Aspen Art Museum
Package Information |
About the Museum |
Location, Time & Admission Information |
Exhibits |
Education & Public Programming |
Architecture Lecture Series
About the Museum
Founded in 1979, the Aspen Art Museum is an internationally recognized non-collecting institution presenting exhibitions of important contemporary art from around the globe. The Aspen Art Gallery is housed in an historic brick building located along the scenic Rio Grande Trial near the heart of Aspen. Stimulating year-round programming includes numerous art workshops for children, teens and adults, free public lectures, docent tours, site rentals, special events, and members' art trips.Location, Time & Admission Information
| Location: | 590 North Mill Street, Aspen, Colorado 81611 |
| Hours of Operation: | Tuesday - Saturday, 10:00am - 6:00pm Sunday, noon to 6:00pm Art After Hours, Thursdays, 5:00 - 7:00 pm (during exhibitions only) Closed Mondays and major holidays |
| Admission: | Non-members $5 Seniors and students $3 Members and children under 12 FREE Friday admission free, courtesy Alpine Bank Aspen |
| Contact Information: | 970.925.8050 www.aspenartmuseum.org |
AAM 2008-2009 EXHIBITIONS AND EVENTS
Unknown Pleasures: August 9 - October 19, 2008Music has become both an aesthetic device and an important touchstone for many artists, and uses of emotive and psychological properties of sound also coincide with a current reinvestigation of the romantic notion of melancholy—historically identified as a state of malaise, disaffection, and inactivity. Unknown Pleasures features a number of international contemporary artists working in a variety of media, who explore the connections between music and melancholy, but instead focus on its generative potential. Along with works in the AAM Upper Gallery and outdoor installations on the museum grounds, Unknown Pleasures will also feature a listening station devoted to musical recordings and albums produced by artists exploring the interrelationship of contemporary art and music. Artists featured in the exhibition include Sanford Biggers, Anne Collier, Jesper Just, Tim Lee, Euan Macdonald, Susan Philipsz, Ugo Rondinone, Melanie Schiff, and Wilhelm Sasnal. Unknown Pleasures is organized by the Aspen Art Museum and funded in part by the AAM National Council. AAM Art Talks are part of the Questrom Lecture Series. Phil Collins: August 15 - October 26, 2008
The Aspen Art Museum’s Jane and Mark Nathanson Distinguished Artist in Residence Program furthers the museum’s goal of engaging the larger community with contemporary art. The public is invited to visit the artist in-studio, as the process of making art can be just as interesting as the resulting product. Residencies can last anywhere between forty-eight hours and two months. The work of British artist Phil Collins addresses social issues. Straddling the line between voyeurism and active art therapy, Collins’s work engages subcultures within local communities to create performance-based video works. In one recent work, They Shoot Horses (2004), Collins traveled to Palestine and filmed a sixteen hour dance marathon with local youth. The resulting video is both infectious and strangely moving as the non-stop dancing is interrupted only by the call to prayer from a nearby mosque and various technical problems. For The World Won’t Listen (2005), Collins engaged a number of local musicians in Bogotá, Columbia, to create a karaoke machine by having them re-record the backing tracks from the Smiths album of the same name. He then filmed over sixty Smiths fans from the area performing their own renditions of the songs. By inviting “the shy, the dissatisfied, the narcissistic, the shower superstars, and anyone who wants to be someone else for a night” (according to the invitation poster), Collins created stunningly intimate portraits of the city’s inhabitants by passing associations propagated through the mass media. In his own words, Collins’s interest in eschewing the spectacular in favor of the intimate stems from the fact that “intimacy is a value denied by reportage.” The work produced during Collins’s spring residency will be shown in the AAM Lower Gallery beginning August 15, 2008. Phil Collins was born in 1970 in Runcorn, England, and currently lives and works in Brighton. Collins has had solo exhibitions at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Tate Britain; Museum of Contemporary Art, Belgrade; Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst, Gent; and the Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus, Ohio. His work has been included in the 9th Istanbul Biennial, the 3rd Tirana Biennial, the 7th Sharjah International Art Biennial, and Manifesta 3. In 2006, he was shortlisted for the Turner Prize. Publications for this exhibition are underwritten by the Jane and Marc Nathanson Distinguished Artist in Residence Program. Lisa Anne Auerbach: September 30 - November 30, 2008
