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All art forms, even music and literature, are partially dependent on the material world. The visual arts, however, are more linked with materialism, as the field is primarily defined by objects, which are made of physical matter. Even digital media is contingent on matter, whether it is the silicon that makes a microprocessor, or the lithium that comprises the battery in a cell phone. For thousands of years humans have speculated on what the world is made of. “Prima materia” was a concept first put forth by Aristotle to describe the primitive, formless base for all matter. Later, Plato in his treatise Timaeus, wrote “The body of the world is composed of four elementary constituents, earth, air, fire, and water, the whole available amount of which is used up in its composition.” The alchemists of both medieval Europe and those of the Islamic Middle East and North Africa were the first who began to doubt the primacy of the ancient four elements and their speculation led to the transition from alchemy to chemistry that began in the Renaissance. The names given to the eras in human history–stone, bronze, iron, and now silicon, are indicative of how our understanding of matter has transformed culture.
Prima Materia: The Periodic Table in Contemporary Art is conceived of as a group exhibition that links individual works of art with an element from the periodic table which each work incorporates. Superficially, the exhibition’s foundation is science, but through expansive curatorial choices the project will reveal the material basis for sociological, emotional, political, and even spiritual subject matter. Artists use specific materials for a reason, quite often for their metaphoric potential, and Prima Materia will explore hard facts as well as alchemical conjecture. There are currently 118 elements in the periodic table, many of them extremely rare or man-made. The exhibition will not try to be inclusive, but rather will focus on approximately twenty common elements that are linked with significant and diverse works of art. A subtext that will be explored in the project is resource extraction, which will be incorporated through works that speak about the mining and refining industry and its legacy. As a society we are woefully unaware of the trail followed by common materials as they go from the earth into our hands, and the goal of the exhibition and its associated programming will be to give the viewer a greater appreciation of the basis of the material world, reveling in both the beauty and convoluted history of our understanding and manipulation of physical matter.
Participating Artists:
Matthew Barney
Rachel Berwick
Edward Burtynsky
Dove Bradshaw
Julian Charrière
Compound Interest
The Dufala Brothers
Ashley Epps*
Philip Grausman
Tom Lehrer
Bryan McGovern Wilson
Jeffrey Meris
Myra Mimlitsch-Gray
Cornelia Parker
Katie Paterson
Simon Patterson
Beverly Pepper
Winston Roeth*
Peter Selgin
Sunny A. Smith*
Edward Steed
Carlos Vega
Eleanor White*
Robert Williams
*Artists commissioned by the Museum to specifically make new works for the exhibition.
Prima Materia: The Periodic Table in Contemporary Art is curated by independent curator and artist Richard Klein, The Aldrich's former Exhibitions Director.
Major support for Prima Materia: The Periodic Table in Contemporary Art is provided by The O'Grady Foundation. Generous support is provided by The Aldrich Council and Anita and Nick Donofrio. Significant support is provided by Pam and Jack Baker, Diana Bowes and Jim Torrey, Liz and Steven Goldstone, and Barbara and Tod Hamachek. Additional support is provided by Anonymous, Francie and Hank Ashforth, and Bobbi and Barry Coller. The catalogue is supported by the Eric Diefenbach and James-Keith Brown Publications Fund. Production support is provided by the Diana Bowes and Jim Torrey Commissions Fund.
Visit the Museum for free as part of Connecticut Open House Day.
Join Aldrich Educator Susie Buckley as she guides participants through engraving soft copper sheeting to create a landscape work. Inspired by the artist Matthew Barney's Bayhorse, a five-panel series of landscapes made on copper plating included in the current exhibition Prima Materia: The Periodic Table in Contemporary Art.
Please join us for a special tour of Prima Materia: The Periodic Table in Contemporary Art led by Anna Serotta, Associate Conservator at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Anna will lead participants through the exhibition’s galleries focusing on a selection of elements represented in the show.
Visit the Museum for FREE the third Saturday of every month. Participate in a Story Time at 10:30 am and an all-ages Discovery Tour of our current exhibitions at 1 pm.
Bring your budding artists to The Aldrich for Story Time, in collaboration with the Ridgefield Library! Together, we will explore themes of color and birds! We will look at artwork called The Shape of Blue by Rachel Berwick and learn about the cobalt-colored indigo bunting. Then, we will move to the Museum’s Studio to create our own blue colored birds!
Join us for this in-person gallery tour of The Aldrich’s current exhibitions guided by an Aldrich Educator!
Join us for this in-person gallery tour of highlighted works from our current exhibitions, guided by Aldrich Educator Holly Lapine, reserved specifically for senior adults ages 60 and above!
We’re back with another bi-monthly Aldrich After Hours on the first Friday! The galleries will be open late, there will be mini tours of the exhibitions, and wine and beer for sale.
Join us at The Aldrich for a full-day, week-long arts experience with Museum Educators and practicing artists. Campers explore the Museum’s three-acre campus and incorporate the world around them into their art.
Join us for this in-person gallery tour of The Aldrich’s current exhibitions guided by a Museum Educator!
Join us at The Aldrich for a full-day, week-long arts experience with Museum Educators and practicing artists. Campers explore the Museum’s three-acre campus and incorporate the world around them into their art.
Join us for this in-person gallery tour of highlighted works from our current exhibitions, guided by Museum Educator Holly Lapine, reserved specifically for adults ages 60 and above!
Please join artist and director Bryan McGovern Wilson and artist, writer, and curator Richard Klein for a live conversation and film screening of Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer.
Join us at The Aldrich for a full-day, week-long arts experience with Museum Educators and practicing artists. Campers explore the Museum’s three-acre campus and incorporate the world around them into their art.
Join us for a panel conversation on Prima Materia: The Periodic Table in Contemporary Art with exhibiting artists Rachel Berwick, Myra Mimlitsch-Gray, and Winston Roeth, moderated by the exhibition’s curator Richard Klein.
Join Aldrich Educator Barb Jennes to create an alchemy of word and image as we closely inspect several provocative pieces in the current exhibition Prima Materia: The Periodic Table in Contemporary Art.
Join us for this in-person gallery tour of highlighted works from our current exhibitions, guided by Museum Educator Holly Lapine, reserved specifically for adults ages 60 and above!
Join us for this in-person gallery tour of The Aldrich’s current exhibitions guided by a Museum Educator!
Top image: Prima Materia: The Periodic Table in Contemporary Art (installation view), The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, February 5 to August 27, 2023. Photo: Jason Mandella