From Mesopotamian beer making to confronting white narratives in art, discover a diverse range of educational and entertaining events. Visit our online calendar for complete program information.
Upcoming Virtual Live Programs
All virtual live events will be available either on Getty Museum’s YouTube or Getty Research Institute’s YouTube channels following the event.
Beyond the Frame: Pushing Boundaries of Photo-Based Work
Tuesday, July 20, 2021, 5pm PT
Free, Hosted via Zoom
Register in advance for this online event
In this conversation, multidisciplinary artists Mercedes Dorame, Kori Newkirk, and Kyungmi Shin discuss how their approaches to art making and activism push the boundaries of photography, transforming it beyond its perceived objectivity and conventional format. Their work is featured in the exhibition Photo Flux: Unshuttering LA, which disrupts the privileging of white narratives in photography by celebrating the diverse, dynamic practices of contemporary Los Angeles artists.
Mesopotamia: Civilization Begins (with Beer)
Saturday, July 24, 2021, 4pm PT
Free, Hosted via Zoom
Register in advance for this online event
Archaeologist Tate Paulette leads a journey to ancient Mesopotamia, one of the world’s first great beer cultures. By looking at archaeological remains, cuneiform documents, and works of art, Paulette explores the drinking and brewing of beer, and recent efforts to recreate ancient brews.
Tate Paulette is an assistant professor of history at North Carolina State University. He received his PhD in Mesopotamian archaeology from the University of Chicago. His research explores agricultural practices, the politics of food, and state-making in Mesopotamia and beyond. Paulette is currently co-directing an archaeological field project and field school at the site of Makounta-Voules-Mersinoudia in western Cyprus. He has spearheaded a collaborative effort to recreate Mesopotamian beer, and he is currently working on a book about beer and brewing in Mesopotamia.
Art Break: The Immersive Landscape
Wednesday, July 28, 2021, 12pm PT
Free, Hosted via Zoom
Register in advance for this online event
How do contemporary photographers engage with the natural environment? Join British artist Susan Derges and San Francisco-based artist David Maisel as they discuss their approaches to photographing the landscape. Derges immerses herself in nature, capturing minute movements and elements through photograms made without a camera. In contrast, Maisel photographs from the sky to expose humans’ devastating impact on the environment. Despite their differing perspectives, both artists use beauty and abstraction to draw viewers into what they describe as the “immersive field,” a horizonless space that provokes disorientation and fosters reflection. Moderated by curator Virginia Heckert, this talk complements the exhibition The Expanded Landscape.
Susan Derges’ photographic work is in the collection of museums around the world, including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; The Victoria and Albert Museum, London; The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; and The Hara Art Museum, Tokyo.
Virginia Heckert is a curator of photographs at the J. Paul Getty Museum and organized the current exhibition The Expanded Landscape and the related exhibition Mario Giacomelli: Figure/Ground.
David Maisel works in photography and video. His work is in the collections of Berkeley Art Museum, the J. Paul Getty Museum, and the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, among others.
Art Break: Where is the Person in the Portrait?
Friday, July 30, 2021, 12pm PT
Free, Hosted via Zoom
Register in advance for this online event
The people depicted in ancient Roman portrait sculptures are often difficult to identify, and suggestions of possible identities can sometimes tell us more about the museums displaying them than the individuals depicted. Using photography, Los Angeles artist Ken Gonzales-Day has explored Roman portraits with an interest in interpretation, personhood, and the dynamics of stereotypes. Focusing on the marble bust of a young child, Gonzales-Day and antiquities curator Jens Daehner discuss the search for real people behind ancient portraits.
Jens Daehner has been a curator of ancient art at the Getty Museum since 2002. He organized several exhibitions exploring Hellenistic sculpture, the history of archaeology, and Roman imperial portraits, as well as the role of antiquity in 20th-century art. He is a widely published author and his book Power and Pathos: Bronze Sculpture of the Hellenistic World (co-authored with Kenneth Lapatin) was awarded the London Hellenic Prize in 2015. Currently, he is preparing a collection catalog of Roman sculpture at the Getty, but also dedicates his time to mentorship, diversity and inclusion policies for the museum, in addition to advocating for the curatorial profession.
Ken Gonzales-Day’s interdisciplinary and conceptually grounded photographic projects consider the history of photography, the construction of race, and the limits of representational systems. Gonzales-Day has held fellowships at the Getty Research Institute, the Terra Foundation in Giverny, the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, and the American Art Museum of the Smithsonian, among others. In 2017, Gonzales-Day received a Guggenheim Fellowship in Photography and currently holds the Fletcher Jones Chair in Art at Scripps College. In 2018, he was the subject of a two-person exhibition at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C.