Media Contacts
Alex Capriotti, 213-232-6236, acapriotti@thebroad.org
Susan Clarke Chandrasekhar, 310-552-4181, susan.clarke@finnpartners.com
Sharon Ruebsteck, 212-715, 1578, sharon.ruebsteck@finnpartners.com

The Broad Announces Series of Free Public Art Talks

The Un-Private Collection to Feature Art-World Leaders and Contemporary Artists in The Broad Collections; Series Begins Sept. 12

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 6, 2013—The Broad announced today it will present The Un-Private Collection, a series of free public programs featuring conversations with some of today’s most influential artists and cultural and art-world leaders. In anticipation of the opening of the new contemporary art museum on Grand Avenue in late 2014, the talks will be held at venues throughout Los Angeles beginning Sept. 12, with an additional talk at Art Basel Miami Beach in December.

The Un-Private Collection series will explore the relationship between the personal and political perspectives in the work and life of the artists—a theme philanthropists Eli and Edythe Broad have focused on in building their personal collection and the vast works in The Broad Art Foundation’s collection. Featured participants will include the Broads, artists Shirin Neshat and Mark Bradford and architect Elizabeth Diller.

To inaugurate the series on Sept. 12, The Broad will present a discussion about art collecting in the U.S. as a powerful force for public/private partnerships and civic engagement. The Un-Private Collection: A New Museum for Los Angeles will be held at 7:15 p.m. at the Central Library’s Mark Taper Auditorium in partnership with the Library Foundation of Los Angeles’s ALOUD series. The talk will feature Eli and Edythe Broad and Joanne Heyler in conversation with Inge Reist, director of The Frick Collection’s Center for the History of Collecting. Reist, a scholar who has written and lectured extensively on American collectors and collections, will lead this examination of the history of renowned private art collections in Los Angeles and the many public institutions that arose from private collections including The Huntington, the Norton Simon and The Getty. The evening will include a discussion with the Broads about their motivations for collecting contemporary art and establishing an art museum and an active lending program to share these works with the public.

The Un-Private Collection: Robert Rauschenberg will be held on Nov. 23 at 1 p.m., at the High School of Visual and Performing Arts on Grand Avenue. Los Angeles artist Mark Bradford and Katy Siegel, author, professor and chief curator of the Hunter College Galleries in New York, will discuss the work of Robert Rauschenberg, dubbed “artist-citizen” in 1976 during his retrospective at the Smithsonian American Art Museum for his dedication to philanthropy and focus on social issues in his art. Bradford, whose work includes photography, printmaking, collage, video and installation pieces, often uses the discarded materials of urban life and has been influenced by Rauschenberg in his ongoing engagement with his South Central Los Angeles community.

The Un-Private Collection: Artist as Activist will be presented on Dec. 12 at 7 p.m. and will feature artist Shirin Neshat in conversation with Christy MacLear, executive director of the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation. Co-presented with the Library of Los Angeles’s ALOUD series, the talk will be held at the Central Library’s Mark Taper Auditorium. In her provocative work, visual artist and filmmaker Neshat has addressed the issues of social repression in her native Iran, from where she has been exiled for most of her career. She also reaches beyond her own identity in her work to address broader concerns about freedom, individuality and the power of the erotic.

In addition to offering the Los Angeles programs, The Broad will present The UnPrivate Collection: Designing The Broad on Dec. 4 at 9:30 a.m. at the New World Center in Miami Beach, in conjunction with the 2013 Art Basel Miami Beach. The event, moderated by noted architectural critic Paul Goldberger, will bring together the museum’s lead architect, Elizabeth Diller of Diller Scofidio + Renfro, with Eli and Edythe Broad and Joanne Heyler to share the conversations that led to the unique design of the building for The Broad. They will discuss the relationship between the collection and the museum design concept, the decision to make the storage vault visible to visitors, how the Broad collections’ longstanding commitment to lending its artworks impacted design decisions and the significance other cultural institutions on Grand Avenue, including the Arata Isozaki–designed Museum of Contemporary Art and the Frank Gehry–designed Walt Disney Concert Hall, had for the design of The Broad.

Additional events in the winter and spring 2014 seasons will be announced at a later date. For complete program details or to reserve tickets, please visit www.thebroad.org.

About The Broad
The Broad is a new contemporary art museum built by philanthropists Eli and Edythe Broad on Grand Avenue in downtown Los Angeles. The museum, which is being designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro, will open to the public in late 2014. The museum will be home to the more than 2,000 works of art in The Broad Art Foundation and the Broads’ personal collections, which are among the most prominent holdings of postwar and contemporary art worldwide. With its innovative “vault-and-veil” concept, the 120,000-square-foot, $140-million building will feature two floors of gallery space to showcase The Broad’s comprehensive collections and will be the headquarters of The Broad Art Foundation’s worldwide lending library.

For more information on The Broad and to sign up for updates, please visit www.thebroad.org.

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