Programs

2023
Jennifer Wen Ma, February 28, 2023

2022
Nate Lewis, December 10, 2022

2021
Digital Art

Jennifer and Kevin McCoy, October 21, 2021
Jonathan Monaghan, September 16, 2021
Tewodross W. Williams, April 28, 2022

2021
Conceptually Making

Nekisha Durrett, February 25, 2021
Jonathan Herrera Soto, March 25, 2021
Martha Jackson Jarvis, April 8, 2021
Robin Rose, April 15, 2021
Eric N. Mack, April 29, 2021

2019-2020
Conceptually Making

Fidencio Fifield-Perez, September 26, 2019
Kennedy Yanko, November 21, 2019
Leonardo Drew, February 27, 2020

2018-2019
Interrelated PracticesStephen Hayes, Jr., September 20, 2018
Hrafnhildur Arnardóttir (Shoplifter), October 11, 2018
Kenny Rivero, November 8, 2018
Renée Stout, January 31, 2019
John Edmonds, February 21, 2019
Chemi Rosado-Seijo, March 28, 2019

2017–2018
Myth & Identity
This season focuses on artists who work with themes of myth and identity.

Michael Jones McKean, September 14, 2017
Amy Cutler, October 19, 2017
Chloe Piene, November 16, 2017
Diana Al-Hadid, January 11, 2018
Lyle Ashton Harris, February 22, 2018
Amy Sherald, March 29, 2018

2016–2017
Collecting-Creating
This season focuses on artists who collect, are collectors, or use collecting as a process in their work.

Neil Feather, September 21, 2016
Dario Robleto, October 27, 2016
Abigail DeVille, November 10, 2016
Dan Steinhilber, January 26, 2017
Marley Dawson, February 23, 2017
Jim Shaw, March 31, 2017

2015–2016
Liminal States
This season focused on artists who grapple with questions of identity, transformation, and boundaries in their works.Kalup Linzy, September 17, 2015
Linda Montano, October 15, 2015
Martha Wilson, November 19, 2015
Genesis P. Orridge, January 21, 2016
Cheryl Pope, February 25, 2016
Frances Stark, March 24, 2016

2014–2015
Film and Video Art
This season focused on film and video and explored the diverse ways in which artists incorporate these mediums into their practice.

Peter Hutton, October 16, 2014
Dinh Q. Lê, October 30, 2014
Jesper Just, December 11, 2014
Paul Pfeiffer, January 29, 2015
Johan Grimonprez, February 26, 2015
Teresa Hubbard and Alexander Birchler, April 9, 2015

2013–2014
Drifting
This season brought artists whose work is sometimes hard to see if not in person to explore the relation between producing tangible objects and "ephemeral" experiences.

Wade Guyton, November 21, 2013
Catherine Sullivan, January 23, 2014
Hassan Khan, February 20, 2014
Katrín Sigurdardóttir, March 27, 2014
Zoё Charlton, April 10, 2014
Zarina Bhimji, April 24, 2014 

2012–2013
Sculpture and Post-Studio Practice
This season explored a range of intriguing new practices that redefine the formal language of conventional sculpture. Engage with artists who are pursuing and developing participatory, object-based, ephemeral, public, socially engaged, and site-specific approaches. 

Matthew Day Jackson, October 25, 2012
Pedro Reyes, November 29, 2012
Tehching Hsieh, February 28, 2013
Jessica Stockholder, March 21, 2013
Daniel Bozhkov, April 11, 2013
Wangechi Mutu, April 18, 2013

2011–2012
Art as Experience
With emphasis on the importance of experience and interpretation, drawing from the philosophy of museum founder Duncan Phillips, as well as theorist John Dewey, this season focuses on artists whose works are phenomenological, experiential, and site-responsive.

Wolfgang Laib, October 12, 2011
The Otolith Group, October 19, 2011
Jill Downen, November 9, 2011
Anthony McCall, February 15, 2012
Janine Antoni, March 28, 2012
William Pope. L, April 4, 2012

2010–2011
Systems of Knowledge
This season focuses on innovative approaches today’s artists use to reach beyond the language of visual arts and explore cross-disciplinary systems of knowledge. 

John F. Simon, Jr, October 20, 2010
Jim Sanborn, November 3, 2010
Mark Dion, December 8, 2010
Walid Raad, April 13, 2011
Matthew Ritchie, April 27, 2011
Alice Aycock, May 4, 2011

2009–2010
Economies
This season focused ways in which artists effect economies in their own practice and production, as well as broader considerations related to the presentation and promotion of art.

