavin, Lyle Ashton Harris, Kenyatta A.C. Hinkle, Sargent Claude Johnson, Rashid Johnson, Valerie Maynard, Charles McGee, Danielle Mckinney, Shala Miller, Tyler Mitchell, Arcmanoro Niles, Otobong Nkanga, Zohra Opoku, Rose Piper, Pope.L, Walter Price, Augusta Savage, Lorna Simpson, Charisse Pearlina Weston, Charles White, and Alberta Whittle.

Martine Syms: Grio College
June 25–November 27, 2022
Curated by Lauren Cornell

The practice of Martine Syms is distinguished by its boundlessness: her subjects move across media—print and web publishing, photography, moving image, installation, AI, software—dissolving the lines between these forms. One of the most insightful and important artists to show how digital media shapes our culture, Syms examines representations of Blackness and its relationship to vernacular, feminist thought, and radical traditions. Martine Syms: Grio College presents an expansive selection of Syms’ work, featuring major new and recent works and emphasizing the artist’s versatile approach to photography, highlighting the many scales and methods through which she approaches image-making. The exhibition is accompanied by a screening of Syms’ feature film The African Desperate (2022), and premieres related photographic works, drawings, and installation. The script of The African Desperate, co-written by Syms and Rocket Caleshu, will be published by Nightboat Books and available in conjunction with the exhibition.

Visitor information:
Exhibition summer hours are Wednesday through Monday from 12 to 6pm. All CCS Bard exhibitions and programs are free and open to the public. Advance reservation at ccs.bard.edu.

For a seat on the free roundtrip chartered bus from New York City for the opening please call T +1 845 758 7573 or email crobertson [​at​] bard.edu. Reservations are required for the bus.

Exhibition credits:
Dara Birnbaum: Reaction is generously supported by Lonti Ebers.

Major additional support for Dara Birnbaum: Reaction is provided by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. Dara Birnbaum: Reaction is also made possible through the generous support of the Carl & Marilynn Thoma Foundation.

General exhibition support at CCS Bard is made possible with support from the Marieluise Hessel Foundation, the Audrey and Sydney Irmas Foundation, the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation, the Board of Governors of the Center for Curatorial Studies, the CCS Bard Arts Council, and the Center’s Patrons, Supporters, and Friends.