Media Arts Curator to Speak at Colorado State University

Prominent media arts curator John G. Hanhardt will speak on the pioneering video artist Nam June Paik in a lecture titled "The Worlds of Nam June Paik" at 6 p.m. April 12 at Colorado State University’s Lory Student Center Theatre.

The visit by Hanhardt, senior curator of film and media arts at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, is part of Colorado State’s Critic and Artist Residency Series. His presentation will coincide with the exhibit, "Alan Rath: Art and Robotics," in the Hatton Gallery of the Visual Arts Building through April 29. Hanhardt, who wrote an essay for the Rath exhibition, will give a talk on Rath’s work at noon April 11 in the Hatton Gallery.

"We are honored to have John Hanhardt participate in the Critic and Artist Residency Series," said Hatton Gallery Director Linny Frickman. "Hanhardt’s programming and scholarship have played a seminal role in our understanding and appreciation of video and media art. He has had a long and important career as an advocate for these relatively new forms and for their collection and dissemination in the museum world."

Hanhardt curated the major retrospective, "The Worlds of Nam June Paik," and the exhibition, "Bill Viola: Going Forth By Day," for the Guggenheim. Previously, he spent 20 years as curator of film and video and head of the department at the Whitney Museum of American Art and also worked at the Walker Art Center and the Museum of Modern Art.

He has collaborated with institutions such as the Rockefeller Foundation, Bohen Foundation, The American Center in Paris and the Fundacio Antoni Tapies. Hanhardt also taught at Columbia University, Middlebury College, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Williams College.

Hanhardt’s visit is made possible by the FUNd at CSU. All programs are free and open to the public. For information, call the Hatton Gallery at 491-7634.

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