Conrad Bakker, September 30, 2009
Mel Chin, November 18, 2009
Hans Haacke, December 9, 2009
Yomango, March 3, 2010
Michael Rakowitz, April 21, 2010
Chris Jordan, April 28, 2010

2008–2009
Engaging Spaces
This season focused on artists who transform spaces through a variety of media, such as architecture, interior and landscape design, performance art, and outdoor sculpture.

Vito Acconci, October 22, 2008
Andrea Fraser, November 19, 2008
Fred Wilson, January 28, 2009
Joel Ross, April 1, 2009
Jorge Pardo, April 15, 2009

2007–2008
Artistic Partnerships
This season explores the work of individuals working together in a variety of media, all investigating the sensory relationship that the individual has with art–through place and space (architecture, locale), history, or culture.

Continuous Project, October 10, 2007
Ilya & Emilia Kabakov, November 14, 2007
Robert A. Pruitt/Otabenga Jones & Associates, December 5, 2008
Elizabeth Diller/Diller, Scofidio and Renfro, February 27, 2008
Andrea Robbins & Max Becher, March 26, 2008
Buzz Spector, April 30, 2008

2006–2007
Contemporary Photographers
This season focuses on the work of contemporary photographers, working with a variety of subject matter, from suburbs and southlands of America to dirt roads of Southeast Asia–all considering culture, society and custom.

Hai Bo, September 15, 2006
William Christenberry, November 1, 2006
New Catalogue (Luke Batten & Jonathan Sadler), November 15, 2006
Chan Chao, January 10, 2007
Nikki S. Lee, February 28, 2007
Angela Strassheim, March 14, 2007
Allan Sekula, April 25, 2007

OCTOBER 27, 2022
Art, Nuclear War, Peace, and Reconciliation
Chief Curator Elsa Smithgall moderates a conversation exploring art’s role in addressing nuclear war abolition, peace and reconciliation. Panelists include Leslie King Hammond, Mel Hardy, and Smriti Keshari. The program includes poignant musical reflection​s performed by pianist Ryo Yanagitani, cellist Char Prescott, and members of the All Souls Church, Unitarian, Washington, DC choir.

APRIL 2, 2022
COAL + ICE Panel Discussion & Frankenthaler Climate Art Awards Presentation
Held on the occasion of the Frankenthaler Climate Art Awards and the COAL + ICE exhibition, this panel discussion, presented in collaboration with Asia Society, will bring together figures from the arts, policy, and scientific communities to discuss how the arts can be an impetus for action against climate change. The panel will focus on the power of artists as advocates for change and how policy makers and artists have and can collaborate effectively. Each participant will speak about their commitment to climate change work, then engage in a group discussion. 

NOVEMBER 14, 2019
International Forum: Artists of Conscience - Veterans, Art, and Wellness
This year's forum explored the impact that art and art therapies can have on the lives of veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), traumatic-brain injury (TBI), and other combat-related psychological health conditions. Speakers include Jane Chu, Former Chair, National Endowment for the Arts (NEA); Sara Kass, MD, Military and Medical Advisor, Creative Forces: NEA Military Healing Arts Network; Army Sgt. Zach Herrick, Purple Heart Recipient and Founder, American Heroes HeART; Ben King, Iraq War veteran and Founder, Armor Down; and Klaus Ottmann, The Phillips Collection Chief Curator and Deputy Director for Academic Affairs.

NOVEMBER 10, 2018
International Forum: Artists of Conscience - Nature + Art + Climate + Change
The Phillips Collection’s International Forum is rooted in the institution’s aim to contribute to the global conversation through the language of modern and contemporary art. A joint presentation with the University of Maryland, 2018’s afternoon of dialogue brought together leaders across disciplines to discuss the great implications and meaning of “Nature + Art + Climate + Change.” The program included presentations by Meg Webster, (artist) Hannes Koch and Florian Ortkrass (founders of Random International and creators of Rain Room), and Henry Elkus (CEO of Helena), as well as a one-on-one conversation between Dr. Hester Baer (Associate Professor and Head of the German Department at UMD) and Dr. Robert Orr (Dean of the School of Public Policy at UMD and former United Nations Assistant Secretary-General for Policy Planning).

