Barbara London (curator)

Barbara London
Born1946 (age 77–78)
New York, U.S
EducationHiram College, Institute of Fine Arts, New York University
Occupation(s)Curator, writer, professor
Organization(s)Curator of Media and Performance Art, The Museum of Modern Art, consultant, Kadist Foundation

Barbara London is a US curator and writer specializing in new media and sound art. She is best known for founding the video collection at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), and for the leading acquisition of works by Nam June Paik, Laurie Anderson, Bruce Nauman.[1]

Career

[edit]

London is the author of Video Art/The First Fifty Years (Phaidon Press, 2020), which traces the history of video art as it transformed into the broader field of media art.

In 2013, London organized and curated Soundings: A Contemporary Score, an investigative exhibition on contemporary sound art that was presented at MoMA. She edited and wrote the catalogue for the exhibition (MoMA, 2013).[2][3]

London joined MoMA's staff in 1970.[4] As a young Curatorial Assistant in the Department of Prints and Illustrated Books, she founded the video collection and exhibition programs in the mid-1970s, and organized the exhibition Bookworks in 1977.[5][6]

At MoMA, she organized more than 500 cutting edge media art exhibitions showcasing the work of pioneering artists active internationally. She also initiated Video Viewpoints (1978–2002), a four-year lecture series in which media artists regularly presented and discussed their work.[7][8]

In 1992, she was an author on a collaborative book titled Jean-Luc Godard: son + image, 1974 -1991. The book was published by MoMA.

In 1997, London pioneered one of the first multimedia museum websites, Stir-Fry.[9][10]A series of curatorial dispatches from China, the site was among the first publications to map the emerging field of Chinese media art.[11][10]

After four decades as curator of media and performance art at MoMA, in 2013 she changed hats to write, curate, and teach at the Yale School of Art.[12][13] She is a consultant to the Kadist interdisciplinary contemporary arts foundation.

In 2023, she curated Perpetual Motion, an online collective show organized for Pérez Art Museum Miami's PAMMTV, a new time-based media art streaming platform founded by PAMM. This was London's first curatorial project for an on-demand platform.[14][15][16]

Exhibitions

[edit]
  • Sound Art (1979)[17]
  • Video Spaces: Eight Installations (1995)[18]
  • Music and Media (2004) [19]
  • Anime!! (2005) [20]
  • Automatic Update (2007)[21]
  • Looking at Music (2008)[22]
  • Looking at Music: Side 2 (2010)[23]
  • Looking at Music 3.0 (2011)[24]
  • Soundings: A Contemporary Score (2013) [25]
  • Tokyo 1955–1970 (2013) [26]
  • Seeing Sound (2020-2024) [27]
  • Perpetual Motion (2023-2024), Pérez Art Museum Miami's PAMMTV[14]

Bibliography

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  • London, Barbara. Video/Art: The First Fifty Years, (2020). Phaidon Press. ISBN 978-0714877594.
  • London, Barbara; Stone, Jim; Upton, John (2016). Photography (12th ed.). Pearson. ISBN 978-0134482026.

References

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  1. ^ Garner, Hannah. Barbara London, Champion of Video and Sound Art, Is Leaving MOMA. Artfcity.com. September 19, 2013.
  2. ^ "Soundings: A Contemporary Score". The Museum of Modern Art. Retrieved July 29, 2020.
  3. ^ "Soundings: A Contemporary Score: Anne Hilde Neset, Barbara London: 9780870708886".
  4. ^ "Barbara London" (PDF). The Museum of Modern Art. October 1987. Retrieved June 2, 2014.
  5. ^ Artists' "Bookworks" to be Shown in Museum Exhibition" (PDF) (Press release). New York: Museum of Modern Art. March 17, 1977. Retrieved July 29, 2020.
  6. ^ Bookworks, March 17 – May 30, 1977
  7. ^ Manasseh, Cyrus (2009). The Problematic of Video Art in the Museum, 1968–1990. Cambria Press. ISBN 9781604976502.
  8. ^ "Sound Recordings in The Museum of Modern Art Archives". www.moma.org. Archived from the original on June 14, 2018. Retrieved July 29, 2020.
  9. ^ "Personal Journey to 'Case' the Chinese New-Media Art Scene". archive.nytimes.com. Retrieved July 29, 2020.
  10. ^ a b Stir-Fry archived at ada'web, the Walker Art Center
  11. ^ Bunn, Austin. "Finding China's Radical Artists". Wired.
  12. ^ Russeth, Andrew (August 10, 2013). "Now Hear This: For 42 Years, Barbara London Has Been Making Noise at MoMA". Gallerist. Retrieved June 2, 2014.
  13. ^ Barbara London, Critic, Yale University School of Art]
  14. ^ a b "Perpetual Motion • Pérez Art Museum Miami". Pérez Art Museum Miami. Retrieved January 17, 2024.
  15. ^ "PAMM TV Launch Party". Greater Miami & Miami Beach. Retrieved January 17, 2024.
  16. ^ "Pérez Art Museum Miami Presents Perpetual Motion: A PAMMTV Exhibition Curated by Barbara London • Pérez Art Museum Miami". Pérez Art Museum Miami. Retrieved January 17, 2024.
  17. ^ "Sound Art | MoMA". The Museum of Modern Art. Retrieved July 29, 2020.
  18. ^ "Video Spaces: Eight Installations". MoMA. September 12, 1995. Retrieved June 2, 2014.
  19. ^ "Music and Media: Laurie Anderson, Michel Gondry, and Brian Eno". MoMA. October 7, 2004. Retrieved June 2, 2014.
  20. ^ "Anime!!". MoMA. September 30, 2005. Retrieved June 2, 2014.
  21. ^ "Interactives | Automatic Update". MoMA.org. September 10, 2007. Retrieved June 2, 2014.
  22. ^ "Looking at Music". MoMA. Retrieved June 2, 2014.
  23. ^ "Looking at Music: Side 2". MoMA. Retrieved June 2, 2014.
  24. ^ "Looking at Music 3.0". MoMA. Retrieved June 2, 2014.
  25. ^ "Soundings: A Contemporary Score". MoMA. Retrieved June 2, 2014.
  26. ^ "Tokyo 1955–1970: A New Avant-Garde". MoMA. Retrieved June 2, 2014.
  27. ^ "Seeing Sound - Exhibitions - Independent Curators International". curatorsintl.org. Retrieved July 29, 2020.
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