The next program in the Un-Private Collection series features a conversation with Broad collection artist Ericka Beckman and visual artist Matt Mullican. Both Beckman and Mullican attended California Insititute for the Arts (CalArts) in the 1970s and consider Los Angeles to be important to the development of their art practice, and in particular, their years at CalArts. Their conversation will touch upon CalArts in the 1970's—a period that produced many pioneering artists who played a vital role in shaping an identity for Southern California art and artists—and its place in the evolution of Beckman's practice as they discuss her innovative video and installation works, in particular the work You The Better (1983/2015), currently on view in The Broad's collection installation, Oracle.
Ericka Beckman's film work has been exhibited at festivals, museums and galleries around the world. Her work has been exhibited in "Film I Samtidskonsten" (Film and Contemporary Art), Stockholm; MAMCO, Geneva; Raven Row, London; Muzeum Sztuki, Lodz, Poland; the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; the Tate and the Institute of Contemporary Art, London; Kunsthalle Bern, Switzerland; the Centre Pompidou, Paris; the Museum Moderner Kunst, Vienna; and Le Magasin, Grenoble, France. Beckman has an upcoming solo exhibition at Secession in Vienna, and she has been included in four Biennials at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.
Matt Mullican is an American visual artist whose work deals with systems of knowledge, meaning and language through drawing, collage, video, sculpture, performance and installation. Born in 1951 in Santa Monica, California, Mullican received his BFA from CalArts in 1974 and rose to prominence as a member of the Pictures generation. Matt Mullican's works have been shown at venues including the 55th Venice Biennale; Haus der Kunst, Munich; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Biennale São Paulo; Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia; Museion, Bolzano, Italy; Museum Ludwig, Cologne; and Lentos Museum, Linz, Austria. He has exhibited in several editions of Documenta. Matt Mullican lives and works in New York and Berlin.
The Un-Private Collection is an ongoing series of public programs The Broad began in September 2013. The series introduces audiences to the museum’s 2,000-work contemporary art collection by showcasing stories behind the collection, the collectors and the artists. Since launching the program, The Broad has brought together a variety of artists whose works are in the Broad collection in conversation with cultural leaders, including Mark Bradford with Katy Siegel, Shirin Neshat with Christy MacLear, Jeff Koons with John Waters, Takashi Murakami with Pico Iyer, Eric Fischl with Steve Martin, John Currin with James Cuno, Kara Walker with Ava DuVernay and architect Elizabeth Diller with Eli Broad, Joanne Heyler and Paul Goldberger. Talks have been held at venues throughout Los Angeles, making the programming available to audiences across the city. Conversations are live-streamed and full videos of past talks are available online. The Un-Private Collection series is part of the Broad collection’s 30-year mission to make contemporary art accessible to the widest possible audience.
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