NOVEMBER 4, 2017
International Forum: Artists of Conscience
The Phillips Collection’s International Forum is rooted in the institution’s aim to contribute to the global conversation through the language of modern art. A joint presentation with the University of Maryland, 2017's afternoon of dialogue brought together leaders across disciplines to discuss the great implications and meaning of “Artists of Conscience.” The program included a keynote lecture by artist Sanford Biggers (recipient of the 2017 Rome Prize), a poetry reading by Fatimah Asghar (creator of the web series Brown Girls), as well as one-on-one conversations between the artists and leading scholars from the University of Maryland. Conversations will explore shared perspectives on the increasingly significant role artists are playing in political and social discourse of today. 

OCTOBER 22, 2016
Migration/Immigration
For the 2016 Phillips Collection—University of Maryland International Forum, leaders across disciplines discussed artistic and curatorial approaches to visual narratives of migration and immigration. How can art tell stories of people on the move? What is the civic role of art and art institutions in raising awareness to promote social change? Participants discussed the ethical and aesthetical capacities of Jacob Lawrence’s Migration Series to bridge the humanities, public policy, and social sciences and inspire societal change and well-being in the context of the 21st-century immigrant experience. The event included two staged readings of short plays written in response to The Migration Series, panel discussions with thought leaders, and a creative response from Azar Nafisi, author of Reading Lolita in Tehran.

OCTOBER 27, 2014
Leading Edge Ideas: Inside the 21st-Century Museum
This day-long public program began with a discussion on philanthropy with Vicki and Roger Sant and Jeffrey Brown, Chief Correspondent for Arts, Culture, and Society, PBS NewsHour, followed by the presentation of the Duncan Phillips Medal to the Sants. The program continued with a panel on Art, Contemplation, and Well-being, in partnership with University of Virginia, featuring artist Wolfgang Laib; David Germano, Lead Faculty Director, Contemplative Sciences Center, UVA; Kennita R. Carter, Acting Director, Integrative Health Coordinating Center, Office of Patient Centered Care and Cultural Transformation at the Veterans Health Administration; and Brooke Rosenblatt, Head of Public Engagement, The Phillips Collection. The final panel, in collaboration with the State Department’s office of Art in Embassies, included visiting Senegalese artists, former US ambassador to Senegal Harriett Elam-Thomas, and Johnnetta Cole, Director, Smithsonian National Museum of African Art. The program ended with a keynote address by Philip Kennicott, Art and Architecture Critic for The Washington Post. The event also featured two performances by artist Pedro Lasch.

NOVEMBER 18, 2013
The Power of Culture / The Culture of Power
A day of conversations among policymakers, entrepreneurs, arts professionals, and artists about the role of arts and culture in a globalized world. From the importance of creative placemaking through shared cultural experiences, to the impact of cross-cultural exchange, the conversations underscored the unifying power of art. Jointly presented by The Phillips Collection and Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, the event welcomed, among others, Pakistani actor, musician, painter, and social activist Jamal Shah; Executive Director and Chief Curator of Storefront for Art and Architecture Eva Franch i Gilabert; Cultural Attache of the Embassy of Chile Nicolas Bär; art collector and CEO of AllianceBernstein Peter Kraus; Cuban artist Tania Bruguera; Founder of Cre8ion Theresa Famularo; Founder of Dancing Classrooms Pierre Dulaine; and Chief Curator of Art in Embassies Virginia Shore.

NOVEMBER 3, 2012
On the Confluence of Art and Music
This informal conversation addresses the interdisciplinary character of contemporary art as it incorporates images, sound, and music. Participants include sound artist and composer Alvin Lucier, Intersections artist Xavier Veilhan, multimedia artist Jesper Just, musician and performance artist Ragnar Kjartansson, and novelist and musician Rick Moody. Moderated by Director of the Center for the Study of Modern Art Klaus Ottmann.

