Kemper’s new exhibit features artist talk, audience participation

Installation view of First Love (2005) from Rivane Neuenschwander: A Day Like Any Other, New Museum, New York, 2010. Courtesy of the artist; Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York; Galeria Fortes Vilaça, São Paulo; and Stephen Friedman Gallery, London. Photo by Benoit Pailley. Hi-res version available upon request.

Brazilian conceptual artist Rivane Neuenschwander will discuss her work with Richard Flood, chief curator of the New Museum in New York, at 11 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 9, in Steinberg Hall Auditorium at Washington University in St. Louis.

The dialogue is held in conjunction with Rivane Neuenschwander: A Day Like Any Other, the artist’s first major mid-career survey, which opens at the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum at 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 8.

Covering a decade of her work, the exhibition explores Neuenschwander’s wide-ranging interdisciplinary practice, which merges painting, photography, film, sculpture, installation and participatory action.

“It is Neuenschwander’s extravagant disregard for artistic categories that makes her work so perfectly tempered for this time,” says Flood, who organized the exhibition, which opened at the New Museum last June. “In this exhibition, much of the art is created by the public, and much of what isn’t made by the public is clearly dedicated to the public.”

Several works on view invite direct audience participation. Among these are First Love (2005), which asks volunteers to describe their “first love” to a forensic sketch artist. The resulting portraits will be displayed in the museum for the duration of the exhibition. Participation is free and open to the public, though the process takes about two hours and appointments are required. For more information or to sign up, contact the museum’s education department at kemper-ed@wustl.edu or (314) 935-7918.

A Day Like Any Other remains on view at the Kemper Art Museum through Jan. 10, 2011. Other related events will include a concert of Brazilian popular music by the St. Louis band Samba Bom on Friday, Oct. 29; a lecture by art historian Monica Amor on Monday, Nov. 8; and the Contemporary Brazilian Film Festival Dec. 7-9, presented at the Tivoli Theatre, 6350 Delmar Blvd. In addition, the museum will host a pair of special curator-led tours, each lasting approximately one hour on Oct. 29 and Jan. 7, 2011.

Curator Richard Flood

Prior to joining the New Museum in 2005, Flood was chief curator of the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, where he organized a wide range of exhibitions, including Brilliant!: New Art from London; Zero to Infinity: Arte Povera 1962-1972; and solo exhibitions on the work of Robert Gober, Sigmar Polke and Matthew Barney. Flood previously was curator of P.S.1 and director of the Barbara Gladstone Gallery, both in New York, as well as managing editor of Artforum magazine. At the New Museum, Flood also has organized Double Album: Daniel Guzmán and Steven Shearer and Jeffrey Inaba’s Donor Hall.

Following its run at the Kemper Art Museum, A Day Like Any Other will travel to the Scottsdale (Ariz.) Museum of Contemporary Art, the Miami Art Museum and the Irish Museum of Modern Art in Dublin.

Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum

The Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, part of Washington University’s Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts, is committed to furthering critical thinking and visual literacy through a vital program of exhibitions, publications and accompanying events. The museum dates back to 1881, making it the oldest art museum west of the Mississippi River. Today, it boasts one of the finest university collections in the United States.

All events are free and open to the public. The Kemper Art Museum is located on Washington University’s Danforth Campus, immediately adjacent to Steinberg Hall, near the intersection of Skinker and Forsyth boulevards. Regular hours are 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays; 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Fridays; and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. The museum is closed Tuesdays.

For more information, call (314) 935-4523 or visit kemperartmuseum.wustl.edu.