Andrew W. Mellon Foundation awards $325,000 for
Carnegie Museum of Art media-arts collection
assessment
Grant will fund study and management of
the museum’s significant film, video,
and digital-media collections
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania...The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
has awarded Carnegie Museum of Art a grant of $325,000 to study and manage the
museum’s significant collection of film, video, and digital-media
artworks. Grant funds will be used to support a team led by staff from Carnegie
Museum of Art and The Andy Warhol Museum, two of the four Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh. With an eye
toward artistic and historical significance, this team will survey the
museum’s holdings of time-based media and provide a detailed plan for the
management, preservation, and accessibility of the collection for both public
and scholarly use.
“Carnegie
Museum of Art was one of the first major U.S. museums to embrace media
arts,” says Lynn Zelevansky, The Henry J. Heinz II Director of Carnegie
Museum of Art. “Since 1969, the growth of our collection has reflected
the growth in importance of film, video, and digital media in the art world.
Carnegie Museum of Art seeks to take on a stronger role as a repository and
presenter of media arts for the local and global audiences we serve. With the
efforts funded by this grant, we are laying the groundwork for meeting that
goal.”
Carnegie
Museum of Art holds 920 moving-image artworks, as well as reference materials
related to the collection. Among the holdings are major examples by pioneers of
experimental film, video, and digital-media art such as Kenneth Anger, Dara
Birnbaum, Stan Brakhage, Bruce Conner, Nam June Paik, Carolee Schneeman, and
Harry Smith. More recent additions to the collection include notable works by Doug
Aitken, Matthew Buckingham, Paul Chan, Mike Kelly, Joachim Koester, and Sharon
Lockhart.
The
project will be led, at Carnegie Museum of Art, by chief conservator Ellen
Baxter and associate curator of contemporary art Dan Byers, and, at The Andy
Warhol Museum, by Geralyn Huxley, curator of film and video, and Greg Pierce,
assistant curator of film and video. In addition, the museum will engage a
specialist in archival moving image consulting and time-based art conservation,
as well as curators, scholars, and experts who will be involved in roundtable
discussions to inform the planning and help develop the in-house capabilities.
Carnegie Museum of Art
Located at 4400 Forbes Avenue
in the Oakland section of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Museum of Art was
founded by industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie in 1895. One of the
four Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh,
it is nationally and internationally recognized for its distinguished
collection of American and European works from the 16th century to the present.
The Heinz Architectural Center,
part of Carnegie Museum of Art, is dedicated to enhancing understanding of the
physical environment through its exhibitions, collections, and public programs. For more
information about Carnegie Museum of Art, call 412.622.3131 or visit our website
at www.cmoa.org.
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