NOVEMBER 12, 2011
The Collection Museum: Past, Present, and Future
A series of three panels explored the evolution of private collections into public institutions in conjunction with The Phillips Collection’s 90th anniversary. The panels discussed the ethical and aesthetical challenges of collection museums in the 21st century. Panelists included: Jeremy Braddock, author of Collecting as Modernist Practice; Dorothy Kosinski, Director, The Phillips Collection; Alice Phillips Swistel, Trustee, The Phillips Collection; Eliza Rathbone, Chief Curator, The Phillips Collection; Sue Frank, Associate Curator for Research, The Phillips Collection; Bruce Altshuler, author of The Avant-Garde in Exhibition: New Art in the 20th Century; Christoph Vogtherr, Director, The Wallace Collection, London; Derek Gillman, Executive Director and President, The Barnes Foundation; Anne-Birgitte Fonsmark, Director, Ordrupgaard, Charlottenlund, Denmark; Klaus Ottmann, Director of The Center for the Study of Modern Art and Curator at Large, The Phillips Collection; Heiner Friedrich, founder of the Dia Art Foundation, New York; Marieluise Hessel, founder of the Hessel Museum of Art at Bard College; and Paul Greenhalgh, Director, Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK.

OCTOBER 4, 2010
Aspen Cultural Diplomacy Forum
As part of the second annual International Forum and in collaboration with The Aspen Institute, participants explored how the United States uses culture both to communicate and listen to other nations. The forum featured political and cultural leaders who continue to shape the policies and practices of cultural diplomacy in the public and private sectors. Participants included: Dr. Madeleine K. Albright, former U.S. Secretary of State; The Honorable John Brademas, President Emeritus, New York University; Elizabeth Diller, senior architect of Diller, Scofidio & Renfro; Eric Fischl, artist; Chairman Jim Leach, National Endowment for the Humanities; Congressman Jim Moran, U.S. House of Representatives; Dr. Azar Nafisi, author of Reading Lolita in Tehran; His Excellency Arturo Sarukhan, Mexican Ambassador to the United States; Moderators included: Michael Dirda, Dana Gioia, Cynthia Schneider, Philip Kennicott, Dorothy Kosinski, and Eric Motley.

OCTOBER 10, 2009
The Potential of Art: Collaborative Creativity/Collective Responsibility
As part of the inaugural International Forum weekend at The Phillips Collection, participants investigated different modes of civic engagement with art, from private and corporate collecting to government and federal involvement, the nature of purpose of collaborations among artists, patrons, art institutions and funding agencies, and collective responsibility towards art. Participants included: Anne Pasternak, Director, Creative Time; artist Krzysztof Wodiczko; collector and co-founder of Rubell Family Collection, Mera Rubell; collector and co-founder of Ullens Contemporary, Guy Ullens; scholar, professor and critic Michael Brenson; chief curator for Agence-France Muséums, Laurence des Cars; and Director of the Curb Center for Arts, Enterprise, and Public Policy at Vanderbilt University, Bill Ivey.

SEPTEMBER 27, 2008
Painting in the 21st Century
In collaboration with the University of Illinois, artists, critics and scholars, including Spencer Finch, Leng Lin, Blake Gopnik, Joseph Marioni, and Yves-Alain Bois among others, discussed contemporary painting from a range of perspectives, embracing the artist’s point of view and those of the art historian and the critic. Panel discussions focused on three aspects from which to consider painting: figuration, color, and criticism.

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2007
Issues of Content: Museums of Modern and Contemporary Art Today
In collaboration with the University of Illinois, leading scholars from the United States, Spain, and Brazil joined in discourse with directors of four American art museums, including Dr. Neal Benezra of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and Kathy Halbreich of the Walker Art Center, to examine issues in museums’ choices of art, space, and public stance and how museums deal with the discursive—often political—content of art and the challenges of respecting both the artist’s intent and the museum’s audiences.

SEPTEMBER 9, 2006
Art and the Brain
In collaboration with the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, the symposium explored new territory at the intersection of neuroscience and aesthetics. A panel of neuroscientists and philosophers presented research and discussed the mutual interaction of their fields of inquiry, exploring ways in which new work on the physiology of the brain illuminates our understanding of art and conversely how art helps us understand the brain.

JANUARY 27, 2022
Elizabeth Alexander
Centennial Lecture

OCTOBER 14, 2021
Lonnie Bunch III
Centennial Lecture

June 10, 2021
Arlene Dávila
Centennial Lecture

NOVEMBER 10, 2018
Meg Webster
"Nature + Art + Climate + Change"

NOVEMBER 4, 2017
Sanford Biggers
"Artist as Conscience"

NOVEMBER 16, 2016
Whitfield Lovell
"Artist's Perspective: The Kin Series"

SEPTEMBER 24, 2015
Richard Shiff
"German Art Without Ideology"

APRIL 30, 2015
Hiroshi Sugimoto
"Conceptual Forms and Mathematical Models"

