Tonight! The Cleveland Museum of Art Presents MIX: Power

Cleveland, OH (June 1, 2018) — The Cleveland Museum of Art’s galleries are dynamic and always changing. Celebrate the museum’s newly acquired contemporary African sculptures with art activities, gallery tours, and live entertainment featuring Afrobeat and grooves by DJ Mark Who? (a.k.a. The Whatknot), as well as traditional African dance performances by members of the Djapo Cultural Arts Institute.

ABOUT THE SCULPTURES
Gallery 108a

 

Image

Kendell Geers’s Twilight of the Idols (Fetish) 3 is a compelling work that recalls the fierce-looking nkisi nkondo, the power figure the Kongo people used as a protective totem to ward off malevolent spirits, prevent or cure illness, or to administer retributive justice. Created in the spirit of the ready-made, the sculpture addresses the shift in value of African art as it became a global commodity.

Image

Totem 01/01-18 is a brilliant work that plays off the conventional codes of African art to present subversive arguments around issues of taxonomy, commodification, identity, and the system of value that underpins African art in the market and museums. It is a contemporary carving that combines five canonical African mask forms—Kota-Mahongwe guardian figures sit atop a Batcham mask of the Cameroon Grassfields whose back bears a Bembe Alunga mask, which surmounts a Baga d’mba headdress of Guinea/Guinea Bissau at the base—into a soaring superstructure.

TOURS
Power of Beauty, 6:15 & 7:45 p.m.
Explore artworks that will captivate you while in the presence of their power and beauty.

Symbols of Power, 7:00 & 8:15 p.m.
Explore objects that represent the embodiment of spiritual and temporal power.

ACTIVITIES
Art@MIX: Activate Love, 6:00–10:00 p.m.
Participants will stamp, decorate and write out messages of love to the global community. Messages will be attached to wooden skewers and inserted into a giant pink foam heart.

Inspired by Twilight of the Idols (Fetish) 3 by Kendell Geers. © Kendell Geers. Gallery 108a

FOOD & DRINK
Food is available for purchase at Provenance Café until 8:30 p.m.

Specialty cocktail
The Totem (Watershed gin, spring herb tincture, tonic)

BECOME A MEMBER
CMA members are admitted FREE to MIX events.

MIX: Power is part of the Cleveland Museum of Art’s MIX at CMA series. On the first Friday of each month, MIX highlights a different aspect of the museum and its collection. Art, music, cocktails—something different every month. MIX is for adults 18 and over.

WHAT: MIX: Power

WHEN: Friday, June 1, 6:00–10:00 p.m.

WHERE: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 11150 East Boulevard, Cleveland, Ohio 44106

RESERVATIONS: $10 in advance, $15 day of event, CMA members FREE. Reservations strongly recommended; call 216-421-7350 or visit cma.org/MIX. Cash bar. Food is available for purchase in the museum’s restaurant and café.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Meditation in the Galleries
Saturday, June 2, 11:00 a.m.
$5; advance registration recommended
Nancy F. and Joseph P. Keithley Gallery (gallery 244)
Join us each month to clear your mind and refresh your spirit in the serene atmosphere of the glass box gallery with guided meditation sessions led by experienced practitioners. Presented in collaboration with the Songtsen Gampo Buddhist Center of Cleveland. All are welcome; no prior experience with meditation is required. Drop-ins the day of the program will be accommodated as space permits.

Parade the Circle: Cadenza, a flourish of individual creativity
Saturday, June 9, 10:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m.; parade at noon, FREE
Wade Oval, rain or shine
For 29 years, the Cleveland Museum of Art has been bringing this FREE signature summer event to Greater Cleveland. University Circle comes alive with color, music, and art for all ages. International and national guest artists join greater Cleveland artists, families, schools, and community groups in a spectacular display of bright costumes, giant puppets, stilt dancers, handmade masks, and colorful floats. Circle Village, which includes activities, entertainment, and food, is presented by University Circle Inc.

Yayoi Kusama: Infinity Mirrors
On view July 7 through September 30, 2018
TICKETS
The FINAL member presale takes place on Monday, June 18, at 9:00 a.m.

• The sale is open to any new or current member who has not reserved tickets to the exhibition. Free timed tickets will be limited by level of membership and are not guaranteed. Members may reserve tickets if their membership account is active through the date of their ticket. To reserve tickets in the one-day member sale, the last day to join or renew is June 14 (excludes mail renewals and new gift memberships).
• To verify, renew or upgrade membership levels, or to confirm log-in information, go to ClevelandArt.org/members or call the ticket center at 216-421-7350. Members who have already reserved their Kusama member tickets may not purchase additional tickets at this time.
• The museum recommends reserving tickets through its online platform by visiting ClevelandArt.org/Kusama. Tickets can also be reserved by phone at 216-421-7350. There will be no on-site ticket sales.

Weekly ticket sales will occur on Mondays throughout the run of the exhibition beginning Monday, July 16, at 9:00 a.m. Due to Labor Day (Monday, September 3), that week’s ticket sale will occur on Tuesday, September 4. Sales will take place online and by phone only. Tickets sold during the weekly ticket sales will only include times for the week of purchase.

Tickets are $30 for adults, $15 for children 6–17, and free for children 5 and under (limit 2 children up to age 17 per adult ticket).

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION
Yayoi Kusama: Infinity Mirrors celebrates the legendary Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama’s 65-year career. The exhibition spans the range of Kusama’s work, from her groundbreaking paintings and performances of the 1960s, when she staged polka-dot “Happenings” in the streets of New York, to her widely admired immersive installations and the US debut of her recent series of paintings, My Eternal Soul. Visitors have the unprecedented opportunity to experience seven of Kusama’s captivating Infinity Mirror Rooms, including Where the Lights in My Heart Go, exclusive to the exhibition’s presentation in Cleveland. Yayoi Kusama: Infinity Mirrors provides an unforgettable sensory journey through the mind and legacy of one of the world’s most significant artists.

MIX at CMA is sponsored by PNC Bank and Great Lakes Brewing Company.