The Broad announced its exhibition schedule for 2019, led by the exclusive West Coast presentation of the internationally acclaimed exhibition Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power 1963-1983, followed by Shirin Neshat: I Will Greet the Sun Again. Originated by The Broad, Shirin Neshat: I Will Greet the Sun Again launches the first major survey of the renowned multidisciplinary artist to take place on the West Coast.
“These important exhibitions expand our long-established commitment to the work of artists confronting social and political themes,” said Joanne Heyler, founding director and chief curator, The Broad. “Soul of a Nation brings to Los Angeles a deep look at the crucial work of Black artists across the United States from the civil rights era to the early 1980s, highlighting the experimentation, production and exhibition of Black art during that time. It features several collaborative activist groups, and a vital scene in Los Angeles. This carefully curated show’s capacity to deepen our audience’s appreciation of the American postwar era motivated us to present it at The Broad.”
Heyler continued, “Our fall 2019 exhibition will present, for the first time in Los Angeles, a survey of the work of Iranian American artist Shirin Neshat. In the late 1990s, the Broad collection began a long engagement with the artist’s work with the acquisition of her twin-screen, immersive video piece Rapture (1999). It added her captivating voice to the collection’s emphasis on artists responding to global culture and politics. Neshat’s stark and powerful work in photography, film and video addresses issues around migration and exile as well as the West’s preconceptions about Islamic culture. We are excited to be working alongside the artist in developing one of the most relevant and poignant surveys to date of her work.”
“It is my tremendous honor to be invited to hold one of the largest exhibitions of my past and most recent work at The Broad,” said Neshat. “Not only do I feel privileged to be among the roster of amazing and iconic artists whom The Broad has thus far presented in major solo surveys, but I’m also extremely excited by the opportunity of seeing my work finally be brought to the city of Los Angeles, with its diverse population including the largest Iranian community living outside of Iran.”
The survey will be accompanied by a full-color catalog, including essays by exhibition curator Ed Schad and leading scholars and artists working in Iranian culture, photography and film. For both 2019 special exhibitions, The Broad will present public programs and cross-disciplinary collaborations throughout the year with artists, authors, scholars and others to amplify and build on the ideas presented in the galleries.
Full details (including ticket pricing and public programs) for Soul of a Nation and Shirin Neshat: I Will Greet the Sun Again will be announced closer to the exhibition opening dates. For news and updates, sign up for email newsletters at www.thebroad.org/press or follow The Broad on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram.
Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power 1963-1983
March 23-Sept. 1, 2019
Soul of a Nation celebrates the work of Black artists made over two decades beginning in 1963, at the height of the civil rights movement. The exhibition devotes individual galleries either to groups of artists working in a particular city — with three galleries dedicated to artists living and working in Los Angeles – or to a different kind of art production. The exhibition showcases communities engaged in robust artistic dialogues, while also revealing disagreements about what it meant to be a Black artist at this time. Artworks in the exhibition are both figurative and abstract, and range from collage, assemblage and photography to painting, sculpture and performance. Ultimately, the exhibition emphasizes the dynamic contributions of Black artists to this significant period in American history and art.
Developed by Tate Modern in London (July 12-Oct. 22, 2017), Soul of a Nation debuted in the United States at Crystal Bridges in Bentonville, Arkansas (Feb. 3-April 23, 2018), and will travel to the Brooklyn Museum in New York (Sept. 14, 2018-Feb. 3, 2019) before making its final (and only West Coast) stop at The Broad in Los Angeles. It is accompanied by a full-color catalog surveying this crucial period in American art history, featuring thought-provoking essays that explore abstract and figurative art, and examine the most significant groups, exhibitions, publications, campaigns and institutions of the time.
This exhibition is organized by Tate Modern, London in collaboration with The Broad, Los Angeles, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas and Brooklyn Museum, New York. Curated by Mark Godfrey, Senior Curator, International Art and Zoe Whitley, Research Curator, Tate Modern. The Broad presentation is curated by Sarah Loyer, Associate Curator and Exhibitions Manager.
Shirin Neshat: I Will Greet the Sun Again
Mid-October 2019 through early 2020
Originated by The Broad, the exhibition surveys 25 years of Neshat’s dynamic video works and photography, investigating the artist’s passionate engagement with ancient and recent Iranian history, the experience of living in exile, and the human impact of political revolution. Taking its name from a poem by poet Forugh Farrokhzad, it is accompanied by a full-color catalog that includes essays by exhibition curator Ed Schad and leading scholars and artists working in Iranian culture, photography and film.
Neshat left Iran when she was 17 years old to complete her studies at the University of California at Berkeley, after residing initially in Los Angeles. Due to the turbulence of the Islamic Revolution (1978-79) and the Iran-Iraq war (1980-88), Neshat continued to live outside of her home country. She first gained renown for her iconic 1990s photographic work Women of Allah, as well as immersive videos such as Rapture (1991) and Possessed(2001) (both now in the Broad collection). Neshat completed her first feature film, Women without Men, in 2009, and recently debuted a new feature film, Looking for Oum Kulthum, in 2018.
The exhibition connects Neshat’s early work — centered on the experiences of Muslim women as a mirror for Iran and Iranians living in exile — to acclaimed recent projects never-before-seen in American museums. Dreamers, the artist’s first examination of American society, will feature prominently. Influenced by the Surrealist films of Man Ray and Maya Deren, these photographs and videos examine the lives of outsiders and exiles from other countries who navigate their personal identities in the United States through a divided sense of culture and shifting sense of home.
About The Broad
The Broad is a contemporary art museum founded by philanthropists Eli and Edythe Broad on Grand Avenue in downtown Los Angeles. Designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro in collaboration with Gensler, the museum offers free general admission and presents an active program of rotating temporary exhibitions and innovative audience engagement. The Broad is home to more than 2,000 works of art in the Broad collection, which is among the most prominent holdings of postwar and contemporary art worldwide.
The 120,000-square-foot building features two floors of gallery space and is the headquarters of The Broad Art Foundation’s worldwide lending library, which has been loaning collection works to museums around the world since 1984. Since opening in September 2015, The Broad has welcomed more than 2.1 million visitors. Generous support is provided by Leading Partner East West Bank.
For more information on The Broad and to sign up for updates, please visit thebroad.org.
