First Pre-Screen Tonight!

Art:21 – Art in the Twenty-First Century
A series produced by PBS and airing nationally starting tonight.

The Eleanor D. Wilson Museum at Hollins University has been selected as a pre-screening location for this 4-part series, meaning that the museum will show each episode the night before it airs on TV. 

Art:21 focuses exclusively on contemporary art ,and invites audiences to meet 14 of today’s most accomplished artists as they create works that reflect important and timely global issues.  Each of the four hour-long episodes of Season Five is constructed around a theme, including “Compassion,” “Fantasy,” “ Transformation” and “Systems.” 

Tonight’s episode, “Compassion,” features artists William Kentridge, Doris Salcedo and Carrie Mae Weems and explores the possibility of understanding and reconciling past and present, while exposing injustice and expressing tolerance for others.  There will be an introduction by J. Ruth Epstein PhD, Assistant Professor of Art History. The screening, which is free, will be in the  Richard Wetherill Visual Arts Center and in the Frances J. Niederer Auditorium (Room 120), beginning at 7:30 tonight. Popcorn will be provided by the Grandin Theatre.

Episode Guide

Episode 1: Tuesday, October 6 from 7:30-9pm: Compassion featuring William Kentridge, Doris Salcedo and Carrie Mae Weems.  This episode features artists whose works explore the possibility of understanding and reconciling past and present, while exposing injustice and expressing tolerance for others.  Introduction by J. Ruth Epstein PhD, Assistant Professor of Art History at Hollins University.

Episode 2: Tuesday, October 13 from 7:30-9pm: Fantasy features Cao Fei, Mary Heilmann, Jeff Koons and Florian Maier-Aichen, and presents artists whose works or personal stories transport viewers to imaginary worlds and altered states of consciousness. With works that seem at times hallucinatory, irreverent, and sublime, each of these artists pursues a vision first held in the mind’s eye.  Introduction by Brian Counihan, artist, critic and founding faculty and Coordinator of Art at Community High School in Roanoke, Virginia.

Episode 3: Tuesday, October 20 from 7:30-9pm: Transformation with Paul McCarthy, Cindy Sherman and Yinka Shonibare MBE. Whether observing and satirizing society or reinventing icons of literature, art history, and popular culture, the artists featured in Transformation capture the sensibilities of our age while at times inhabiting the characters they have created.  Introduction by Robert Sulkin, Chair of Hollins University’s Art Department and Professor of Art in Photography.

Episode 4: Tuesday, October 27 from 7:30-9pm: Systems features John Baldessari, Kimsooja, Allan McCollum and Julie Mehretu. Artists invent new processes to convey the attitude of today’s supercharged, information-based society, examining why we find comfort in some systems while rebelling against others. Systems features artists who realize complex projects through acts of appropriation or accumulation. In some instances, they create projects vast in scope, which almost elude comprehension.  Introduction by Christine Carr, artist and assistant professor of Art and Photography at Hollins University.

This event was developed with the support of Art21 (www.art21.org), a non-profit contemporary art organization serving artists, students, teachers, and the general public, and is made possible with support from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the National Endowment for the Arts. For more information visit www.art21.org.