Hallwalls: 20th Anniversary Exhibition

1995
Group exhibition and publication.

As the outside curator and essayist for the 20th anniversary exhibition of Hallwalls Contemporary Art Center, I researched the history of this renowned alternative art space. This research included interviewing past curators and other participants, reviewing archives, and creating a chronology of all the exhibitions from 1975 to 1995. Out of this process came an exhibition containing over 100 artworks in all media, including electronic. The artists included Vito Acconci, John Baldessari, Charles Clough, Eric Fischl, Tony Conrad, Karen Finley, Catherine Howe, Rebecca Howland, Robert Longo, Christy Rupp, David Salle, Andre Serrano, Cindy Sherman, Michael Snow, and many others. The retrospective exhibition was held at the Burchfield-Penney Art Center, while other projects took place at other Buffalo sites, including Hallwalls new headquarters at the TriMain Center on Main Street. This exhibition and the 276-page book that accompanied it (co-edited by E. Licata) documented an important era in contemporary art and a vital part of Western New York's cultural history.