Dear Colleague:

We are pleased to announce the Nasher Sculpture Center's upcoming
conference Variable States:

Intention, Appearance, and Interpretation in Modern Sculpture, to be held
October 22-23, 2004.

Nasher Sculpture Center
2001 Flora St.
Dallas, TX 75201

In collaboration with the J. Paul Getty Museum, the conference will
involve artists, art historians, conservators, and critics in an
examination of issues that emanate from the variability of the appearance
and physical states of individual modern sculptures.

Open to professionals and the public by registration, the innovative
conference format combines prepared papers, dynamic gallery discussions in
front of sculptures by a group of specialists projected into the
auditorium by video broadcast, and is concluded by a panel inviting
audience participation in the discussion.

Variable States: Three Masterworks of Modern Sculpture, a focused
exhibition at the Nasher Sculpture Center featuring works by Auguste Rodin
(Age of Bronze), Alberto Giacometti (Bust of Diego), and Jeff Koons (Louis
XIV), has been organized in conjunction with the conference to serve as
the springboard for examination and discussion. Different versions of
these three sculptures from private and public collections are included in
the exhibition, offering a rare opportunity for close comparison. The
casts differ from one another in important ways, such as materials,
patinas, and appearance due to weathering.

Among the topics to be examined in the exhibition and the conference are
the effects of multiple casts and mutable physical states on perception
and interpretation of a work's basic character and meaning, artistic
intent toward change in a work's appearance, and appropriate conservation
in light of artistic intent and change.

Conference participants include:

Malcolm Baker, Victoria and Albert Museum and University of Southern
California

Michael Brenson, Independent Critic

Ruth Butler, University of Massachusetts at Boston

Penelope Curtis, Henry Moore Institute

Richard Deacon, Artist

Valerie Fletcher, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden

Peggy Fogelman, J. Paul Getty Museum

Pamela Franks, Yale University Art Gallery

David Getsy, J. Paul Getty Postdoctoral Fellow

Andrew Lins, Philadelphia Museum of Art

Hanspeter Marty, Kunsthaus Zürich

Steven A. Nash, Nasher Sculpture Center

Derek Pullen, Tate

Robert Rosenblum, New York University and Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum

Joanna Rowntree, Nasher Sculpture Center

Joel Shapiro, Artist

The conference will open on Friday evening, October 22, 2004, at 6:00 p.m.
with a keynote lecture by noted author and critic Adam Gopnik, who is also
a contributor to The New Yorker magazine. The keynote will be followed by
a reception and viewing of the exhibition. The second day, Saturday,
October 23, will begin at 9:30 a.m. with two papers featuring art
historical and conservation points of view focused on each set of works by
the three artists in the exhibition (Rodin, Giacometti, and Koons.) These
presentations will be followed by a gallery discussion among a group of
specialists in front of the sculptures with video projection into the
auditorium for the audience to observe. The program will conclude with a
panel moderated by Dr. Nash that will expand the discussion among the
panelists and the audience. The conference will end with a reception and
continued exhibition viewing Saturday at 5:00 p.m.

Conference registration is available on the Center web site at
http://www.nashersculpturecenter.org/ on the "Conferences" page.
Advance registration by Friday, October 8 is $80 for professionals and $50
for students. Onsite or late registration (after October 8) will be $120.

The conference is made possible through the generous support of the J.
Paul Getty Trust.

Please share this information with your colleagues. If you have any
questions, feel free to contact

Rachel Schulze, Education Programs Associate, Nasher Sculpture Center, by
email <RSchulzeNasherSculptureCenter.org>
or by telephone, 214.242.5180.

--
Rachel Schulze
Education Programs Associate
Nasher Sculpture Center
tel 214.242.5180
fax 214.242.5179
RSchulzeNasherSculptureCenter.org

http:///www.NasherSculptureCenter.org