KEVIN E. CONSEY: NEW DIRECTIONS IN DIGITAL MEDIA AND THE MOVING IMAGE FROM CALIFORNIA - UC BERKELEY ART MUSEUM AND THE PACIFIC FILM ARCHIVE

The lecture will outline the collection and exhibition history of the renowned Berkeley Art Museum and the Pacific Film Archive at the University of California. It will trace the early collecting focus of the museum on contemporary art which focuses not only of painting, drawing and sculpture, but also on American, and specifically, California video works that were being created simultaneous with the museum’s founding in the late 1960’s – works by Ant Farm, Bruce Conner, Bruce Nauman and others. A parallel interest in film collection developed at the Pacific Film Archive – Japanese work, then pan Asian and former Soviet bloc films, and American and especially California films, such as those by Stan Brakhage, Jon Else, Bill Jersey and Erroll Morris.The two entities – BAM and PFA - were joined in the same administrative unit in 1971. The talk will examine how each collection was built, how they are shared with the public and the research community, and how they are preserved. It will also explore future challenges to the use of the collections.

Kevin E. Consey is the Director of the University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive. His past experience includes over twenty-five years as the director and chief executive officer of several contemporary art museums in the U.S. He has also held curatorial and research positions at the National Gallery of Art, Washington and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York. Currently he teaches in the Arts Management Program at the University of Zurich, Switzerland, and is developing a program in Arts Management at the University of California, Berkeley Haas School of Business.