In Fall 2020, the Block’s Engagement Department was proud to continue its years-long history of collaboration with Evanston’s Y.O.U. (Youth & Opportunity United), a youth development agency that provides services and leadership to meet the emerging needs of young people and their families in our community. We partnered with the organization’s high school program The […]
Meet Block Museum Fellow Bethany Hill
In September 2020 the Block Museum welcomed Bethany Hill as a 2020-2021 graduate fellow. Block Museum Graduate Fellowships are offered to two graduate students annually, one from Art History and one from any department within the Graduate School. Fellows are integral members of the museum staff supporting projects through exhibition and collection research, curating, writing and catalog […]
Block Museum announces Terra Foundation support for a project exploring Chicago’s art history from an Indigenous perspective
The Block Museum of Art at Northwestern University is the recipient of a $105,000 grant from the Terra Foundation of American Art in support of research and development for an exhibition that approaches the art history of the Chicago region from Indigenous perspectives. Tentatively titled Indigenous Chicago: Confluence, Rupture, Flow, the exhibition will take place […]
“It becomes something else…”: Reece Auguiste on critical reflexivity and the interweaving of fact and fiction [Video]
For many, London is an imaginary landscape, a composite of images that circulate in art, literature, and popular culture. On November 12, 2020 Block Cinema explored this landscape with Unreal City: Film Essays on London by Ayo Akingbade and Reece Auguiste a program of experimental essay films from the UK. The screening was followed by a […]
Partnership Spotlight: Talking “Just Mercy” with the Center for Aphasia Research & Treatment
Earlier this month Block Museum staff had the pleasure of connecting with the Book Club of the Center for Aphasia Research & Treatment at the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab. Like us, this group has been reading the One Book One Northwestern selection Just Mercy. The club talked with Block staff about works in the museum collection that resonate with the text. […]
“We all do come from a place”: A conversation with filmmaker Fox Maxy [Video]
On November 5, 2020 Block Cinema welcomed California-based artist Fox Maxy (Ipai Kumeyaay and Payómkawichum) for a screening and conversation of his work. The works in the program, California Girls (2018), Maat Means Land (2020), and San Diego (2020), offered a prismatic and timely vision of the artist’s home state, viewed through the lens of […]
The Block receives gift of posters by Argentinean Pop Artist Edgardo Giménez
The Block Museum proudly announces a gift of mid-twentieth century posters that significantly expands its holdings of Latin American art, graphic design, and Pop Art. In recognition of the presentation of the exhibition Pop América, 1965–1975 (fall 2019), The Block has received a donation of 18 archival posters by Edgardo Giménez (Argentinean, born 1942). A […]
“It has the shape of recollections”: Joe Proulx on Paul Chan and work with the Iraq Peace Team [Audio]
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,” […]
“Reconsidering who we serve, how we serve”: Museum directors talk responsibility and action [Video]
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 […]
Now Available: Teaching “Just Mercy” Through the Block’s Collection [PDF]
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 […]