In 2002, artist Paul Chan was working as a member of the Iraq Peace Team, formed by the Chicago-based activist group Voices in the Wilderness (now Voices for Creative Nonviolence), which was on the ground in Bagdad to protest the imminent Iraqi war. Chan captured the calm before the storm in his “ambient video essay,” […]
What is the role of art museums in this moment nationally and globally as we navigate a pandemic, manage economic upheaval, and grapple with racial injustice? How can museums best activate their public platforms, collections, and programs and strengthen community connections to become new spaces for dialogue, reflection, action, and impact that extend beyond their […]
Bryan Stevenson’s Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption is the One Book One Northwestern reading selection for the 2020-2021 school year. Just Mercy follows Stevenson through the beginning of his career as a lawyer devoted to seeking justice for those who have already been treated unfairly by the judicial system. In Just Mercy, Bryan Stevenson calls on each […]
Each week a member of The Block’s team offers selections that resonate with them at this moment. [View our archive of selections]. In the days before the 2020 election Kathleen Bickford Berzock, Associate Director of Curatorial Affairs, shares three works in the Block Collection she has been thinking about. Tuesday, November 3 is Election Day. […]
The Block Museum is proud to continue its paid internship program by welcoming Bailey Pekar for the FY20-21 year. As part of the Block Museum of Art internship program, our students are conducting directed research on works of art in the permanent collection, assisting with curatorial research, and working with our new collection database. All Block interns take […]
In October 2018, the Block Museum hosted a panel discussion with Chicago artists committed to prison reform and to using art as a mechanism for change. In recognition of the 2020-2021 One Book One Northwestern reading selection Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption we are happy to make audio and transcript of this […]
Since 2011, Chicago’s Prison + Neighborhood Arts Project has brought artists, educators, and activists together with incarcerated individuals at Illinois’ Stateville Correctional Center. Through classes, workshops, and exhibitions, PNAP creates opportunities for learning across prison walls, connecting those inside with the tools and resources needed to creatively communicate their concerns to the larger Chicago community. […]
Moving across languages, national boarders, and cinematic styles, the wide spectrum of feminist filmmaking by women from the Middle East and North Africa is largely unknown in the United States. The Block Museum of Art at Northwestern University sets out to shine a light on this body of work with Liberating History: Arab Feminisms and […]
Northwestern University’s Block Museum of Art has acquired 41 silver gelatin and platinum prints by renowned American artist Edward Steichen from collectors Richard and Jackie Hollander. The donation broadens the museum’s already significant holding of vintage prints by Steichen. The gift is the third to the museum from the Hollander family, who donated 49 Steichen […]
The Getty Research Institute (GRI) has announced Block Museum Associate Director of Curatorial Affairs, Kathleen Bickford Berzock among 43 scholars who were awarded residencies through the annual Scholars Program. “These scholars, chosen from a highly competitive pool of applicants, bring a range of expertise and interesting topics – from 7th-century Japanese Buddhist calligraphy to contemporary […]