2011 Annual Report - Nasher Museum of Art - Duke University

Containing AntiquityOn view from October 21, 2010JAUME PLENSA: Glückauf? andThe Heart of TreesContaining Antiquity highlights the great variety ofvessels–storage jars, perfume bottles, serving bowlsand drinking cups–made and used in the ancient Greekcultural sphere throughout the Mediterranean region,and the decoration and function of these containers.The exhibition was designed by undergraduate andgraduate students enrolled in a seminar taught in thespring of 2010 by professor Carla Antonaccio, in Duke’sDepartment of Classical Studies. The aim of the coursewas to allow students to work directly with antiquities,teaching them how to look at, record and analyzeobjects, how to understand style and manufacture, howto assign a date and trace possible origins and uses forthe objects, and how to present them to the universitycommunity and public. The course also engaged withcurrent debates about the market that brings antiquitiesto institutions like the Nasher Museum, and the currentlegal and ethical issues surrounding their acquisition.Every student conducted independent research onselected objects that informed the choices that wentinto the exhibition. They collaborated on devising theoverarching theme of the exhibition, selecting objectsand drafting text panels.Support for the exhibition and catalogue comes from the AndrewW. Mellon Foundation, an anonymous donor, the Teasley FamilyClassical Antiquities Endowment Fund, the Department ofClassical Studies at Duke University, the John O. and Jeanne MilesBlackburn Endowment, and the Mary Duke Biddle Foundation.Spring 2011The Nasher Museum presented two installations ofsculpture by Spanish artist Jaume Plensa, who livesand works in Barcelona and Paris. Visitors were invitedto walk through and interact with Glückauf?, on viewin the permanent collection gallery. Curtains of strungletters spelled out the text of the Universal Declarationof Human Rights. The document was adopted by theUnited Nations in 1948 as a response to the atrocitiesof World War II. The word glückauf is a good luck wishin German.On the front lawn of the museum, The Heart of Treesinstallation brought six live trees to the winter landscape.Each tree was accompanied by seated self-portraits ofthe artist, cast in bronze, with arms and legs wrappedaround the trunks. The figures were inscribed withnames of composers, including Ludwig van Beethoven,Béla Bartók, and George Gershwin. For Plensa, the bodybecomes a vessel for information, a surface on which torecord words.Both installations were made possible by Paula Crownand Richard Gray Gallery, Chicago.RELATED PROGRAMSContaining Antiquity opening event and gallery talk with Duke student co-curators and the late Anne Schroder, curator andacademic program coordinator at the Nasher Museum.RELATED PROGRAMSFirst Thursday talk by Katherine Jentleson, a first-year Ph.D. student in Duke’s Department of Art, Art History & Visual Studies.Free Family Day event with live entertainment, hands-on projects and gallery hunts.TOP LEFT: Duke student Kiki Smith leads a gallery talk with her co-curators,all Duke students, and many of their parents. Photo by Dr. J Caldwell.p. 18 Containing AntiquityTOP RIGHT: The co-curators met as undergraduate and graduate studentsenrolled in a seminar taught in the spring of 2010. Photo by Dr. J Caldwell.BOTTOM: Black-Figure Droop Cup (detail), Attic. ca. 540-530 BCE, ceramic.Collection of the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University. Anonymous Gift.TOP LEFT: Jaume Plensa’s The Heart of Trees installation enlivens theNasher Museum’s front lawn. Photo by Wendy Hower Livingston.TOP RIGHT and BOTTOM: Visitors interact with the iron lettersof Jaume Plensa’s Glückauf? Photo by Dr. J Caldwell. Jaume Plensa: Glückauf? and the Heart of Trees p. 19