Rafael Lozano-Hemmer’s ephemeral portraits disappear to help us remember
It seems contradictory that a monument that disappears would be more memorable than one that’s permanent, but as artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer’s “A Crack in the Hourglass” makes evident, “disappearance, sometimes the ephemeral, helps you remember.” The artwork, now on view at the Brooklyn Museum, provides a space for communities and families to gather, mourn, and remember loved ones lost to COVID-19.
After the artwork creates a portrait out of sand, the tray holding the image tilts and the sand washes away to be recycled. I’ll never forget the experience of filming that moment of erasure alongside Harry Trinh who was memorializing his aunt. The feeling of loss was palpable as her image vanished, but that moment of disappearance also managed to etch her life story into my mind.
Ian Forster
Producer
February 23, 2022
Deepen your connection to Art21
Playlist: Teaching with Love and Loss
IMAGE: Bryan Zanisnik & Eric Winkler at a Brooklyn cafe. Production still from the New York Close Up film, “Bryan Zanisnik & Eric Winkler’s Animated Conversation.” © Art21, Inc. 2016.
Exploring the emotional glue that binds the broken pieces of ourselves together, the artists in this playlist investigate how intimacy and human bonds reveal the best of human nature, even in the face of heartbreak and change.
Turn life stories into comics with Bryan Zanisnik & Eric Winkler, reflect on the life of Virginia Franklin Carter with Sally Mann, and preserve memory-provoking details with Do Ho Suh in our Teaching with Love and Loss playlist written by educator Ty Talbot.
Event: Art as Exchange/Exchange as Art
Join us on March 22nd at 7:30 PM E.T. for an Art21 Virtual Teacher Workshop
How can students explore contemporary art practices by engaging in collaborative exchanges? Inspired by the participatory strategies of a diverse array of contemporary artists, hear how two alumni of Art21 Educators use exchange in their classrooms.
Presenters will model a variety of flexible, exchange-based art curriculum that are engaging, empowering, fun, and help build creative communities of practice in classrooms.
The program is free and will take place via Zoom.
Art21 Educators: Application Open
Art21 Educators is an intensive, year-long professional development initiative and learning community. The program is designed to support K–12 educators in any subject area who are interested in bringing contemporary art, artists, and themes into classroom teaching and learning.
The application deadline for the 2022–2023 year of Art21 Educators is March 31, 2022 at 11:59 p.m. ET.
Event: Laylah Ali Artist Talk
Join us from anywhere on March 24, 2022 at 2:00 PM E.T. for a special presentation with artist Laylah Ali.
In celebration of the new Explore area of Art21.org, Art21 will host public programs around the themes, mediums, and narratives collected by Art21 staff. This installment draws inspiration from the artists featured in our “World Building” collection.
A Q&A will follow the presentation with Ali.
The program is free and will take place via Zoom.