Lisa Anne Auerbach’s interdisciplinary practice—at times taking the form of publications, photographs, postcards, events, and, more often than not, knitting—encourages us to re-imagine our relationship with the world. Often combining wry humor with a biting critique of the complacency and routine of modern life, Auerbach’s work inserts itself into the visual and social fabric of the communities that she engages. For her project at the Aspen Art Museum, Auerbach will be creating a number of knit sweaters that address the language associated with political campaigns and slogans. Intended to empower people to actively participate in the upcoming presidential election, this non-partisan project will include sweaters installed at the museum, in various shop windows around downtown Aspen, and worn by members of the community. Lisa Anne Auerbach’s Aspen Art Museum exhibition is organized by the Aspen Art Museum and funded in part by the AAM National Council. AAM Art Talks are part of the Questrom Lecture Series. ARAC@AAM: Anderson Ranch at the Aspen Art Museum: October 31 - December 7, 2008
In an historic collaborative effort, the Aspen Art Museum and Anderson Ranch Arts Center will present an exhibition at the museum that highlights the artistic accomplishments of Anderson Ranch, its history of art-making, and it’s importance to the local community. ARAC@AAM: Anderson Ranch at the Aspen Art Museum has been organized from over 250 submissions received from an open call to all former artists-in-residence, workshop faculty, visiting artists and critics, and Anderson Ranch staff. Dan Cameron, the Director of Visual Arts at the Contemporary Art Center, New Orleans; Laura Hoptman, the Senior Curator at the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York; and Lauri Firstenberg, Director/Curator of LA ART in Los Angeles, worked together to jury and curate the exhibition and select the objects that will be on view. The resulting exhibition promises to bring together works that are as rich and diverse as Anderson Ranch’s artistic legacy.
ADDITIONAL LEARNING HIGHLIGHTS:
Art Talks — Varying from formal lectures and slide shows to intimate conversations and gallery walkthroughs with artists and curators, Art Talks provide stimulating and enlightening information about AAM exhibitions.In Person - The AAM is committed to contemporary art and the artists who create it. We are proud to offer many opportunities to meet exhibiting artists in person. Workshops - The Aspen Art Museum’s workshops are designed to inspire a greater understanding of contemporary artwork through fun, hands-on projects, games, and group discussions. Most workshops culminate in a potluck reception for friends and family where students present works created throughout the week. Detailed descriptions of exhibitions can be found in our Members’ Magazine, as well as online.
Young Curators - The year-long Young Curators of the Roaring Fork program brings together students ages 13-18 from Aspen to Rifle to curate an exhibition of artwork by their peers. We are bombarded by elements of visual culture in our daily lives, and the ability to thoughtfully consider and articulate reactions to these images is an indispensable tool. The Young Curators program seeks to promote this skill by taking students through the process of exhibiting contemporary artwork, from identifying a theme and soliciting the work from their peers to promoting and installing a museum-quality exhibition. Throughout the academic year, the Young Curators meet with museum staff and visiting artists to gain the knowledge necessary to curate and administrate their own exhibition.
EVENTS
Freestyle: Friday, December 28, 2007An amazing evening of silent and live auctions, fine dining, contemporary art, live entertainment, and fashion show. artCrush: Friday, August 1, 2008
The Aspen Art Museum’s fourth annual summer benefit will be an amazing evening of wine tasting, silent and live auctions, fine dining, and contemporary art. The AAM is also proud to present the 2008 Aspen Award for Art to artist honoree Ed Ruscha. The evening concludes with afterpartyCRUSH, a truly remarkable dance party held at the Belly-Up, with a live performance by a very special musical guest. For reservations or more information please call 970.925.8050.
