Manifesto: Art x Agency recontextualized the Hirshhorn Museum’s permanent collection through the lens of the artist manifestos composed during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The exhibition centered around German artist Julian Rosefeldt’s 2015 work Manifesto, an all-encompassing video installation based around the proliferation and power of artist manifestos from around the world. Comprising more than a hundred works of art and ephemera created over a century, Manifesto: Art x Agency explored how artists used manifestos to engage with the political and social issues of their time and how contemporary practices still employ art as a tool in the making of history.
In conjunction with the exhibition, the Hirshhorn presented the Washington debut of In Search of the Truth (The Truth Booth), an ongoing global project by CAUSE COLLECTIVE artists Ryan Alexiev, Jim Ricks, and Hank Willis Thomas. The participatory installation was open on the Museum’s outdoor Plaza from June 8 to 23, 2019.
Manifesto: Art x Agency was curated by Stéphane Aquin, Chief Curator at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden with curatorial assistance from Sandy Guttman. The exhibition was on view from June 15, 2019 – January 31, 2021.
Exhibition photography courtesy of Lee Stalsworth and Tex Andrews.
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The Georgetowner: Manifesto: Art x Agency at the Hirshhorn (8/20/2019)
DCist: With 13 Cate Blanchetts, The Hirshhorn Explores the Artist Manifesto (6/14/2019)