JUNE 12, 2014
Wanda Corn
"The Luncheon Party that Rocked the Boat: Duncan Phillips Spars with Gertrude Stein"

SEPTEMBER 19, 2013
Yve-Alain Bois
"Ellsworth Kelly"

NOVEMBER 2, 2012
Rick Moody
Keynote to the International Forum weekend

MAY 17, 2012
Gary Tinterow
“Private Collections, Public Institutions: A Case Study of the Metropolitan Museum of Art”

NOVEMBER 11, 2011
Penelope Curtis
Penelope Curtis on Tate Britain
Keynote to the International Forum weekend

MARCH 17, 2011
Peter Doig
“Peter Doig on his work”
Special installation–One on One: Peter Doig/Georges Braque

OCTOBER 3, 2010         
Alfredo Jaar
“Alfredo Jaar on his work”
Keynote to the International Forum weekend

OCTOBER 9, 2009         
Adam Gopnik
“Van Gogh’s Ear and the World’s Attention”
Keynote to the International Forum weekend

JULY 16, 2009   
Eric Fischl
“The Death of Painting”

OCTOBER 16, 2008       
Christo and Jeanne-Claude
“Over the River: Two Works in Progress”

MAY 15, 2008  
Kerry James Marshall   
“Kerry James Marshall on his work”

DECEMBER 6, 2007      
Robert Storr
“The Modern Museum and the Challenge of ‘Post-modern’ Art”

APRIL 11, 2007 
Ann Hamilton

FEBRUARY 21, 2007       
June Leaf

APRIL 26, 2006 
Jed Perl
“Authority and Freedom: Toward a Theory of Artistic Experience”

FEBRUARY 22, 2006       
Richard Thomson
“Renegotiating Narrative in the 1890s: Degas, Toulouse-Lautrec, Vallotton, Vuillard”

OCTOBER 18, 2005       
Sean Scully      

MARCH 9, 2005 
Terry Teachout           
“Multiple Modernisms: What a Novice Collector Learned From Duncan Phillips

OCTOBER 20, 2004       
Raymond D. Nasher
“Modern Sculpture in an Urban Environment: The Nasher Sculpture Center”

MAY 19, 2004  
Simon Schama
“British Land Art”

MARCH 31, 2004           
David Bates

MARCH 6, 2002 
Ned Rifkin
“A Curatorial Work in Progress: Ten Years of Conceiving an Exhibition”

MAY 22, 2002  
Howard Hodgkin

NOVEMBER 7, 2001      
Douglas Druick
“Still Life, the Sunflower, and the Studio of the South”

MAY 16, 2001  
Elizabeth Murray

APRIL 18, 2001 
Dorothy M. Kosinski
“Our Narratives of Modern Art”

NOVEMBER 15, 2000    
Hilton Kramer
“Minimalism as History”

MAY 3, 2000    
Malcolm Morley, artist 
“Paintings with Objects”

MARCH 29, 2000           
Dore Ashton   
“Has the Center Held?”

NOVEMBER 17, 1999    
Arlette Sérullaz
“Chopin and Delacroix”

APRIL 28, 1999 
Bill Viola, artist
“Viola on Viola”

MARCH 17, 1999           
Adam Gopnik
“A Wild Exactitude:  The Continuity of American Art”

NOVEMBER 5, 1998      
George Shackelford
“The Mind and the Eye of Impressionism:  Edgar Degas and Claude Monet”

MAY 13, 1998  
Deborah Butterfield
“Butterfield: Horses”

FEBRUARY 11, 1998       
John Szarkowski
“Stieglitz at his Best”

NOVEMBER 13, 1997    
Wanda Corn
“Why Don’t We Laugh at Art?”

APRIL 16, 1997 
Joel Meyerowitz
“Re: Vision; Tradition and Contemporary Photographic Values”

MARCH 12, 1997           
Jack Flam
“Matisse and the Language of Signs”

NOVEMBER 20, 1996    
Richard R. Brettell
“The Seine: Its Image in French Writing and Painting in the Age of Impressionism (or Leisure and Lust along the Seine)”

MAY 8, 1996    
Martin Puryear

MARCH 7, 1996 
Paul Goldberger
“Is There Still a Reason for Cities?”

