The Harvard Art Museums and the Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts present Laurel Nakadate. Say You Love Me a new exhibition on view Nov 17 2011 — Dec 22 2011.
Exorcism in January, 2009, Laurel Nakadate, Type C-print, 30 x 40 in. Photo: Courtesy Leslie Tonkonow Artworks + Projects, New York.
This installation at the Sert Gallery will feature a selection of videos by the artist, filmmaker, and photographer Laurel Nakadate, whose work pushes the boundaries of voyeurism, exhibitionism, and vulnerability. In videos such as Happy Birthday, she performs a Lolita-like role in a series of sometimes unsettling fictional vignettes with mostly white, middle-aged men she meets through chance encounters. In others, including Good Morning Sunshine, she continues to exploit the unsavory yet titillating nature of interactions between older men and girls by voicing the role of a predator. Nakadate is always in control, whether in front of or behind the camera; yet her intention is not to make fun of her collaborators. Her videos are complicated but ultimately empathetic meditations on loneliness and longing. Curated by Michelle Lamunière, John R. and Barbara Robinson Family Assistant Curator of Photography, Division of Modern and Contemporary Art, Harvard Art Museums.
Related event: Opening Celebration and Panel Discussion: Laurel Nakadate: Say You Love Me (M. Victor Leventritt Panel Discussion*), at the Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts, Thursday, November 17, 2011, 6pm. Note: The Sert Gallery will remain open after 5pm for this event.
Related event: Film Screening and Discussion: The Wolf Knife, at the Harvard Film Archive, Friday, November 18, 2011, 7pm. Note: The Sert Gallery hours will be extended from 5–7pm for this event.
Harvard Art Museums, 32 Quincy Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 www.harvardartmuseums.org