MoMA | Category: Behind the Scenes

Posts in ‘Behind the Scenes’

March 13, 2015 | Behind the Scenes, Collection & Exhibitions

Gamepieces: An Installation Deconstructed

Posted by Sydney Briggs, Associate Registrar, Collections

A menagerie of color and the enchanted siren call of classical raga greets visitors entering the carouseling silhouettes of Nalini Malani’s Gamepieces (2003/2009). Installed as part of the exhibition Scenes for a New Heritage: Contemporary Art from the Collection, the artwork was first conceived by Malani in 2003 for the 8th Annual Istanbul Biennial.

February 25, 2015 | Behind the Scenes, Library and Archives

FOUND! Photographs from MoMA’s 1944 Norman Bel Geddes’ War Maneuver Models Exhibition

Posted by Thomas Grischkowsky, Archives Specialist, Museum Archives

"Sterling silver models of tanks, jeeps, trucks, etc." being installed during exhibition. Exhibition Dates: January 26, 1944 through March 5, 1944. Photographic Archive. The Museum of Modern Art Archives, New York. Photographer, Herbert Gehr

“Sterling silver models of tanks, jeeps, trucks, etc.” being installed for the exhibition Norman Bel Geddes’ War Maneuver Models, January 26–March 5, 1944. Photographic Archive. The Museum of Modern Art Archives, New York. Photographer: Herbert Gehr

As Archives Specialist in the MoMA Archives, I am always on the prowl for images depicting how our exhibitions were installed. Sadly, up until the 1960s only about 75% of MoMA’s exhibitions were documented with official installation photographs, usually due to budget constraints. So imagine my excitement on one dark, drab winter day earlier this year when, while working in the Photographic Archive, I came across a folder labeled, “Visitors in Galleries,” and discovered that these visitors were in galleries for an exhibition for which we had no visual record

January 20, 2015 | Artists, Behind the Scenes, Collection & Exhibitions

Collecting Alvin Lucier’s I Am Sitting in a Room

Posted by Martha Joseph, Curatorial Assistant, Department of Media and Performance Art

In 1969 American composer Alvin Lucier first performed his landmark work I Am Sitting in a Room, conceived for voice and electromagnetic tape. Lucier read a text into a microphone. Attempting to smooth out his stutter, he began with the lines, “I am sitting in a room, the same one you are in now. I am recording the sound of my speaking voice.” As described in the text, his voice was recorded, then played back into the room. This process was repeated, and with each iteration Lucier’s recorded speech grew muddled, sounding distant, and specific sonic frequencies started to dominate the recorded sound.

December 3, 2014 | Behind the Scenes, Design

Designing an Identity for Matisse’s Cut-Outs

Posted by Sabine Dowek, Art Director, Department of Advertising and Graphic Design

One of the great things about working in MoMA’s Department of Advertising and Graphic Design is the range of projects we get to work on. Our work ranges from advertising to exhibitions to printed materials and internal signage. Most recently, we got a chance to collaborate with MoMA’s retail department to develop products for the Henri Matisse: The Cut-Outs exhibition.

November 7, 2014 | Artists, Behind the Scenes, MoMA Stores

Meet Artist Elsa Mora at the MoMA Design Store Soho

Posted by Carolyn Kelly, Coordinating Editor, Marketing and Communications

This weekend multimedia artist Elsa Mora, who designed one of MoMA’s signature holiday cards this year, will bring her incredible cut-paper creations to the MoMA Design Store in Soho. Shoppers, creatives, and art aficionados alike can stop by to see her work come to life, and meet with Mora in person.

October 31, 2014 | Behind the Scenes

Four Years of MoMA Halloween Pumpkins

Posted by Jason Persse, Editorial Manager, Marketing and Communications

Maniac Pumpkin Carvers’ Halloween re-creation of Henri Matisse’s Blue Nude sits in the MoMA film lobby

For the fourth year running, MoMA visitors who pass through the Museum’s film entrance during the days leading up to Halloween are treated to an iconic modern-art masterpiece—in seasonally appropriate pumpkin form. This year, in celebration of the Henri Matisse: The Cut-Outs exhibition, the knife-wielding crazies at Maniac Pumpkin Carvers have “cut out” a beautiful interpretation of Matisse’s Blue Nude.

October 7, 2014 | Behind the Scenes, Collection & Exhibitions, Conservation

The Conservation of Henri Matisse’s The Swimming Pool

Posted by Laura Neufeld, Assistant Paper Conservator, Department of Conservation

The centerpiece of the exhibition Henri Matisse: The Cut-Outs, Matisse’s remarkable room-size cut-out The Swimming Pool returns to the MoMA galleries for the first time in more than 20 years. In this video, MoMA’s Department of Conservation shares a behind-the-scenes look at the process of conserving this beloved artwork, and in the text below conservator Laura Neufeld provides background on the project.

September 10, 2014 | Behind the Scenes

Better Living through Comfort: MoMA Security Gets a New Look

Posted by Laura Kittredge, Assistant Director, Corporate Funding

MoMA Security staff sporting their new, UNIQLO-designed uniforms

If you’ve been to MoMA this summer, you may have noticed that our security team is sporting a stylish new look. As part of MoMA’s ongoing partnership with the Japanese retailer UNIQLO, designer Naoki Takizawa and his team created a security officer uniform that brought together MoMA’s focus on art and design and UNQLO’s commitment to comfort and innovation.

February 12, 2014 | Artists, Behind the Scenes, MoMA Stores

Maurizio Cattelan and Pierpaolo Ferrari Bring Toiletpaper to the Table

Posted by Stephanie Coffee, Content Marketing Manager, Retail Division

A scene from MoMA Design Store’s spring catalog cover shoot featuring Seletti Wears Toiletpaper, a suite of dishes, mugs, and tablecloths created by Maurizio Cattelan and Pierpaolo Ferrari for Seletti

This season the MoMA Design Store is pleased to announce the launch of an exclusive new series of artist-produced wares. To celebrate these artistic collaborations we’re going share with Inside/Out readers a behind-the-scenes look at the process of designing these exciting products, and background about the artists involved.

February 3, 2014 | Behind the Scenes, Collection & Exhibitions, Conservation

Frank Lloyd Wright’s “Living City” Lives On: Conserving the Broadacre City Model

Posted by Ellen Moody, Assistant Projects Conservator, Sculpture Conservation

Drawing of Broadacre City by Frank Lloyd Wright. From B. Pfeiffer, Frank Lloyd Wright 1943–1959: The Complete Works [Vol. 3], edited by Peter Gössel, published by Taschen, 2009

MoMA and Columbia University’s Avery Library recently made an acquisition sure to excite even the most casual architecture fans: the Frank Lloyd Wright Archive. In addition to many thousands of drawings, photographs, and ephemera, this collection includes over 60 models and building fragments. One of the largest and most expansive models is that of Broadacre City—Frank Lloyd Wright’s utopian reimagining of the city as open space and landscape rather than skyscraper and skyline.

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