NOVEMBER 6, 1995      
Eugenia Parry Janis
“Dark Object: A Crime Album and Its Stories”

MAY 10, 1995
Vicki Goldberg 
“Margaret Bourke-White, Modernism and the Modern Photographer”           

MARCH 8, 1995
John Richardson  
“Seated Man, Seated Woman: Decoding Picasso’s work in World War I”                     

NOVEMBER 1, 1994
Susan Rothenberg 
“1974-95”                   

MAY 25, 1994  
Mark Helprin   
"Against the Dehumanization of Art"

MARCH 16, 1994           
William Christenberry
"A Southern Perspective: 1961-1994"

OCTOBER 20, 1993       
Nicholas Fox Weber   
"Patron Saints: Five Rebels Who Opened America to a New Art in the 1930s"

MAY 12, 1993  
Charles S. Moffett
"The Boating Party and Other Icons of Impressionism"

MARCH 3, 1993 
Roger Shattuck
"The Fig Leaf and the Naked Eye: Traditions of Forbidden Knowledge in the Visual Arts"

OCTOBER 20, 1992       
Wayne Thiebaud         
"A Personal View of Drawing and Painting"

MAY 13, 1992  
Helen Frankenthaler    
"Helen Frankenthaler: Slides with Q. and A."

MARCH 4, 1992 
Michael Kimmelman
"The Modern Museum at a Time of Social Change"

OCTOBER 31, 1991       
Christopher Green
"The Magician and the Child:Two Metaphors for the Artist in Modernism"

JUNE 5, 1991    
Robert Herbert
"American Painting in the Belle Epoque"

FEBRUARY 20, 1991       
John Walsh
"Building a New Museum: An Approach for the 20th Century"

OCTOBER 22, 1990       
Robert Hughes
"Rebellion and Tradition"

MAY 9, 1990    
Michael Graves
"Figurative Architecture: Problems with the Recent Past"

FEBRUARY 27, 1990       
Nancy Graves
"Recent Work: The Relationship Between Painting and Sculpture"

OCTOBER 3, 1989                     
John Elderfield
"Abstraction/Representation"

MAY 25, 1989              
Marcia Tucker
"Hide and Seek: A Brief History of Vision, Representation, and Control in Contemporary Art"

OCTOBER 4, 1988
Carlos Fuentes
"Art and Literature: The Spanish Image”

MARCH 6, 1989             
Rand Castile    
"What They Sought: Japan, the West, and the Arts"

MAY 25, 1988
Kirk Varnedoe 
"Symbolism and Science: Redon, Seurat, Gauguin et al."

MARCH 2, 1988 
Walter Hopps 
"Private Collecting and a Public Place: The Modern Pioneers in America"

OCTOBER 20, 1987       
John Rewald    
"Visits with Artists in Europe"

MAY 13, 1987  
David Hockney
"Painting's Photography: Printing and Seeing"

FEBRUARY 25, 1987       
Sir Lawrence Gowing
"Self Consciousness in Art: Cezanne's Self Portraits"

MAY 18, 2023
Born-Digital Art
The panel touches on the manifold aspects of born-digital art—including content creation, innovative design and presentation strategies, technological infrastructure with its vulnerability and obsolescence, accessibility, audience expectations and experiences, privacy, sustainability, and preservation—from the perspectives of artists, curators, educators, and conservators. Panelists: Daniel Finn, Media Conservator, Smithsonian American Art Museum; Michelle Lisa Herman, Artist, and Head of Digital Experience, Archives of American Art; Marina Isgro, Associate Curator of Media and Performance Art, Hirshhorn Museum; Julia Kim, Digital Assets Specialist, American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress; Alexander McSwain, Assistant Professor, Howard University; Moderated by Patti Favero, Conservator, The Phillips Collection; Introduced by Vesela Sretenovic, Director of Contemporary Art Initiatives and Academic Affairs, The Phillips Collection

MAY 8, 2022
Tobi Kahn
Artist Tobi Kahn in conversation with Aaron Rosen, Professor of Religion & Visual Culture and Director of the Henry Luce III Center for the Arts and Religion at Wesley Theological Seminary; Klaus Ottmann, Deputy Director for Academic Affairs and Special Initiatives at The Phillips Collection; and Debra Balken, independent curator and writer. In conjunction with The Phillips Collection’s Kahn “unit” of seven works, on display in the permanent collection galleries as well as his solo exhibition FORMATION: Images of the Body on view at the Henry Luce III Center for Arts & Religion at Wesley Theological Seminary, Washington, DC.

