Visual Centre of Contemporary Art

Visual Centre of Contemporary Art is a major contemporary art institution located in an international cultural capital, known for presenting contemporary painting, sculpture, installation, video art and performance. It operates within networks of museums, galleries, biennials and foundations, collaborating with collectors, curators and artists to stage exhibitions, commissions and research projects. The Centre engages audiences through exhibitions tied to major art events and partnerships with universities, archives and cultural ministries.

History

Founded in the early 21st century, the Centre emerged amid debates involving Tate Modern, Museum of Modern Art, Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Centre Pompidou, Stedelijk Museum, Serpentine Galleries, Whitney Museum of American Art, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Galleria degli Uffizi, Rijksmuseum, V&A, Hermitage Museum, National Gallery of Art (Washington), Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Palais de Tokyo, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Fondazione Prada, MAXXI, Guggenheim Museum, Dallas Museum of Art, Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt, Kunsthalle Zürich, Lenbachhaus, Pinakothek der Moderne, Walker Art Center, Neue Nationalgalerie and X Museum discussions about contemporary commissioning, acquisition and public access. Its founding board included figures linked to Sotheby's, Christie's, Serpentine Prize, Turner Prize, Venice Biennale, Documenta, São Paulo Biennial, Shanghai Biennale, Istanbul Biennial, Biennale de Lyon, Biennale of Sydney, Berlin Biennale, São Paulo Art Biennial and city arts agencies. Early exhibitions referenced practices associated with Marcel Duchamp, Pablo Picasso, Jackson Pollock, Andy Warhol, Yayoi Kusama, Marina Abramović, Damien Hirst, Ai Weiwei, Anish Kapoor, Olafur Eliasson, Cindy Sherman, Gerhard Richter, Ed Ruscha, Jeff Koons, Louise Bourgeois, Cy Twombly and Kara Walker.

Architecture and Facilities

The building was designed by an international architect in dialogue with precedents such as Frank Gehry, Zaha Hadid, Renzo Piano, Norman Foster, Tadao Ando, Richard Rogers, Jean Nouvel, Santiago Calatrava, Rem Koolhaas, David Chipperfield, Herzog & de Meuron, Glenn Murcutt, SANAA, Kengo Kuma, Diller Scofidio + Renfro, Alvaro Siza, Luis Barragán and I. M. Pei. Facilities include multiple galleries, a performance hall, an auditorium for talks by curators from Hans Ulrich Obrist, Okwui Enwezor, Thelma Golden, Massimiliano Gioni, Klaus Biesenbach, Christine Macel and Nathalie Bondil; conservation labs inspired by practices at Getty Conservation Institute, Smithsonian Institution, British Museum, Louvre Museum, Princeton University Art Museum and Metropolitan Museum of Art; and storage built to standards echoed in Museum of Islamic Art (Doha), National Gallery (London), Art Institute of Chicago and Royal Academy of Arts. Public amenities reference models like Cooper Hewitt, Design Museum, Victoria and Albert Museum, New Museum, Palais de Tokyo and Hayward Gallery.

Collections and Exhibitions

The Centre's collections comprise works acquired through gifts, purchases and long-term loans from estates and foundations associated with Gerhard Richter, Louise Bourgeois, Yayoi Kusama, Ai Weiwei, Marina Abramović, Anish Kapoor, Damien Hirst, Jeff Koons, Cindy Sherman, Barbara Kruger, Rachel Whiteread, Bruce Nauman, Jenny Holzer, Sol LeWitt, Ellsworth Kelly, Donald Judd, Richard Serra, Claes Oldenburg, Joseph Beuys, Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, Georgia O'Keeffe, Mark Rothko, Piet Mondrian, Henri Matisse, Edvard Munch, Egon Schiele, Kara Walker, Sherrie Levine, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, Bill Viola, Nam June Paik, Hannah Wilke, Louise Nevelson, Günther Uecker, André Breton, Robert Rauschenberg, John Cage, Yoko Ono, Cornelia Parker, Thomas Hirschhorn, Martin Kippenberger, Anselm Kiefer, Tacita Dean, Sarah Lucas, Grayson Perry, Ai-Da and Doris Salcedo. Major temporary exhibitions have been organized in conversation with Venice Biennale, Documenta, Frieze Art Fair, TEFAF, Art Basel, Armory Show, FIAC, TEFAF Maastricht, Art Basel Miami Beach, Independent Art Fair, Untitled Art, Art Dubai, Art Cologne and regional art fairs. Curatorial projects have included thematic shows addressing movements linked to Dada, Surrealism, Minimalism, Conceptual Art, Fluxus, Abstract Expressionism, Pop Art, Feminist Art, Relational Aesthetics and Postmodernism through loans from Guggenheim Foundation, Broad Foundation, Dia Art Foundation, Mak/EMA Foundation, MOMA PS1 and Kunstmuseum Basel.

Education and Public Programs

Education programs partner with universities and schools such as Harvard University, Yale University, Columbia University, Courtauld Institute of Art, Goldsmiths, University of London, Royal College of Art, University of the Arts London, University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, Princeton University, New York University, University of California, Los Angeles, University of Toronto, University of Melbourne, National University of Singapore, Tongji University, Tsinghua University, Beijing Normal University and École des Beaux-Arts for internships, fellowships and joint seminars. Public programs include curator-led tours, artist talks featuring figures associated with Marina Abramović, Ai Weiwei, Yayoi Kusama, Olafur Eliasson and Cindy Sherman; school workshops modeled on initiatives by Children's Museum of the Arts, Tate Kids, Museum of Modern Art Education and National Gallery Learning; and community outreach informed by projects from Creative Time, Performa, Artangel, Hayward Touring, ArtReach and Public Art Fund.

Research and Publications

The Centre publishes catalogues, monographs and journals produced with editors linked to Thames & Hudson, Phaidon Press, MIT Press, Routledge, Yale University Press, Princeton University Press, Cambridge University Press, Columbia University Press, JSTOR, Artforum, ArtReview, Frieze, Artnews, Apollo (magazine), The Burlington Magazine, Flash Art, e-flux, Tate Publishing, Skira Rizzoli, Hatje Cantz and Sternberg Press. Research initiatives include conservation studies in collaboration with Getty Research Institute, Smithsonian Institution Archives, Courtauld Institute, Warburg Institute, Getty Foundation, Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz, Bibliothèque nationale de France, British Library, National Archives (UK), Library of Congress and Vancouver Art Gallery archives. Scholarly symposia have convened critics and historians such as Hal Foster, Rosalind Krauss, T. J. Clark, Griselda Pollock, Benjamin H. D. Buchloh, Lucy Lippard and Nicolas Bourriaud, resulting in proceedings circulated through academic networks including Association of Art Historians, College Art Association and International Council of Museums.

Category:Contemporary art museums