Make Art/Stop AIDS February 23, 2008 to June 15, 2008
"Provides more than just a lecture on the difficult subject of AIDS and the fragility of life: it finds poetry where few of us dare to search." Edward Goldman, KCRW's Art Talk, Feb. 26, 2008
"A sprawling, complex, and moving exhibition." Annie Buckley, Artforum.com Critics' Picks
"A must experience: emotional, educational, empowering." Nancy Lupo, ArtSlant
Make Art/Stop AIDS is an internationally traveling exhibition debuting at the Fowler that explores how artists around the world are responding to HIV/AIDS and how their work raises awareness, inspires activism, and can ultimately help end global AIDS. Featuring examples primarily from the United States, South Africa, India and Brazil—four disparate nations whose distinct experiences with and responses to the epidemic make insightful studies —Make Art/Stop AIDS presents approximately sixty works including contemporary paintings and sculptures, photographs, performance videos, posters, animated shorts, digital media, installations and more to record the history of the epidemic, to appreciate its enormity, and to share information and ideas about future interventions. The exhibition features work by Robert Gober, David Wojnarowicz, Fiona Kirkwood, Daniel Goldstein, Jean Carlomusto, and the collective Gran Fury, among many others.
Make Art/Stop AIDS is made possible through grants from the Ford Foundation, Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, and Peter Norton Family Foundation.
Support for accompanying public programs is provided by the UCLA Executive Vice Chancellor's Arts Initiative Program; UCLA’s School of the Arts and Architecture, Center for Community Partnerships (UCLA in LA), Office of Instructional Development, International Institute, Office of Research, and AIDS Institute; UC Humanities Research Institute; UC Institute for Research in the Arts; UC MEXUS; Macy's Foundation; Flourish Foundation; Gere Foundation; Liberty Hill Foundation; California Endowment; and Yvonne Lenart Public Programs Fund.
We also acknowledge our project partners: Artists for a New South Africa; Los Angeles Unified School District HIV/AIDS Prevention Unit; Magic Johnson Foundation; and the following UCLA Centers: James S. Coleman African Studies Center, Center for India and South Asia, Center for Southeast Asian Studies, and Center for Latin American Studies, and Globalization Research Center—Africa.
Special thanks to the Brazilian Consulate of Los Angeles.
“Please Listen, People”
Addressing HIV/AIDS in Bengali Scroll Paintings
March 16, 2008 to July 13, 2008 See twenty-six colorful and fascinating works of art created by the Patua of West Bengal, India—multimedia artists who paint narrative scrolls and then perform sung poetry while unrolling their scrolls to tell their stories to their audience. This traditional performance genre once drew its stories exclusively from the great Indian epics. In recent years, however, local non-governmental organizations have begun commissioning scrolls addressing health issues, including HIV/AIDS education.
Please Listen, People: Addressing HIV/AIDS in Bengali Scroll Paintings is a joint project of the Fowler Museum at UCLA and the UCLA Art | Global Health Center and is a component of the Make Art/Stop AIDS initiative.
The exhibition received support from the Ford Foundation, UCLA International Institute, UCLA AIDS Institute, and UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture. Additional support for accompanying programs was provided by the UCLA Program in Global Health, UCLA School of Public Health, UCLA Center for India and South Asia, UCLA Center for the Study of Women, and Corrine A. Seeds University Elementary School.
Special thanks to UNAIDS, UNESCO, the West Bengal State AIDS Control and Prevention Society, the American Center, Kolkata, the United States Educational Foundation in India, SPARSHA, Dr. Samiran Panda, Rajeev Varma, and Karuna Singh.
Beautiful and seductive, protective yet dangerous, the water spirit Mami Wata (Mother Water) is celebrated throughout much of Africa and the African Atlantic. Often portrayed as a mermaid, a snake charmer, or a combination of both, she and the “school” of related African water spirits all honor the essential, sacred nature of water. Experience the debut of this multimedia exhibition and explore the visual cultures and histories of Mami Wata through a dynamic presentation of the rich array of arts surrounding her—sculpture, paintings, masks, posters, and more from west and central Africa, the Caribbean, Brazil, and the United States. Let Mami Wata beguile you as she has done to peoples across the globe for centuries!
Mami Wata: Arts for Water Spirits in Africa and Its Diasporas was made possible by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Additional support for accompanying programs was provided by the James Irvine Foundation, Ralph M. Parsons Foundation, Yvonne Lenart Public Programs Fund, Jerome L. Joss Fund, Shirley & Ralph Shapiro Director's Discretionary Fund, Hitachi Foundation, Hotel Angeleno, and Manus, the support group of the Fowler Museum at UCLA.
See an edited version of a video that's screening in the exhibition:
Reflecting Culture: The Francis E. Fowler, Jr. Collection of Silver
On permanent display
Comprising 251 objects representing 16th through 19th century Europe, Great Britain and the United States, this exhibition interprets silver in its social contexts. Gleaming vessels from renowned workshops—such as those of British silversmith Paul de Lamerie (c.1800), Russian jeweler Karl Fabergé (c.1900), and American patriot silversmith Paul Revere (c.1760)—highlight important styles and techniques.
Intersections: World Arts, Local Lives
On ongoing display
"Spanning centuries of multicultural creativity, this exhibition is the kind of art experience that might restore your faith in the sad old human
comedy. How nice that the installation is on long-term view." The New York Times, Oct. 1, 2006
Los Angeles museum-goers at last have an ongoing opportunity to enjoy one of our nation's most important collections of art from Africa, Asia, the Pacific, and the Americas in Intersections: World Arts, Local Lives, which features approximately 250 of the finest objects from the Fowler's collections in a long-term exhibition that celebrates the richness of world arts and considers the roles these works of art play in peoples' lives.
Intersections: World Arts, Local Lives is made possible by lead gifts from the National Endowment for the Humanities, The Getty Foundation, The Ahmanson Foundation, and Barbara and Joseph Goldenberg. Major support was provided by Patricia B. Altman and the Ralph M. Parsons Foundation; Margit and Lloyd Cotsen, Jay and Deborah Last, the National Endowment for the Arts, Shirley and Ralph Shapiro, the W.L.S. Spencer Foundation, the Patricia and Richard Anawalt Family, and Shani and Milady, daughters of William T. Perry, Esq. Additional support was provided by the Aaroe Associates Charitable Foundation, Anonymous, the Ethnic Arts Council of Los Angeles, Jill and Barry Kitnick, Jim and Jeanne Pieper, the Ceil and Michael Pulitzer Foundation, and Edwin and Cherie Silver. (Only gifts of $10,000 and above are listed here.) Media sponsorship provided by Venice Magazine and KCRW.