SEPTEMBER 27, 2018
László Moholy-Nagy: Painting after Photography
Joyce Tsai discusses her book László Moholy-Nagy: Painting after Photography. This provocative book examines crucial philosophical questions László Moholy-Nagy explored in theory and practice throughout his career. 

NOVEMBER 9, 2017
Laid, Placed, and Arranged
Join artists Hiroyuki Hamada, Francie Hester, Ellington Robinson, and Wilfredo Valladares, along with exhibition curator and moderator Taras W. Matla, as they discuss their contributions to the exhibition Laid, Placed, and Arranged, on view now through December 8, 2017 at the University of Maryland Art Gallery. In collaboration with the University of Maryland Art Gallery

OCTOBER 25, 2017
Riley Temple
Riley Temple will discuss his latest book, Aunt Ester’s Children Redeemed: Journeys to Freedom in August Wilson's Ten Plays of Twentieth-century Black America. Temple demonstrates how Wilson uses language (including poetry and the blues) to bring each play’s characters to a point of redemption and freedom. Temple, a Washington, DC arts advocate, holds his JD from Georgetown and a Master in Theological Studies, cum laude, from the Virginia Theological Seminary. Temple will be in discussion with Timothy Douglas (2017 National Black Theatre Festival Lloyd Richards Director Award), Jennifer Nelson (Associate Artist at Mosaic Theater), and Deidra Starnes (Duke Ellington School of the Arts), with moderator Ann Greer (Theater Consultant at The Phillips Collection).

SEPTEMBER 28, 2017
Dr . Abigail McEwen: Revolutionary Horizons
Dr. Abigail McEwen, Associate Professor in Art History at the University of Maryland, discusses her book Revolutionary Horizons: Art and Polemics in 1950s Cuba with Vesela Sretenović, Senior Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at The Phillips Collection. Dr. McEwen’s book offers the first in-depth examination of art in 1950s Cuba, when modernism in Havana reached its climax. During these turbulent years, a generation of artists embraced abstraction as a means to advance artistic and political goals in the name of Cuba Libre. A decade of insurrection and ultimately revolution, abstract art signaled the country's cultural worldliness and its purchase within the international avant-garde. Dr. McEwen's book examines Cuban art following the intersecting trajectories of the artist groups Los Once and Los Diez against a dramatic backdrop of modernization and armed rebellion. 

NOVEMBER 17, 2016
Herman Maril: The Strong Forms of Our Experience
Panel discussion about Herman Maril, the important Maryland-based modernist. Duncan Phillips “discovered” Maril in 1933, kicking off the artist’s long and successful career as a painter and an art professor at the University of Maryland. Ann Prentice Wagner, Curator of Drawings at the Arkansas Arts Center, is the curator of the exhibition Herman Maril: The Strong Forms of Our Experience,  on view at the University of Maryland Art Gallery. Other speakers: Taras W. Matla, Assistant Director of the University of Maryland Art Gallery; Christine McCarthy, Executive Director of the Provincetown Art Association and Museum in Provincetown, Massachusetts; Melissa Renn, Collections Manager of the Harvard Business School Art Collection; and Richard Klank, Professor of Painting and Art Theory at the University of Maryland and a friend and colleague of the artist. 

JANUARY 14, 2016
Creative Voices DC: What Images Teach Us?
Educated in law and art history, French scholar Vanessa Badré uses well-known works of art to contemplate the creative processes of master artists - including da Vinci, Manet, van Gogh, Picasso, and Duchamp - arguing that masterpieces are never completely new, rather they are a collection of prior efforts and existing designs. In a lively dialogue, Badré helps her audience see how great artists were keen on recycling, with a twist, and reassess the opportunity for creativity in our own work today. In partnership with the DC Chapter of the French Chamber of Commerce.

OCTOBER 7, 2015
Creative Voices DC: Music and Entrepreneurship
Panel discussion on how performing and visual artists are increasingly challenging traditional models of arts patronage and building sustainable careers by creating socially engaged work in collaboration with community partners. At the same time, art institutions and schools provide forums to experience such works as well as training for artists to collaborate with businesses and community stakeholders.

OCTOBER 1, 2014
Creative Voices DC: Emilie Brzezinski, 30 years of Sculpture
Panel discussion on the work of Emilie Brzezinski, followed by The Lure of the Forest book signing. The panel includes the artist Emilie Brzezinski; Mika Brzezinski, the daughter, journalist, TV & film producer, and host of MSNBC Morning Joe; and Aneta Georgievska-Shine, one of the book authors and lecturer, renaissance and baroque Art, theory at the University of Maryland, and will be moderated by Vesela Sretenovic, the Phillips senior curator of modern and contemporary art.  

SEPTEMBER 6, 2014
Creative Voices DC: Nonuments
Join the Phillips’s Center for the Study of Modern Art and the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities for a panel discussion of Nonuments, a 5x5 project curated by Lance Fung, including participating artists and moderated by the Phillips senior curator of modern and contemporary Vesela Sretenovic. 

MAY 23, 2013
Global Photography
Conventional borders—geographic, institutional, and between media—no longer define the contemporary photography scene. Panelists examine what is influencing the reception of photographs in our global age. Panelists: Gloria Creech Kirk, artist; Michael Platt, artist; Muriel Hasbun, photographer; Schwanda Rountree, collector; and Erin Haney, scholar. Moderated by Phillips Curatorial Associate Wendy Grossman. In collaboration with the Millennium Arts Salon, Washington, DC.

FEBRUARY 7, 2013
Experience Economy
“Experience designers” around the globe are pushing the boundaries of innovation and creating uniquely personal and memorable experiences for the customers they serve. Panelists discuss the meaning of “experience economy,” and the ways in which institutions can and are approaching experience as a distinct economic offering. Panelists: James Gilmore, Co-founder of Strategic Horizons; co-author of The Experience Economy, Authenticity and Markets of One; Karen Hold, CEO and Design Strategist in Customer Experience and Innovation for Experience Lab; Klaus Ottmann, Curator at Large and Director of the Center for the Study of Modern Art, The Phillips Collection; Septime Webre, Artistic Director, Washington Ballet; Leslie Felbain, Associate Professor, Head of MFA in Performance program, University of Maryland; Artistic Director, Infinite Stage; Kera Carpenter, Owner/Chef, Domku Café; and Patricia Zingsheim, Chief of Downtown Planning, District Office of Planning.

OCTOBER 24, 2012
Brian Dailey
Artist and former Phillips Trustee Brian Dailey discusses his portrait series America in Color, on view at the Stephan Stoyanov Gallery (New York) October 17 through November 18. Dailey’s series explores the intersection of American politics, individual character, and the role of perception in how we view and understand the vital components that shape the political process.

SEPTEMBER 20, 2012
Jules Olitski
A panel discussion in conjunction with two exhibitions of works by American abstract painter Jules Olitski on view in Washington, DC, at American University’s Katzen Arts Center and the George Washington University’s Luther W. Brady Art Gallery. Panelists: E.A. Carmean Jr., Alison de Lima Greene, Lauren Olitski Poster, and Karen Wilkin. Moderated by Lenore Miller.

MARCH 8, 2012
Changes in Photography over the Last 15 Years
Panelists: Frank Goodyear, National Portrait Gallery curator of photography; Kirsten Hoving, PhotoPlace Gallery director; Laura Katzman, associate professor of art history at James Madison University; and Dean Kessmann, Fine Arts and Art History Department chair at the George Washington University and artist. Moderated by Phillips Curatorial Associate Wendy Grossman.

SEPTEMBER 14, 2011
DC's New International Contemporary Art Fair, (e)merge
Panelists: Veronica Jackson, principal at the Jackson Design Group and art collector, Washington, DC; Siobhan Rigg, artist exhibiting at (e)merge and associate professor of new media at the George Washington University; and Jamie Smith, cofounder of Conner Contemporary Art and co-director of (e)merge. Moderated by Klaus Ottmann, director of The Phillips Collection Center for the Study of Modern Art and curator at large.

MAY 25, 2011
Washington-based Artists Discuss Their Creative Process and Current Work
Moderated by Phillips Senior Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art Vesela Sretenović. Panelists: Carol Brown Goldberg, Jefferson Pinder, Janis Goodman, and Dan Steinhilber.

FEBRUARY 7, 2011
Contributions of African American Artists
Panelists: Adrienne Childs, art historian, University of Maryland; Billy Colbert, artist; Lisa Gold, executive director, Washington Project for the Arts; Judy A. Greenberg, director, The Kreeger Museum, Washington, DC; and Claudia Rousseau, critic, art historian, Montgomery College, Maryland. Moderated by Richard Long, cultural historian, and professor emeritus at the Institute of the Liberal Arts, Emory University, Atlanta. In collaboration with Millennium Arts Salon; sponsored by the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities.